For the Next Generation of Scientific Leaders
Faculty Recruitment
The Hutchinson Center is committed to attracting and retaining the world's leading researchers in cancer, HIV/AIDS and other areas of biomedical research. Several recent faculty recruitments were made possible by private support like that from the President's Circle
Drs. M. Elizabeth (Betz) Halloran and Ira Longini are two outstanding faculty members from Emory University who have joined our collaborative effort with the University of Washington to develop a vaccine to prevent HIV infection. Drs. Halloran and Longini are longtime collaborators and internationally recognized for their work using mathematical models to understand the spread and control of infectious diseases, including HIV, influenza and malaria. As a result of their seminal work on modeling the potential spread of smallpox and human and avian influenza, they have served as advisers to federal officials on these topics.
Dr. Sunil Hingorani, previously of the Abramson Cancer Center of the University of Pennsylvania, is a new member of our Clinical Research Division. Dr. Hingorani has engineered the first mouse model of pancreatic cancer. The mice, which contain two gene mutations commonly found in human pancreatic cancer, display symptoms and disease progression that mimic pancreatic cancer in humans. The system opens the door to the discovery of new treatments as well as diagnostic tests for early detection of pancreatic cancer, one of the deadliest human malignancies.
Dr. Marc Van Gilst, previously of the University of California, San Francisco, has developed a system to study the physiological response to dietary fats, nutrients and environmental toxins in the worm Caenorhabditis elegans. In his laboratory in our Basic Sciences Division, Van Gilst focuses on a worm protein whose human counterpart is a key regulator of fat usage and an important drug target for treatment of diabetes, obesity and cancer.
Training for the Next Generation of Scientific Leaders
Fellowships help launch young clinicians' careers by supporting the research training that allows them to successfully compete for federal research grants and to obtain faculty positions. Fellows and graduate students work closely with our faculty and make major contributions to many of the Hutchinson Center breakthroughs. The Hutchinson Center was ranked second among the top places for postdoctoral training in North America by The Scientist magazine in 2006, and many of our programs attract 10 times more requests for postdoctoral and medical fellowship training than they can accommodate - so private support is critical. Providing outstanding training opportunities for highly creative, junior scientists continually refuels the pool of innovative scientists around the world who are making important discoveries. Here is an example:
Dr. Craig Mello, co-recipient of the 2006 Nobel Prize in medicine or physiology, who with Dr. Andrew Fire was recognized for the discovery of a fundamental mechanism for controlling the flow of genetic information. Mello was a postdoctoral fellow in Dr. Jim Priess' Basic Sciences Division laboratory from 1990 to 1994. There he made key contributions to the understanding of the earliest steps of embryo development in Caenorhabditis elegans, the microscopic soil worm that is hailed by biologists as a model system for studying the process.
Dr. Priess credits philanthropic gifts to the Center for supporting the first two years of Mello's research. Donations from individuals and foundations provide critical funding for fellowships that may not be eligible for federal grant support.
