Beckman Symposium 2008 - Cancer and Stem Cells

February 4, 2008 | Clark Auditorium

A.M.

8:45 Lucy Shapiro, Stanford University Director, Beckman Center for Molecular & Genetic Medicine, Professor of Developmental Biology Welcome!
9:00 Irving Weissman, Stanford University Director, Institute of Stem Cell Biology & Regenerative Medicine Normal and Neoplastic Stem Cells
9:40 A. Thomas Look, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute Harvard Medical School Professor of Pediatrics Capitalizing on the Zebrafish to Uncover Novel Apoptotic Pathways Important in Human Cancer
10:20   BREAK  
10:30 Philip Beachy, Howard Hughes Medical Institute HHMI Investigator & Professor of Developmental Biology Hedgehog Signaling in Development and Neoplasia
11:10 Tannishtha Reya, Duke University Medical Center Assistant Professor of Pharmacology & Cancer Biology Imaging Asymmetric Division in Stem Cells and Cancer
11:50   LUNCH  

P.M.

1:00 Andrew Fire, Stanford University Professor of Pathology & Genetics From Weismann's Dichotomy to Virchow's Substitution: Some Mysteries of Cellular Identity and Mis-Identity
1:40 Michael Clarke, Stanford University Associate Director, Stanford Institute for Stem Cell & Regenerative Medicine, Professor of Medicine Self-Renewal Pathways in Normal Stem Cells and Cancer
2:20 Owen Witte, UCLA Howard Hughes Medical Institute HHMI Investigator, Director of the Institute for Stem Cell Biology & Medicine, Professor of Microbiology, Immunology & Molecular Genetics Regulation of Prostate Cancer Development
3:00   BREAK  
3:10 Margaret Fuller, Stanford University Professor of Developmental Biology & Genetics Regulation of Self-Renewal and Differentiation in Tissue Stem Cells
3:50 Hans Clevers, Utrecht University and the Hubrecht Institute, The Netherlands Director, Hubrecht Institute for Developmental Biology & Stem Cell Research, Professor of Immunology & Molecular Genetics The Wnt Target Gene Lgr5: A Marker for Adult Stem Cells in Multiple Tissues
4:30 Roeland Nusse, Stanford University HHMI Investigator, Chair and Professor of Developmental Biology Closing Remarks

Speaker Profiles

Philip Beachy is a Howard Hughes Medical Institute Investigator and the Ernest and Amelia Gallo Professor of Developmental Biology at the Stanford University School of Medicine. He studies the normal functions of secreted protein signals, such as those of the Hedgehog family, in establishment and maintenance of tissue pattern and the pathological roles of such signaling pathways in cancer growth.

Michael Clarke is the Karel H. and Avice N. Beekhuis Professor in Cancer Biology in the Department of Medicine (Oncology) and the Associate Director of the Stanford Institute for Stem Cell and Regenerative Medicine at the Stanford University School of Medicine. His laboratory focuses on two areas of research: i) the control of self-renewal of normal stem cells and their malignant counterparts; ii) the identification and characterization of cancer stem cells.

Hans Clevers is Professor of Immunology and of Molecular Genetics at the Utrecht University Medical School. He is also Director of the Hubrecht Institute of Developmental Biology and Stem Cell Research in Utrecht. His laboratory is investigating the role of T cell specific transcription factors as mediators of Wnt signaling in development and cancer.

Andrew Fire is Professor of Pathology and Genetics at the Stanford University School of Medicine. His laboratory studies the mechanisms by which cells and organisms respond to genetic change. Much of the current effort in his laboratory is directed toward a molecular understanding of the RNAi machinery and its roles in the cell. The lab is also directing its attention to the identification of other triggers and mechanisms used in recognition and response to foreign information. Dr. Fire was awarded the 2006 Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine, along with Craig Mello, for their discovery of RNA interference (RNAi).

Margaret Fuller is the Reed-Hodgson Professor in Human Biology in the Departments of Developmental Biology and Genetics at the Stanford University School of Medicine. The central focus of her research involves the use of the Drosophila male germ line to identify the mechanisms that regulate stem cell behavior. Her laboratory is also studying the mechanisms by which fundamental cellular functions such as the cell cycle, the cytoskeleton, and the general transcription machinery give rise to specialized cell types during cellular differentiation.

Thomas Look is Professor of Pediatrics at the Harvard Medical School and a member of the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute. His research involves the use of zebrafish, in combination with murine and cell culture systems, to dissect developmental pathways subverted in human cancer. His research group is using transgenic strategies to generate conditional zebrafish models of leukemias and solid tumors.

Tannishtha Reya is Assistant Professor of Pharmacology and Cancer Biology at Duke University Medical Center. Her laboratory seeks to elucidate the signaling pathways that regulate stem cell fate and self-renewal. She has focused specifically on the Wnt signaling pathway, which is a critical regulator of normal growth and development, and a major target of mutation in human cancer. In addition, she is interested in the relationship between normal self-renewal in stem cells and the dysregulated self-renewal that occurs in cancer.

Irving Weissman is the Virginia & D.K. Ludwig Professor for Clinical Investigation in Cancer Research, in the Departments of Pathology and Developmental Biology, and Director of both the Cancer Center and the Institute for Stem Cell Biology and Regenerative Medicine at the Stanford University School of Medicine. His research encompasses the developmental biology, self-renewal, homing, and functions of the cells that make up the blood-forming and immune systems. Dr. Weissman has the distinction of being the first researcher to isolate stem cells in pure form from any tissue in any species.

Owen Witte is a Howard Hughes Medical Institute Investigator and Professor of Microbiology, Immunology, and Molecular Genetics at UCLA where he holds the President's Chair in Developmental Immunology. He is also Professor of Molecular and Medical Pharmacology at the David Geffen School of Medicine, UCLA, and Director of the Institute for Stem Cell Biology and Medicine at UCLA. Dr. Witte is interested in the development of the immune response, growth regulation mechanisms used in leukemias and during metastasis of epithelial cancers to the bone marrow, and the application of new quantitative processes of whole-animal imaging.