Tony Hunter and Raymond N. DuBois awarded Landon-AACR Prizes for Cance...( Two scientists whose landmark discoveri...)

These prizes, offered by the Kirk A. and Dorothy P. Landon Foundation and the American Association for Cancer Research, are the largest offered to cancer researchers from a professional society of their peers. Each recipient receives an unrestricted cash award of $200,000 and presents a scientific lecture at the AACR Annual Meeting, held this year from March 27-31 in Orlando, Florida.

This year's winners are:

• Tony Hunter, Ph.D., professor of molecular and cell biology at The Salk Institute for Biological Studies in La Jolla, Calif., who has been awarded the Kirk A. Landon-AACR Prize for Basic Research; and
• Raymond N. DuBois, M.D., Ph.D., the Hortense B. Ingram Professor of Molecular Oncology and the Vanderbilt-Ingram Cancer Center's associate director for cancer prevention, control and population-based research, in Nashville, Tenn., who has been awarded the Dorothy P. Landon-AACR Prize for Translational Cancer Research.

"The work of these two scientists has resulted in significant breakthroughs in our understanding, treatment and prevention of cancer today," said Margaret Foti, Ph.D., M.D. (h.c.), AACR's chief executive officer. "We are very proud to present such prestigious prizes for basic and translational research to such outstanding scientists."

Since 1979, Tony Hunter has been investigating the role of critical molecular signals in the regulation, development and growth of cells and what happens when this process goes awry in cancer. Among other significant findings, Hunter discovered how phosphate molecules stimulate cell growth when they are attached to proteins by enzymes called tyrosine kinases. Hunter's work has led to intensive study of these kinases worldwide, which ultimately y
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Contact: Warren Froelich
froelich@aacr.org
215-440-9300
American Association for Cancer Research
1-Mar-2004