Alan Hall
How do cells turn cancerous?
Find out on Oct. 24 when Dr. Alan Hall presents the first Gairdner Lecture at the University of Victoria, entitled “Cancer—Just Cells Behaving Badly.”
Hall is chair of the cell biology program at the Memorial Sloan-
Kettering Cancer Center in New York. He’s also the 2006 recipient of the Gairdner Award, awarded annually by the Gairdner Foundation.
The award is one of the most prestigious international prizes in medical research. Of the 279 Gairdner Award winners, 65 have gone on to win a Nobel Prize.
“We’re very pleased that the Gairdner Foundation has chosen UVic to profile its 2006 award-
winner,” says Dr. Martin Taylor, UVic’s vice-president research. “To host a speaker of this calibre reflects well on this university’s growing strength in health and medical-related research.”
Hall’s research has focused on a family of proteins called GTPases. These proteins act as molecular switches in signal transduction pathways and play key roles in determining the behaviour of cells, including how they rearrange their cytoskeletons in response to external stimuli. This work has important implications for understanding how tumour cells spread throughout the body.
In his lecture, geared toward a non-scientific audience, Hall will examine some of the steps involved in cancer from the point of view of a cell. “Cancer is a consequence of cells behaving badly, hence the title,” he says. “But one of the messages of my talk is that the ‘bad’ behaviour of cancer cells is actually very similar to the normal behaviour of cells in the embryo. The behaviour is only inappropriate when it occurs in an adult cell.”
Hall’s presentation will be followed by a panel discussion with cancer researchers, health practitioners and members of the media on the health and social impacts of cancer. Panelists include: Dr. Mary Ellen Purkis, UVic’s dean of human and social development; UVic molecular biologist Dr. Caren Helbing; Dr. Brad Nelson, director of the Deeley Research Centre at the BC Cancer Agency; and Linda Aylesworth, senior reporter at Global BC.
The lecture takes place at 7:30 p.m. in the Strong Building, room C103. Admission is free but seating is limited. Tickets can be obtained in person at the UVic box office, or by calling 721-8480 or http://auditorium.uvic.ca/tickets.html.
The lecture is sponsored by UVic, the Gairdner Foundation, Telus and the Times Colonist. For more information about the Gairdner Foundation, visit www.gairdner.org/.
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