3/7/01

Mark Shwartz, News Service (650) 723-9296;
e-mail: mshwartz@stanford.edu

Bio-X symposium to feature pioneers in cancer therapy

What if you could starve a cancerous tumor by cutting off its blood supply? The idea seemed far-fetched when Judah Folkman proposed it in the early 1960s.

Now, four decades later, the treatment Folkman pioneered -- called antiangiogenesis therapy -- is considered one of the most promising avenues of cancer research.

On Friday, March 16, Folkman, director of the Surgical Research Laboratory at the Harvard Medical School, will join other cutting-edge researchers at a Bio-X symposium titled "The Fundamental Science behind Manipulating Angiogenesis and Muscle Contractility."

The event, which is free and open to the public, will be held in Fairchild Auditorium in the School of Medicine from 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. A wine and cheese reception follows.

The objective of the symposium is to bring together leaders in the areas of angiogenesis and manipulation of muscle function to discuss future research opportunities, says program organizer Judith Swain, the Arthur L. Bloomfield Professor of Medicine at Stanford.

Swain will open the symposium and will be followed by Folkman, whose speech is titled "Basic Science Lessons from Angiogenesis Research."

Other speakers include Thomas Quertermous, Calvin Kuo and Helen Blau of the Stanford School of Medicine; David Cheresh of the Scripps Research Institute; Laura Niklason of Duke University; H. Lee Sweeney of the University of Pennsylvania; and Kenneth Chien of the University of California-San Diego.

The symposium is funded by a Bio-X Interdisciplinary Program Grant and is sponsored by the Cardiovascular and Musculoskeletal Group of the Bio-X Tissue Engineering Program.

Folkman also will deliver the Department of Medicine's annual Kovitz lecture, "Clinical Applications of Angiogenesis Research," during the department's Grand Rounds at 8 a.m. on Thursday, March 15, in Fairchild Auditorium. The Kovitz lecture is free and open to the medical and university community. A reception will follow in the Fairchild Auditorium lobby.

For more information, contact Susan Harrington at (650) 498-4333 or sgtsue@stanford.edu.

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By Mark Shwartz