Terry Orr-Weaver receives American
Cancer Society award
CAMBRIDGE, Mass. (Oct. 2, 2006) — Whitehead Member
Terry
Orr-Weaver is the newest American Cancer Society
research professor, chosen for her seminal contributions
to cancer biology. Orr-Weaver, who is the sole winner
of the award this year, will receive $400,000 over five
years with the option to renew once.
“Dr. Orr-Weaver received this prestigious award
because she is a leader in her field,” says Dr.
Donella J. Wilson, research promotion and communication
director for the American Cancer Society. “She
also mentors young scientists by encouraging lab members
to discuss their ideas, methodology and results, which
expands the impact of her work.”
| “Working with a model organism made this
discovery possible, as we had special tools at our
disposal,” says Whitehead Member Terry Orr-Weaver.
“There’s a direct link between basic
research and our understanding of human disease.” |
The appointment highlights the importance of conducting
basic research on model organisms to elucidate key processes
in human cells. Orr-Weaver studies cell division in
fruit flies, which share the regulatory genes for cell
division with humans. Her lab has identified important
mechanisms that ensure accurate gene copy number during
DNA replication and chromosome segregation. Cells can
become cancerous if these mechanisms go awry.
For example, some cancers have been linked to mutations
in the human version of a fly gene called double
parked (dup), also known as cdt1
in some species, which determines whether DNA replication
will begin. Orr-Weaver’s lab identified the fly
and human genes in 2000, and other labs confirmed the
role in human cells.
“Working with a model organism made this discovery
possible, as we had special tools at our disposal,”
says Orr-Weaver. “There’s a direct link
between basic research and our understanding of human
disease.”
Researchers in Orr-Weaver’s lab also identified
a glue-like protein called MEI-S332 that holds chromosomes
together after DNA replication. The isolation of the
protein was published in Cell in 1995, and
subsequently the Orr-Weaver lab has unraveled mechanisms
that control the localization of this protein on chromosomes.
Like dup, the MEI-S332 glue is found in mammalian
cells. If it malfunctions, dividing cells receive too
many, or too few, chromosomes.
“Breast cancer cells contain high levels of MEI-S332,”
says Orr-Weaver. “Funding from the American Cancer
Society will allow us to investigate this link and probe
the potential role of MEI-S332 in the onset of cancer.”
“Terry’s contributions to our understanding
of meiosis and mitosis are profound,” says Whitehead
Director David Page. “The ACS professorship explicitly
recognizes the breadth of impact of Terry’s work
in Drosophila.”
In addition to being a Member of Whitehead Institute,
Orr-Weaver is a professor of biology at MIT. She came
to Whitehead Institute and MIT in 1987, and held the
Latham Family Career Development Chair from 1991 to
1994. Orr-Weaver received her PhD in biological chemistry
from Harvard University in 1984, and was named a Jane
Coffin Child Memorial Fund Fellow in 1984 and a Searle
Scholar in 1988. She has served as chair of the Scientific
Advisory Committee of the Damon Runyon Cancer Research
Foundation and president of the Genetics Society of
America. In 2006, she was elected a Fellow of the American
Academy of Microbiology and a member of the National
Academy of Sciences.
Past Whitehead recipients of the American Cancer Society’s
research professorships include Members Gerald Fink
and Robert Weinberg.
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