AACR to honor Titia de Lange, PhD, FAACR, for extraordinary achievement in cancer research
Click Here to Manage Email Alerts
Titia de Lange, PhD, FAACR, will be awarded the 2024 Pezcoller Foundation-AACR International Award for Extraordinary Achievement in Cancer Research during the American Association for Cancer Research Annual Meeting in San Diego.
The award recognizes researchers who have made a major scientific discovery in basic or translational cancer research, according to a press release.
De Lange, a Leon Hess professor, head of the laboratory of cell biology and genetics, and director of the Anderson Center for Cancer Research at The Rockefeller University in New York, is being honored for her discovery in the “molecular mechanisms by which telomeres protect chromosome ends, characterizing the function of the shelterin protein complex, and demonstrating how loss of telomere protection results in aberrant genomic integrity and tumorigenesis,” according to the release.
She also discovered a potential cancer-causing mechanism by observing that telomere shortening leads to genomic instability in cells with mutations in the TP53 gene.
“Dr. de Lange’s pioneering research has greatly increased our understanding of how a cell responds when its DNA is damaged,” Margaret Foti, PhD, MD (hc), AACR CEO, said in the release. “Dr. de Lange is a world-renowned expert in how telomeres protect chromosome ends, and her groundbreaking research has provided crucial scientific insights into the development and progression of cancer. The Pezcoller Foundation and the AACR are thrilled to honor her with this prestigious award.”
“We are especially happy and proud that the Pezcoller Foundation-AACR International Award for Extraordinary Achievement in Cancer Research has been given this year to Dr. de Lange for her highly impactful research on telomeres that has defined the role of the shelterin protein complex in cancer initiation and progression,” Enzo Galligioni, MD, president of the Pezcoller Foundation, said in the release. “The Pezcoller Foundation, in partnership with AACR, has been recognizing the best cancer researchers with this award for more than 25 years — including three future Nobel laureates. It is notable that the research that earned Dr. de Lange this year’s prize is in telomeres. In 2001, [Elizabeth Blackburn, PhD,] won the Pezcoller Foundation-AACR International Award for Extraordinary Achievement in Cancer Research for her trailblazing work in the same field; in 2009, she received the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for her discoveries.”
De Lange has been a member of the AACR since 2010 and was elected as a fellow in 2014. She has served as cochair of the AACR Annual Meeting Program Committee and member of the AACR Annual Meeting Education Committee. Additionally, de Lange received the AACR-G.H.A. Clowes Award for Outstanding Basic Cancer Research in 2010 and the AACR-Women in Cancer Research Charlotte Friend Lectureship in 2004.
Read more about
Click Here to Manage Email Alerts