Notch Signaling in Leukemia, Oct. 13 Seminar
Join the BUSM Pulmonary Center on Wednesday, Oct. 13, as it hosts distinguished visitor, Dr. Jon C. Aster, MD, PhD, an Associate Professor in the Department of Pathology of Harvard Medical School’s Brigham & Women’s Hospital. Dr. Aster will speak on the biology of Notch, specifically “Notch Signaling in Leukemia.” This seminar will be held in the Housman Research (R) building, Conference room R-309, from 9 – 10 a.m.
Since the early 1990s, Dr. Aster has been interested in the molecular biology of cancers of the blood and blood-forming elements. Notch signaling regulates normal behavior and often go awry in cancer. Dr. Aster’s laboratory published a seminal paper in Science in 2004 that described the discovery of mutations in the Notch1 receptor in T-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia (T-ALL). These mutations increase Notch signaling and drive the growth of the leukemia cells. To date, this finding remains the best example of an abnormality in the Notch pathway that leads to a human cancer.
Dr. Aster heads an NCI-funded Notch program project grant centered on the role of Notch signaling in lymphocyte development and leukemia. Current activities include studies aimed at the development of novel inhibitors that are selective for Notch1; and the identification and application of small molecules that act synergistically with Notch pathway inhibitors against tumor cells that depend on Notch signals.