22nd Annual Genetics Day
Friday, May 7, 2010
University of Rochester Medical Center
schedule | PHOTOS | POSTER PRIZE WINNERS
8th Annual Fred Sherman Lecture, Dr. Stuart Schreiber
"Relating the genetic features of cancers to drug efficacies using small-molecule probes"
Stuart L. Schreiber
Background materials
Abstract: The ability to understand and to modulate cancer genomes provides a radically new
foundation for creating the medicines we’ve only imagined since declaring the war on
cancer decades earlier – the ones needed to take out this disease. We’ve learned the
power of linking genetic signatures of cancers to drug sensitivities – and that the
extraordinary consequences of exemplars like imatinib/Gleevec are not restricted to this
drug and its genetically matched leukemia, CML. Recent studies, for example, show
unprecedented response rates with genetically matched drugs targeting extremely
challenging cancers such as melanoma. These advances are encouraging, but they still
only affect a tiny subset of patients suffering today from cancer. So where do we go
from here, how do we exploit our new foundation and insights comprehensively so that
all cancer patients are affected?
We must exploit this unprecedented opportunity for treating cancer rapidly and
effectively. So, we must be wise in planning our next steps. In my lecture, I will offer one
simple idea. I find this idea attractive since it addresses the challenge comprehensively
and it is on a direct path to cancer patients. In fact, it’s an idea that starts with patients.
