Since 1991, overall cancer death rates in the U.S. have fallen 33%. This is due in no small part to fundamental biology research. Some of the first mutant human oncogenes were discovered at Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory (CSHL) in the early 1980s. Less than a decade later, BRCA1, the first inheritable gene associated with breast cancer, was identified at UC Berkeley. Thanks to advancements like these, cancer is no longer the death sentence it once was. Today, we understand cancer’s genetic risk factors like never before. And many cancers, when detected early, can effectively be cured.
This spring, the brains behind these discoveries and many other monumental breakthroughs reunited at CSHL for Cancer Genetics: History & Consequences. Want to hear directly from Mary-Claire King, the geneticist who discovered BRCA1 in 1990? How about 2009 Nobel laureate Carol Greider? And let’s not forget Stephen Elledge, who discovered DNA damage response, or Brian Druker, who developed the first medicine to target specific cancer cells for the treatment of chronic myeloid leukemia.
Press play to meet with some of cancer genetics’ leading minds and see what happens when they come together for science and society.