Abstract: Series 101, Lecture 1
The Harvey Lectures Series 101 (2005—2006)
Lecture #1: Thursday, October 13, 2005 — Time and Location
Modeling Cancer in the Mouse
Tyler E Jacks, PhD
David H Koch Professor of Biology
Director, Center for Cancer Research
Investigator, Howard Hughes Medical Institute
Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Cambridge, Massachusetts
My laboratory is interested in the genetic events that contribute to the development of cancer. The focus of our research is a series of mouse strains engineered to carry mutations in genes known to be involved in human cancer. Using conventional and conditional loss-of-function and gainof-function mutations in various tumor suppressor genes as well as the K-ras oncogene, we have constructed mouse models of lung cancer, pancreatic cancer, astrocytoma, endometroid ovarian cancer, retinoblastoma, and tumors of the peripheral nervous system. We also study the effects of these mutations on normal embryonic development and use cells derived from mutant animals to study the function of these genes in cell culture models. This lecture will focus on new approaches in genetic manipulation of the mouse to construct more accurate models of human cancer as well as the use of these models for dissecting the factors that control tumor initiation and progression; new methods of in vivo imaging and early detection; and the use of mouse models for pre-clinical evaluation of anti-cancer agents.
Lecture Sponsor: Aureon Laboratories
