In the News

Scott N. Keeney, a member of the Molecular Biology Program within the Sloan Kettering Institute, was one of 56 researchers to be appointed a Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI) investigator in 2008.

Sloan Kettering Institute Director Thomas J. Kelly has been named a member of the Advisory Committee to the Director (ACD) at the National Institutes of Health.

James P. Allison, Chair of the Immunology Program in the Sloan Kettering Institute, has been elected a member of the Institute of Medicine.

A team of Memorial Sloan Kettering investigators has reported for the first time a novel strategy to coax human embryonic stem cells (HESCs) to develop into cells that could potentially be used to repair the musculoskeletal system, including bone, cartilage, and muscle.

Joan Massagué is the recipient of the 2007 Passano Award for the originality and importance of his work elucidating the mechanism of action for transforming growth factor-beta (TGF-b) signaling.

Johanna Joyce, of the Sloan Kettering Institute's Cancer Biology and Genetics Program, has been named the first incumbent of a Geoffrey Beene Junior Faculty Chair.

Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center chemist Samuel J. Danishefsky will be honored with three major awards this spring. Dr. Danishefsky is the incumbent of a Eugene W. Kettering Chair and a member of the Molecular Pharmacology and Chemistry Program in the Sloan Kettering Institute.

The inaugural Vilcek Prize in Biomedical Research has been awarded by The Vilcek Foundation to Joan Massagué, Chairman of the Sloan Kettering Institute's Cancer Biology and Genetics Program.

From antibiotics to painkillers to cancer drugs, many molecules found in nature have proven to be remedies for human disease. At Memorial Sloan Kettering, a handful of drugs now in clinical trials have been derived from sources ranging from microorganisms to plants to marine creatures. The theory behind the development of drugs from natural products is that these molecules inherently have some kind of biological function, and that function can be enhanced and exploited to develop effective treatments for patients.

Scientists at Sloan Kettering Institute have discovered that the α6ß4 integrin, one of several receptor proteins, plays a key role in signaling for the formation of new blood vessels for a tumor, a process called tumor angiogenesis. By blocking the signaling activity of the α6ß4 subunit of this integrin on vascular cells, researchers found they could slow the growth of tumors.