Scientific Report 2005
Message from the Chief Scientific Officer
The Dana-Farber Cancer Institute's mission is to reduce and eventually eliminate the suffering caused by cancer. We believe we can attain this goal through a program of scientific exploration designed to produce more effective treatments and prevention strategies and better ways to deliver them. The Institute's scientific portfolio is diverse and deep, with a hugely talented group of dedicated investigators of world-class expertise. Our laboratory and clinical researchers' interests cover the spectrum of oncology investigation, from uncovering basic mechanisms of cell behavior and genetics in cancer, to translating these discoveries into potential therapies and testing them in patients. Our population science researchers are committed to improving the nation's health by investigating ways to understand and modify cancer risk, and by exploring methods for disseminating optimal cancer therapies to the population at large.
As the Institute has grown, its scientific research program has become large and complex, while external forces have rendered the regulatory environment ever more challenging. In response to these trends, we are determined to make Dana-Farber a congenial place to do science. President Edward Benz Jr., MD, has empowered the Executive Committee for Research, chaired by David Livingston, MD, to help him set scientific priorities and manage resources strategically. The President's Cabinet, a newly formed group of faculty and staff leaders, meets regularly to provide timely advice and feedback on new initiatives. And last year, Dr. Benz created the position of Chief Scientific Officer to provide a mechanism to strengthen our support of scientific programs. Together, these efforts have helped accelerate the pace of discovery in cancer research at Dana-Farber.
Areas of strategic growth
Since the last Scientific Report, published in 2002, the Institute has made a series of strategic recruitments and investments in important scientific areas. Among these is an ongoing effort in systems biology, led by Marc Vidal, PhD, in the Department of Cancer Biology, with the ambitious goal of mapping all protein-protein interactions in normal cells and comparing that normal "interactome" to its counterpart in cancer cells.
To deal with the complexities of systems biology and genomics, the Institute recruited John Quackenbush, PhD, a world-class computational biologist. This decision is part of a commitment by the Institute and the Department of Biostatistics and Computational Biology, led by David Harrington, PhD, to place Dana-Farber in a leadership position in this area. Much of Dr. Quackenbush's program occupies space adjacent to Cancer Biology laboratories - the beginning of our long-term plan to integrate computational biology with wet lab investigation.
Other new areas of growth include proteomics and chemical biology. Our late colleague Stan Korsmeyer, MD, appreciated the need for Dana-Farber to attain leadership in these areas, and the Institute is committed to fulfilling his vision. Jarrod Marto, PhD, was recruited to establish a cutting-edge proteomics program, which has already become an active contributor to the scientific environment here. Nathanael Gray, PhD, former director of biological chemistry at the Genomics Institute of the Novartis Research Foundation, and Ulrike Eggert, PhD, have accepted our offer to develop a program in chemical biology. Our trustees and generous donors made this program possible, and we anticipate its steady growth in the coming years.
In clinical research, George Demetri, MD, has recently begun leadership of the new Ludwig Center for Cancer Research based at Dana-Farber. Not only does this great honor recognize DFCI's ability to perform important clinical research in cancer, it also provides access to a network of investigators and pharmaceutical companies that will allow us to test the most exciting and promising anticancer agents.
In population sciences, the Institute has embarked on a program to understand the basis for racial and ethnic disparities in cancer risk, and to investigate methods for modifying those risks. Under the leadership of Karen Emmons, PhD, this program has recruited new faculty who will apply innovative approaches to these problems in a variety of community settings.
As described in detail elsewhere in this report, the Institute has created several new centers as part of our Strategic Plan for Research. These centers are multidisciplinary groups that bring together scientists interested in working toward the development of novel cancer treatments. The centers run the gamut from very basic investigation (the Center for Cancer Genome Discovery) to clinical application (the Center for Clinical and Translational Research). The center structure has provided new opportunities for Dana-Farber scientists to combine their talents toward our mission of reducing the burden of cancer, while simultaneously allowing us to continue the unfettered scientific research that has been so successful in discovering basic mechanisms that underlie cancer.
Faculty honored for accomplishments
In addition to investigators' success in attracting funding for their work, several of our scientific faculty have been honored in various ways during the past four years. Harvey Cantor, MD, and Bruce Spiegelman, PhD, were elected to membership in the National Academy of Sciences, and Ronald DePinho, MD, to the Institute of Medicine of the National Academies. In 2003, Dr. Spiegelman won the Bristol-Myers Squibb Freedom to Discover Award for Distinguished Achievement in Metabolic Research, while Dr. DePinho earned the prestigious GHA Clowes Memorial Award from the American Association for Cancer Research (AACR); Dr. Livingston received the Clowes Award in 2005. In 2004, Emil Frei III, MD, won the AACR Award for Lifetime Achievement in Cancer Research, and Dr. Korsmeyer received the Pezcoller Foundation-AACR International Award for Cancer Research. Dr. Benz was elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. This is only a small sampling of the honors our faculty have received in recognition of their talents and accomplishments.
We are living in an extraordinary time in the history of cancer research, witnessing an explosion of knowledge about the mechanisms of malignant transformation. Our faculty are poised to continue discovery efforts while applying new knowledge to the treatment of cancer. This report will give you a sense of the Institute's scientific advances over the past three years and where we are going from here.
Barrett J. Rollins, MD, PhD
Chief Scientific Officer, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute
