
Robert Benezra, PhD
If not for the support of BCRF/PFP, we would not have had the resources to develop a novel targeted therapy for treating breast cancer metastasis that is now being readied for use in the clinic.
Member, Department of Cancer Biology and Genetics
Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center
New York, New York
Areas of Focus: Metastasis, Treatment and Tumor Biology
The Play for P.I.N.K. Award in memory of Doris L. Mortman
Current Research:
- Studies are focused on new therapeutic targets to treat aggressive breast cancers.
- Laboratory experiments are testing a new drug called AGX-51 and identify potential combinations to enhance cancer cell killing.
- These studies may lead to new combination approaches to improve response to therapy and patient outcomes.
BIO
Robert Benezra, PhD, is a Member at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer in the Department of Cell Biology and a Professor of Biology at Cornell Graduate School of Medical Sciences in New York City. As a postdoctoral fellow he identified the Id proteins as dominant negative regulators of the helix-loop-helix protein family and has since gone on to identify these proteins as key regulators of tumor growth, angiogenesis and metastasis. In addition, while at Sloan Kettering, Benezra and his colleagues identified the first human mitotic checkpoint gene, hsMad2, and demonstrated that its deregulation leads to chromosome instability, tumor progression and drug resistance. His program continues to focus on the molecular basis of tumor angiogenesis, tumor instability and metastasis. His current project supported by BCRF is to characterize and exploit a subset of patients’ own white blood cells, called neutrophils, that act to inhibit early spread of breast cancer cells to distant organs.