Irving Weissman, M.D., director of the Institute of Cancer/Stem Cell Biology and Medicine at Stanford, will speak at 12:15 p.m. today (Thursday) at the Eppley Science Hall Amphitheater. He is the guest speaker of the Graduate Student Association.
Pizza and soda will be served to the first 100 students who attend the presentation. Dr. Weissman’s presentation will focus on the promise of stem cell research.
In addition to being the director of the Institute for Cancer/Stem Cell Biology and Medicine at Stanford, Dr. Weissman is the Karel and Avice Beekhuis Professor of Cancer Biology and a professor of pathology, developmental biology and, by courtesy, biological sciences.
Dr. Weissman’s lab was the first to isolate in pure form any stem cells from any tissue in any species. The isolation of mouse hematopoietic stem cells (HSC) was followed by the isolation of human HSC.
His lab’s current research encompasses the developmental biology, self-renewal, homing, and functions of the cells that make up the blood-forming and immune systems. The main focus for the past several years has been the purification, biology, transplantation, and evolution of stem cells.
In 2002, Stanford established the Institute for Cancer/Stem Cell Biology and Medicine, a multi-disciplinary initiative that is believed to be the first of its kind in the country. At the institute, basic and clinical scientists are using stem cell biology and cancer biology to develop new cancer treatments, as well as treatments for illnesses such as diabetes, Parkinson’s disease and cardiovascular disease.
In a press release announcing the institute’s formation, Dr. Weissman said research in his lab and elsewhere suggests that in some cancers, such as leukemia, the cancer cells grow and proliferate in much the same way as stem cells. Scientists at the new institute are exploring these similarities with the goal of developing powerful new stem cell-based therapies to treat cancer, he said.