Leading researchers honored for progress in cancer prevention, detection and treatment

Lawrence A. Loeb, M.D., Ph.D., professor of pathology and biochemistry at the University of Washington in Seattle is the recipient of this year’s AACR Princess Takamatsu Memorial Lectureship. Loeb is honored for his distinguished career in cancer research, as well as his work in actively promoting collaboration in cancer research between American and Japanese investigators. Supported by the Princess Takamatsu Cancer Research Fund, the lectureship was established in 2007 in honor of the late Princess Takamatsu of Japan and recognizes an individual scientist whose novel and significant work has had or may have a far-reaching impact on the detection, diagnosis, treatment, or prevention of cancer, and who embodies the dedication of the Princess to multinational collaborations. Loeb will present his award lecture on Tuesday, April 15th at 1:15 p.m. in Room 20A-C of the convention center.

Daniel Pinkel, Ph.D., professor-in-residence at the University of California San Francisco Helen Diller Family Comprehensive Cancer Center and senior scientist Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory will be honored, along with his distinguished team of researchers with the 2nd Annual AACR Team Science Award, recognizing an outstanding interdisciplinary research team for its innovation in advancing cancer research, detection, diagnosis, prevention, and treatment. Established by the AACR and generously supported by a grant from Eli Lilly and Company, the award acknowledges the growing importance of interdisciplinary team collaboration to the understanding of cancer and the translation of research discoveries into clinical applications. Pinkel’s team consisting of M.D.’s, physicists, biochemists, statisticians, computer scientists and engineers is being recognized for their conception, technical implementation, dissemination and pioneering applications of comparative genomic hybridization (CGH) and array CGH in the field of molecular biology and genetics. Team members include: faculty- level team members Donna Albertson, Jane Fridlyand, Joe Gray, Ajay Jain, Robert Nordmeyer, Norma Nowak, Damir Sudar, Frederic Waldman; and pre-faculty team members Anne Kallioniemi, Olli Kallioniemi and Antoine Snijders. For complete information on the winning team, please visit our website.

For additional information on this year’s honorees, high-resolution photographs and complete award citations, contact Jennifer Ryan at or 267-646-0558.

The mission of the American Association for Cancer Research is to prevent and cure cancer. Founded in 1907, AACR is the world's oldest and largest professional organization dedicated to advancing cancer research. The membership includes over 26,000 basic, translational, and clinical researchers; health care professionals; and cancer survivors and advocates in the United States and more than 70 other countries. AACR marshals the full spectrum of expertise from the cancer community to accelerate progress in the etiology, prevention, diagnosis and treatment of cancer through high-quality scientific and educational programs. It funds innovative, meritorious research grants. The AACR Annual Meeting attracts more than 17,000 participants who share the latest discoveries and developments in the field. Special Conferences throughout the year present novel data across a wide variety of topics in cancer research, treatment, and patient care. AACR publishes five major peer-reviewed journals: Cancer Research; Clinical Cancer Research; Molecular Cancer Therapeutics; Molecular Cancer Research; and Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers & Prevention. Its most recent publication and its sixth major journal, Cancer Prevention Research, is dedicated exclusively to cancer prevention, from preclinical research to clinical trials. The AACR also publishes CR, a magazine for cancer survivors, patient advocates, their families, physicians, and scientists. CR provides a forum for sharing essential, evidence-based information and perspectives on progress in cancer research, survivorship, and advocacy.