William G . Kaelin Jr ., MD

Peter J . Ratcliffe , MD

The 2016 Albert Lasker Basic Medical Research Award : William G . Kaelin Jr ., MD ; Peter J . Ratcliffe , MD ; and Gregg L . Semenza , MD , PhD

This year ’ s award honors three physician – scientists ( William G . Kaelin Jr ., MD , of the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and Harvard Medical School ; Peter J . Ratcliffe , MD , of the University of Oxford and Francis Crick Institute ; and Gregg L . Semenza , MD , PhD , of Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine ) for their discovery of the pathway by which cells from humans and most animals sense and adapt to changes in oxygen availability . The researchers illuminated the core molecular events that explain how almost all multicellular animals tune their physiology to cope with varying quantities of the life-sustaining element .

Prof . Ralf F . W . Bartenschlager

Charles M . Rice , PhD

The 2016 Lasker – DeBakey Clinical Medical Research Award : Prof . Ralf F . W . Bartenschlager ; Charles M . Rice , PhD ; Michael J . Sofia , PhD

This year ’ s award honors three scientists ( Prof . Ralf F . W . Bartenschlager , of University of Heidelberg ; Charles M . Rice , PhD , of Rockefeller University ; and Michael J . Sofia , PhD , of Arbutus Biopharma ) who developed a system to study the replication of the virus that causes hepatitis C and used it to revolutionize the treatment of this chronic disease . Prof . Bartenschlager and Dr . Rice attempted to multiply the hepatitis C virus inside lab-grown host cells . Dr . Sofia then exploited this system to test and invent candidate drugs , whose novel design allowed targeting of the liver and creation of sofosbuvir .

Bruce M . Alberts , PhD

The 2016 Lasker – Koshland Award for Special Achievement in Medical Science : Bruce M . Alberts , PhD

Bruce M . Alberts , PhD , of the University of California , San Francisco , was recognized for his discoveries in DNA replication and protein biochemistry , leadership in directing national and

international scientific organizations to better people ’ s lives , and dedication to improving education in science and mathematics .

Source : Albert and Mary Lasker Foundation news release , September 12 , 2016 .

Gregg L . Semenza , MD , PhD

Michael J . Sofia , PhD

City of Hope Appoints New Faculty Members

City of Hope Medical Center in Duarte , California , announced a number of new faculty members who have joined their hematology / oncology department : Flavia Pichiorri , PhD , was appointed associate professor in the Judy and Bernard Briskin Center for Multiple Myeloma Research in the Hematologic Malignancies and Stem

Flavia Pichiorri , PhD

Weili Sun , MD , PhD

Angelo Cardoso , MD , PhD

Cell Transplantation Institute . Weili Sun , MD , PhD , was appointed associate clinical professor in the Department of Pediatrics , in addition to serving as director of pediatric leukemia . Angelo Cardoso , MD , PhD , was named research professor in the Center for Gene Therapy in the Hematologic Malignancies and Stem Cell Transplantation Institute , in addition to

Benjamin Cahan , MD

serving as director of the Laboratory for Cellular Medicine . Benjamin Cahan , MD , was named assistant clinical professor in the Department of Radiation Oncology .

Source : Healio , September 10 , 2016 .

CPRIT Announces More Than $ 10 Million in Grants for Prevention and Facility Support Services at Baylor College of Medicine

Researchers at the Dan L . Duncan Comprehensive Cancer Center at Baylor College of Medicine in Houston , Texas , were awarded more than $ 10 million from the Cancer Prevention and Research Institute of Texas ( CPRIT ) in the form of four new grants focused on evidencebased cancer prevention services and core facility support .

“ The CPRIT grants are supporting two critical efforts here at Baylor : outreach and health disparities and childhood cancer ,” said Adam Kuspa , PhD , senior

vice president and dean of research at Baylor College of Medicine .

The following Baylor researchers received the grants :

• Michael Scheurer , PhD , MPH , associate professor of pediatrics in hematology and oncology , was awarded $ 6 million for his work with the Adolescent and Childhood Cancer Epidemiology and Susceptibility Service for Texas .

• Maria Jibaja-Weiss , Ed . D , director of the Office of Outreach and Health Disparities in the Duncan Cancer Center , received more than $ 1 million to leverage a community network for cancer prevention to increase human papillomavirus virus vaccinations .

• Sahil Mittal , MD , MS , assistant professor of medicine in gastroenterology and hepatology , was awarded more than $ 1 million for his efforts to prevent hepatocellular carcinoma through screening , vaccination , and treatment of viral hepatitis .

• Luis Rustveld , PhD , RD , LD , assistant professor of family and community medicine research programs , received more than $ 1 million to reduce racial and ethnic disparities in colorectal cancer screening by introducing a comprehensive electronic medical record-based patient navigation program .

Source : Baylor College of Medicine , August 22 , 2016 .

Nobel Prize in Medicine Presented to Yoshinori Ohsumi

This year ’ s Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine was presented to biologist Yoshinori Ohsumi , PhD , of the Tokyo Institute of Technology , for his discoveries of the mechanisms of autophagy , a

Yoshinori Ohsumi , PhD

fundamental process for degrading and recycling cellular

components . Dr . Ohsumi was born in 1945 in Fukuoka , Japan , and he received a PhD from University of Tokyo in 1974 . After spending three years at Rockefeller