Peter Jones receives prestigious award for cancer research
He shares the award with Stephen B. Baylin, professor of oncology at Johns Hopkins University.
The Landon-AACR prizes are recognized as among the most prestigious international awards given to cancer researchers by a professional society of their peers. Honorees receive an unrestricted cash prize of $100,000 per award. The prize will be awarded on April 20 at the AACR 100th Annual Meeting 2009, held in Denver, Colorado. Jones will present a special lecture during the meeting.
Jones and Baylin were selected for the basic cancer research prize for their work in the emerging field of epigenetics. Researchers have determined that there is a second layer of genetic information not contained in DNA, but rather embedded in the proteins that package or surround DNA. These “epigenomes” control access to genes, allowing each cell type to activate its own genes while blocking most of the rest. The Landon-AACR prize cites Jones and Baylin for their work in establishing that there is a major epigenetic component in cancer causation and malignant cell growth.
“It’s very rare in science that you can say the work of individual investigators revolutionizes cancer research, but Peter Jones and Stephen Baylin have achieved that kind of paradigm shift,” said AACR chief executive officer, Margaret Foti. “Their work has changed the way we view molecular causation from a genetic to an epigenetic focus. The potential impact of this work is enormous, and it is already resulting in significant improvements in cancer diagnosis and therapy.”
Jones, a past president of the AACR, serves as senior editor of the journal Cancer Research. He has received a variety of honors, including the Outstanding Investigator Grant from the National Cancer Institute. He holds the H. Leslie Hoffman and Elaine S. Hoffman Chair in Cancer Research at the Keck School. Jones is the author of more than 250 journal articles and book chapters. He serves on several national and international committees, panels and editorial boards. He was raised in South Africa and received his doctorate degree from the University of London in 1973.
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The Chronicle of Higher Education mentioned USC’s $6 billion fundraising campaign. The story noted that USC had already raised $1 billion in a “quiet phase,” including the $200 million naming gift from USC Trustee and alumnus David Dornsife and wife Dana Dornsife to the USC Dornsife College.
The Guardian (U.K.) highlighted two major gifts to USC in a list of the 10 biggest philanthropic benefactors in America. The list included the $200 million naming gift from USC Trustee and alumnus David Dornsife and wife Dana Dornsife to the USC Dornsife College, and the $110 million gift from USC Trustee and USC Viterbi School alumnus John Mork and wife Julie to create the USC Mork Family Scholars Program.
The New York Times featured the USC U.S.-China Institute documentary “Assignment: China — The Week that Changed the World.” The documentary, part of a series, examines media coverage of the 1972 Nixon trip that reshaped U.S.-China relations after a quarter century of isolation and hostility. “People look back now and take it for granted that the outcome was preordained,” said the institute’s Mike Chinoy, who produced the documentary. Voice of America also featured the story.
Los Angeles Times featured the Oscar Senti-meter, a tool developed by the USC Annenberg School, Los Angeles Times and IBM that analyzes thousands of tweets about the Academy Awards nominees. The story noted that Mexican actor Demian Bechir received an enormous boost on Twitter the day of the nominations, with a total of 6,893 tweets mentioning him, a 47-fold increase from the day before. The story noted the tool uses language-recognition technology developed in collaboration with USC Viterbi School’s Signal Analysis and Interpretation Lab.
The Times of India (India) featured a three-day medical emergency training workshop organized in association with USC. At the workshop, held at GCS Medical College in India, 50 doctors and more than 100 paramedics learned how to improve emergency support systems. William Mallon of the Keck School of USC said that discussion topics included the use of portable ultrasonic devices to scan patients. “The ultrasound applications help physicians make accurate and timely decisions,” he noted. Daily News & Analysis (India) also featured the workshop.
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