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Dear Friends of the University of Chicago:
Dr. Charles Huggins, the first director of the Ben May Institute for Cancer Research at the University of Chicago, was awarded the Nobel Prize for his discovery that breast and prostate cancers require hormones for growth. After years of intensive study, the biological details of this phenomenon are becoming clear at the level of the individual proteins, allowing the design of more effective cancer treatments.
To celebrate Dr. Huggins’ great discovery, and recent advances in cancer research, we cordially invite you to join us for the inaugural series of the Charles B. Huggins Lectures in cancer biology, a yearly series of eight lectures designed to educate the public. The Lectures have the purpose of bringing a descriptive account of some of the frontiers of present-day science, to the friends of The Ben May Institute and University of Chicago Cancer Research Center, to members of the University community, and to interested citizens of the Chicago area. We do not expect you to have a formal background in the biological sciences, but we hope to appeal to your curiosity, and we wish to share with you some of the excitement of modern scientific research.
This year’s lectures will present a picture of how hormones control cancer growth at the level of individual protein molecules, showing 3-D images of these proteins as they act as molecular machines that control the growth or death of a cell. The lectures will also show some of the biochemical details of how a cell repairs damaged DNA, or dies if the damage is too great. The concepts behind the rational design of cancer drugs based on the 3-D structure of protein complexes within the cell and how they function will be demonstrated for a few specific cancer drugs.
No scientific background is required. Just bring your curiosity and share in the excitement of modern biology unfolding before your eyes.
Sincerely yours,
Michelle M. Le Beau, PhD
Professor of Medicine
Section of Hematology/Oncology
Chair, Committee on Cancer Biology