Dr. Bob Eisenman, a molecular biologist at Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, has received an Outstanding Investigator Award from the National Cancer Institute. The awardis given to investigators pursuing projects of “unusual potential” in cancer research. Eisenman studies a specific family of molecules that turn on cellular growth genes. He has spent decades disentangling the network of genes regulated by this group of molecules in an effort to understand how cancer cells co-opt these molecules and the gene networks they orchestrate.
He will use the Outstanding Investigator Award, which provides $7 million over seven years, to learn even more about these pathways, how to inhibit them and halt cancer growth.
“It’s exciting for us to be recognized,” Eisenman said. “The award really allows us to build on our ongoing research in a very productive way. It gives us the wherewithal to carry the work into new directions. We can be more fearless.”
