National   

Ranbaxy Award for Cambridge cancer scientist

Ashok Venkitaraman

CHENNAI: Ashok Venkitaraman, a cancer scientist at the University of Cambridge, will receive this year’s medical research award from the Ranbaxy Foundation.

He has been singled out for work which uncovered how mutations in certain genes could make people more susceptible to cancer.

The award will be presented at a function in New Delhi on January 14.

A specialist on the genetic basis of cancer, Prof. Venkitaraman is the Ursula Zoellner Professor of Cancer Research at the University and Joint Director of the Medical Research Council’s Cancer Cell Unit, according to a University of Cambridge press release.

He and his colleagues had been researching why cancer was more frequent in some families; and, in particular, why women who inherited a faulty copy of a gene known as BRCA2 had a high risk of developing breast or ovarian cancer.

They demonstrated that the BRCA2 gene worked as a guardian of the information encoded in the human genome by repairing damage in the genetic material, DNA. They also determined the steps that led to cancer in women who inherited the faulty gene.

This in turn led to new approaches for the treatment of cancer.

Prof. Venkitaraman was trained at the Christian Medical College in Vellore, Tamil Nadu.

Printer friendly page  
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Stories in this Section

Public education is indispensable, says Nobel laureate Amartya Sen
Reduced flexibility in deciding priorities opposed
Chidambaram calls for overhaul of PDS
Ranbaxy Award for Cambridge cancer scientist
FRCP for Chennai doctor
67 p.c. polling
Ashoka’s statue found near Gulbarga
Boy gets bail
Fodder scam: jail, fines for three convicts
Sobhraj case to be reopened
Pratibha turns 73

Copyright © 2007, The Hindu. Republication or redissemination of the contents of this screen are expressly prohibited without the written consent of The Hindu