Massachusetts Institute of Technology/Whitehead Institute
Landmark discoveries on signaling pathways in cancer
Robert A. Weinberg, PhD, is the Daniel K. Ludwig Professor for Cancer Research
at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and a founding member
of the Whitehead Institute. His work and accomplishments include:
Discovered the first human oncogene, Ras, and the first tumor suppressor
gene
Coauthored the seminal paper, “The Hallmarks of Cancer,” published
in January 2000 in Cell, that identified the six requirements for one
renegade cell to cause a deadly cancer; in 2011, published an updated
review article entitled “Hallmarks of Cancer: The Next Generation”
Published the landmark research papers, “Mechanism of Activation
of a Human Oncogene” and “Creation of Human Tumor Cells with
Defined Genetic Elements,” both in the journal Nature
Research focused on the interactions between epithelial and stromal
cells (the two major types of cells found in mammalian tissue) that
produce carcinomas and the processes by which cancer cells invade
and metastasize
Explored the mechanisms by which tumors reactivate transcription
factors that control invasion and metastasis; if these transcription
factors can be exploited, researchers might determine how primary
tumor cells disseminate through the body and seed cancer cells