New members of the editorial board – Personal profiles

Alberto Bardelli Associate Professor at University of Torino, Dept. of Oncology and Director of the Laboratory of Molecular Genetics at the Candiolo Cancer Institute-IRCCS, Candiolo (Torino). Prof Bardelli received a PhD in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology at UCL (London, UK) in 1996. As a post doc at the Howard Hughes Medical Institute at the Johns Hopkins University (Baltimore, USA), in the group led by Bert Vogelstein, he has developed the first comprehensive mutational profile of kinases in CRCs. As an independent investigator Prof Bardelli has then translated these findings into clinical practice by discovering that K-RAS (B-RAF) mutations impart resistance to EGFR-targeted agents. These findings were later confirmed by independent laboratories with such compelling evidence that they were rapidly translated into clinically applicable predictive biomarkers (genomic signatures) currently used to select patients for anti EGFR therapy. Recently, prof Bardelli's work has defined mechanisms of acquired resistance to anti EGFR therapies in colorectal cancer patients thus providing insights into new therapies aimed at overcoming resistance. These studies involve an innovative methodology – named liquid biopsy – which allows the use of circulating tumor DNA to monitor patient's response using a blood draw. Klaus Pantel Prof Klaus Pantel graduated in 1986 from Cologne University in Germany and completed his thesis on mathematical modelling of hematopoiesis in 1987. After his postdoctoral period in the USA on hematopoietic stem cell regulation (Wayne State University, Detroit), he performed research on cancer micrometastasis at the Institute of Immunology, University of Munich for 10 years. Currently, Prof Pantel is Chairman of the Institute of Tumour Biology at the University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf. The institute is part of the University Cancer Center Hamburg (UCCH). The pioneer work of Prof Pantel in the field of cancer micrometastasis, circulating tumor cells and circulating nucleic acids (ctDNA, microRNAs) is reflected by more than 300 publications in excellent high ranking biomedical and scientific journals (incl. NEJM, Lancet, Nature Journals, Cancer Cell, PNAS, JCO, JNCI, Cancer Res.) and has been awarded recently (AACR Outstanding Investigator Award 2010, German Cancer Award 2010, ERC Advanced Investigator Grant 2011). Moreover, Prof Pantel was co-ordinator of the FP6 EU STREP “DISMAL” (Disseminated Malignancies, www.dismal-project.eu), coordinates now the European TRANSCAN group “CTC-SCAN” and serves on the Editorial Boards of international cancer journals (e.g., Clin. Cancer Res., Breast Cancer Res., Cancer Res.). Dr. Paul Spellman Professor, Department of Molecular and Medical Genetics, Knight Cancer Institute, Oregon Health & Science University, Portland, OR, USA. Dr. Paul Spellman is a Professor of Molecular and Medical Genetics at Oregon Health & Science University in Portland, Oregon and is the Program Lead in Quantitative Oncology within the Knight Cancer Institute working to integrate data intensive sciences into cancer research. Dr. Spellman received his Ph.D. in Genetics from the Stanford University School of Medicine in 2000 and was a postdoctoral fellow at UC Berkeley. Dr. Spellman was a Scientist and later Staff Scientist at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory from 2003 until 2011. In 2011 he was Special Assistant to the Deputy Director of the NCI before joining Oregon Health & Science University that same year as an Associate Professor. In 2013 Dr. Spellman was promoted to Professor. Dr. Spellman interests are in using genetic, genomic, and proteomic data to understand and model the biology of cancer with the goal of effectively deploying therapeutic agents in the age of molecularly guided medicine. Members of his lab use a combination of conventional molecular biology, high throughput genomic and proteomic assays, and bioinformatic analyses in their work. Dr. Spellman has been a leader in genomic technologies for nearly 20 years with a focus on application to driving scientific questions. Dr. Spellman is a member of both The Cancer Genome Atlas and the International Cancer Genomics Consortium. Other recent areas of research include predictors of therapeutic response in breast cancer; the systematic reconstruction of aberrant signaling networks in cancer; and the development of methods to infer early events in tumors. In total Dr. Spellman has authored 86 papers and reviews and is the PI of three NIH grants. Dr. Spellman serves as an advisor to NIH in various capacities. Currently, Dr. Spellman is a permanent member of the Cancer Genetics study section and serves on the National Cancer Advisory Board, ad hoc Information Technology Working Group. In addition, Dr. Spellman is an internal member of the advisory board for the Pacific Northwest Prostate Cancer SPORE and as an external advisor to the Canadian Prostate Cancer Genome Network. Karen Vousden Professor Karen Vousden is the Director of the Cancer Research UK Beatson Institute in Glasgow. The Beatson Institute carries out a program of world-class science directed at understanding key aspects of cancer cell behavior and provides a state of the art facility where basic and clinical scientists can work together to translate these discoveries into new therapies and diagnostic/prognostic tools to help cancer patients. Karen's own research focuses on the tumour suppressor protein p53, which plays an important role in cancer prevention. Karen's lab is interested in understanding the signals that induce p53 and the functions of p53 that contribute to its ability to prevent cancer progression. Ultimately, they hope to be able find ways to use an understanding of the p53 pathway for cancer therapy. Karen received her Ph.D. in Genetics from the University of London, followed by postdoctoral fellowships with Chris Marshall at the Institute of Cancer Research in London and Douglas Lowy at the National Cancer Institute in the USA. She then became head of the Human Papillomavirus group the Ludwig Institute for Cancer Research in London before moving back to the NCI in 1995, where she was Director of the Molecular Virology and Carcinogenesis Section at the ABL-Basic Research programme and then Chief of the Regulation of Cell Growth Laboratory. She took up her current position in 2002. Karen has been elected as a fellow of the Royal Society, the Royal Society of Edinburgh, EMBO, the Academy of Medical Sciences, the European Academy of Sciences and the American Association for the Advancement of Science. She has also received honorary DScs from the Universities of London and Strathclyde. Karen's awards include the Tenovus Gold Medal, the Sir Frederick Gowland Hopkins Medal, the Royal Medal from the Royal Society of Edinburgh and she was made a Commander of the British Empire for services to clinical science. She is presently on the Board of Directors of the AACR.

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