Tata Memorial Centre
February 29, 2008 11:30am – 1:00 pm
by
Professor Arul M. Chinnaiyan, M.D., Ph.D
Director, Michigan Center for Translational Pathology
Director, UMCCC Bioinformatics Core
S.P. Hicks Endowed Professor of Pathology and Professor of
Pathology and Urology, University of Michigan Medical School, Ann Arbor

Title: Zeroing in on a cause of common solid tumors: Implications for translation

Dr Arul Chinnaiyan is an internationally recognized authority on functional genomics and bioinformatics approach to cancer profiling. In 2005, Dr. Chinnaiyan and his colleagues at the University of Michigan discovered a chromosomal translocation that is unique to prostate cancer. The gene fusion research is the centerpiece project of Chinnaiyan's center, the Michigan Center for Translational Pathology.

He is on the editorial and scientific review board of several peer reviewed journals, like Cancer Research, Cancer Informatics, Cancer Genomics and Proteomics, Nature, PNAS, Nature Genetics, New England Journal of Medicine, Nature Cancer Reviews, Nature Medicine, American Journal of Pathology, Journal of Biomedical Informatics, Bioinformatics, and others. He has several patents, oral presentations, 149 peer-reviewed publications and four book chapters to his credit.

His many other honors and awards for his groundbreaking research include the Burroughs Wellcome Fund Clinical Scientist Award in Translational Research, the Ramzi Cotran Young Investigator Award from the United States and Canadian Academy of Pathology, the American Association of Cancer Research “Team Science” Award, 2005 and 2006 Prostate Cancer Foundation Competitive award. He has made significant contribution to 'Oncomine' (www.oncomine.org); an internationally recognized and utilized bioinformatics infrastructure for cancer genomics research developed at the UMCCC.

Chinnaiyan's research focuses on examining the genes, proteins and other markers on cells to develop new diagnostic tests or screening tools as well as targeted treatments for cancer and other diseases, with the key being to translate these laboratory discoveries into clinical applications.