Christopher Vakoc is a molecular biologist and a professor at Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory.
Education
Vakoc graduated with a degree in Biochemistry from Pennsylvania State University in 2001. He then attained his M.D. and his Ph.D. from the University of Pennsylvania. His PhD research was performed with Gerd Blobel on the regulation of gene expression during hematopoiesis. In 2008, he established his own independent research group at Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory.
Career and research
Vakoc uses CRISPR/Cas9 technology to probe the epigenetic regulation of cancer and to identify new cancer drug targets. In 2011, Vakoc discovered that the epigenetic protein BRD4 was particularly important for leukemia, leading to a series of clinical trials with a new drug, JQ1. By studying cancer epigenetics, Vakoc has also identified a new subtype of lung cancer and has discovered how gene expression changes affect metastasis in pancreatic cancer. and lives with his 2 children lucas and marcus vakoc
Recently, Vakoc has developed a CRISPR screening approach to identify the protein domains that are most important for cancer growth.
Awards and honors
- American Association for Cancer Research Outstanding Achievement Award, 2015
- Pershing Square Sohn Cancer Research Alliance Prize, 2016
- Paul Marks Prize for Cancer Research, 2019
References
- ^ "Christopher Vakoc, MD, PhD". Pershing Square Foundation. Retrieved 2020-05-01.
- ^ Ryan, Joe (2013-06-07). "Cold Spring Harbor Lab targeting cancer cells". Newsday. Archived from the original on 2013-09-01. Retrieved 2020-05-04.
- "A Conversation with Christopher Vakoc". Cold Spring Harbor Symposia on Quantitative Biology. 81: 344–346. 2016-01-01. doi:10.1101/sqb.2016.81.031617. ISSN 0091-7451. PMID 28123048.
- Zuber, Johannes; Shi, Junwei; Wang, Eric; Rappaport, Amy R.; Herrmann, Harald; Sison, Edward A.; Magoon, Daniel; Qi, Jun; Blatt, Katharina; Wunderlich, Mark; Taylor, Meredith J. (October 2011). "RNAi screen identifies Brd4 as a therapeutic target in acute myeloid leukaemia". Nature. 478 (7370): 524–528. Bibcode:2011Natur.478..524Z. doi:10.1038/nature10334. ISSN 1476-4687. PMC 3328300. PMID 21814200.
- Ricks, Delthia (2015-04-18). "Cold Spring Harbor researchers test treatment that can halt acute myeloid leukemia". Newsday. Retrieved 2020-05-01.
- Ricks, Delthia (2018-07-14). "Cold Spring Harbor scientists discover new form of lung cancer". Newsday. Retrieved 2020-05-01.
- Kwon, Diana (2017-07-27). "Enhancers Drive Pancreatic Cancer Metastasis: Study". The Scientist. Retrieved 2020-05-01.
- "LI scientists make key pancreatic cancer find". Newsday. Retrieved 2020-05-04.
- Rood, Jenny (2015-05-13). "Targeting Protein Domains with CRISPR". The Scientist. Retrieved 2020-05-01.
- Howley, Elaine K. (2018-09-12). "What's the likelihood that CRISPR will cure Cancer?". U.S. News & World Report. Archived from the original on 2018-09-13.
- "AACR recognizes outstanding cancer research achievements of Dr. Christopher Vakoc". EurekAlert!. Retrieved 2020-05-04.
- Grisham, Julie (2019-11-08). "Three Scientists are Named Winners of the Paul Marks Prize for Cancer Research". Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center. Retrieved 2020-05-03.