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

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 understanding and treating metastatic cancers and intratumoral heterogeneity, which are major causes of mortality. Highlighting the value of funding foundational research, Dr. Tony Hunter’s work at the Salk Institute on tyrosine kinases has ultimately led to life-saving drugs like Gleevec, contributing to the 33% drop in the U.S. cancer death rate since 1991. We hope you enjoy this episode. If you want to support this channel, please like, comment, follow or donate. Thank you for listening.

Guest:

Dr. Geoff Wahl

Professor Emeritus Salk Institute

Profile:

https://www.salk.edu/scientist/geoffrey-wahl/

Cancer statistics, 2023

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/36633525/

Host:

Dr. Satchin Panda

X (Twitter): @SatchinPanda

https://x.com/SatchinPanda

Instagram: @satchin.panda

https://www.instagram.com/satchin.panda/

Links:

Donations: https://panda.salk.edu/giving/

Research: https://www.salk.edu/scientist/satchidananda-panda/

More science: https://mycircadianclock.org/