Geoff Wahl - foundational research and cancer. Performance Around the Clock episode 36.

About this episode

In this episode, Dr. Panda interviews Professor Geoff Wahl about foundational cancer research and its implications for treatment.

Welcome to episode 36 of the Performance Around the Clock podcast. In this episode, Dr. Panda hosts Professor Geoff Wahl who is a renowned cancer scientist who conducted foundational research at the Salk Institute for 46 years. His long history in cancer research has focused on understanding the fundamental cellular and genetic mechanisms driving cancer, with an emphasis on the role of stem cells and the p53 tumor suppressor gene in breast and pancreatic cancers. Dr. Wahl also served as the president of the American Association of Cancer Research (AACR), utilizing the position to raise public awareness of the terrible toll of cancer and increase grassroots funding for research. Here, Professor Wahl highlights the crucial role of "foundational research" in combating cancer - explaining that cancer is a group of diseases, not a single one, where cells lose the ability to regulate division, with the most lethal factor being metastatic spread to distant organs. While research in breast cancer has led to effective targeted therapies for primary tumors, like Herceptin for HER2-positive cancers, there is a critical need for more research funding and a greater focus on…

People in this episode

Host: Dr. Satchin Panda

Guest: Professor Geoff Wahl

Topics covered

• cancer research
• foundational research
• stem cells
• p53 tumor suppressor gene
• metastatic cancer
• research funding

Keywords

• cancer
• research
• stem cells
• p53
• metastasis
• funding
• breast cancer
• pancreatic cancer

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: Salk Institute, American Association of Cancer Research

Products: Herceptin, Gleevec

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