Distinguished Scientist Award Recipients
Mollie K. Meffert, M.D., Ph.D.
Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine
2005 Distinguished Scientist Award
Education:
Stanford University, M.S. & B.S., 1990, Biology, Neuroscience
Stanford University School of Medicine, M.D. & Ph.D., 1997, Medicine, Neuroscience
California Institute of Technology, 1998-2004, Postdoctoral Fellow, Dr. David Baltimore
-- Dr. Mollie K. Meffert
About Dr. Meffert's Research:
Cancer is thought to develop in phases. An initiating event, generally involving genetic damage, is followed by a promotion phase involving proliferation of initiated pre-cancerous cells and the possibility of incurring additional genetic mutations. The NF-kB proteins regulate transcription and are key players in tumor promotion in many tissues. NF-kB activation not only increases the expression of genes causing cells to grow and multiply, but also inhibits cell death by inducing death-suppressing genes. In healthy tissue, NF-kB contributes to cell survival and defense from toxic stimuli. However, uncontrolled NF-kB activation is found in tumors from many different tissues and can essentially "immortalize" cells as well as rendering them resistant to chemo- or radiotherapy. Components of the NF-kB signaling pathway are therefore attractive therapeutic targets for multiple cancers. Recently, uncontrolled NF-kB activation was documented in both glioblastoma and neuroblastoma tumors, indicating that it may feature prominently in tumor biology of the central nervous system (CNS) as well. However, NF-kB's role in apoptosis and proliferation within the CNS is far less clear than in other tissues since both pro-death and pro-survival functions have been reported. This proposal aims to shed light on the puzzle of how NF-kB regulates survival and proliferation in the brain by investigating the possibility that different outcomes could result from NF-kB activation in distinct cell types and pathways. Ultimately, our goal is to gain insights that provide direction for achieving specificity in therapeutic efforts to target NF-kB in CNS tumors while minimizing adverse effects on healthy tissue.
Accolades:
"Mollie is both an effective and dedicated bench scientist and a thoughtful analyst of the meaning of her results. She is fully prepared to make discoveries that will materially move neuroscience ahead."
--David Baltimore, Ph.D.
California Institute of Technology, Pasadena
"I would describe Mollie as being the most open minded and the most willing and able to chart a new scientific direction with a great deal of independence... . She will aggressively and successfully pursue important cancer research."
-- Howard Schulman, Ph.D.
SurroMed. LLC
