Nominations for the 2012 Award are now closed.
The Award and Lecture
Through the generous contribution of an anonymous donor, AACR established this award in 1979 to give recognition to a young investigator on the basis of meritorious achievement in cancer research. In accordance with the wishes of the donor, the recipient must be no more than 40 years of age by the time the award is received.
The winner of the 32nd Annual AACR Award for Outstanding Achievement in Cancer Research will receive an honorarium of $5,000, present a 50-minute lecture, and be given full support for the winner and a guest to attend the AACR 103rd Annual Meeting 2012, in Chicago, IL, USA (March 31-April 4, 2012.)
Eligibility
- Candidacy is open to all cancer researchers who are affiliated with any institution involved in cancer research, cancer medicine or cancer-related biomedical science anywhere in the world. Such institutions include those in academia, industry or government.
- The award will be presented to an individual investigator.
- Institutions or organizations are not eligible for the award.
- Candidates must not be more than 40 years of age by the time the award is received. For the 2012 award, a candidate's date of birth must be on or after April 3, 1971.
Nomination Procedure and Instructions
Nominations may be made by any scientist, whether an AACR member or nonmember, who is now or has been affiliated with any institution involved in cancer research, cancer medicine, or cancer-related biomedical science. Candidates may not nominate themselves.
Nominations must be submitted electronically to awards@aacr.org no later than 4:00 p.m. United States Eastern Time on Tuesday, October 11, 2011. Paper nominations will not be accepted. The following materials must be submitted:
Nomination Letter, which must:
- be addressed to the Selection Committee; be written in English; and not exceed 1,000 words;
- specify the AACR Award for which the candidate is being nominated;
- contain a concise description of the candidate's meritorious achievement in cancer research, with the publications supporting these accomplishments directly referenced within the letter; and
- contain a concise description of the impact of these accomplishments on the field.
Candidate's CV: The candidate's curriculum vitae in English, including a complete list of the candidate's publications.
Summary Statement. A statement, no more than 50 words, summarizing the candidate's research accomplishments for which he or she is being nominated.
Full program guidelines and nomination instructions are available through the link below.
Program Guidelines and Nomination Instructions
Selection
Candidates for the award will be considered by a prestigious international Selection Committee of renowned cancer leaders appointed by the president of the AACR. The committee will consider all nominations as they have been submitted; the committee may not combine submitted nominations, add a new candidate to a submitted nomination, or otherwise make alterations to the submitted nominations. After careful deliberations by the committee, its recommendations will be forwarded to the Executive Committee of the AACR for final consideration and determination.
Selection of the award winner will be made on the basis of the candidate's meritorious achievements in cancer research. No regard will be given to race, gender, nationality, or religious or political view.
Questions?
Linda Brooks-Stokes, Program Associate
linda.stokes@aacr.org
American Association for Cancer Research
17th Floor, 615 Chestnut Street
Philadelphia, PA 19106-4404
SPOTLIGHT
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31st Annual Recipient
Nathanael S. Gray, Ph.D.
Associate Professor
Dana Farber Cancer Institute
Harvard Medical School
Boston, MA
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Dr. Nathanael S. Gray delivered his award lecture entitled, Pharmacological Validation of Kinase Targets, at the AACR 102nd AACR Annual Meeting 2011 in Orlando, FL. The award was presented by Dr. Guillermina Lozano, Selection Committee Chairperson.
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Dr. Gray's lab develops small molecules that can selectively target signaling proteins that become deregulated in cancer. He is currently trying to develop new methods to modulate kinase activity. Dr. Gray recently discovered the first allosteric non-ATP competitive inhibitors of the Bcr-Abl, the causative oncogene in Chronic Myelogenous Leukemia (CML). This approach is innovative because it differs from the traditional pharmaceutical approach of developing ATP-competitive kinase inhibitors. The major advantage of this approach is that while it is challenging to get highly selective ATP-competitive inhibitors, compounds that bind to unique sites have the potential to exhibit much higher degrees of selectivity.
Furthermore, the allosteric inhibitors can be optimized to work in synergy with ATP-competitive inhibitors to target kinase resistance mutations. Currently, his lab is seeking to design allosteric Bcr-Abl kinase inhibitors that, in combination with the clinical stage ATP-competitive inhibitors, can target all the clinically observed Bcr-Abl kinase mutants.
A second major breakthrough has been the discovery of irreversible inhibitors of a drug resistant form of the epidermal Growth Factor Receptor Tyrosine Kinase (EGFR). In addition, he has developed novel inhibitors of the Fibroblast Growth Factor Receptor Tyrosine kinase (FGFR), the mitotic spindle checkpoint kinase (Mps1), Ephrin Receptor Tyrosine Kinases and the mammalian target of rapamycin (mTor).
Dr. Gray's work on kinase inhibitors focuses on optimizing the potency, selectivity and pharmacological properties of the inhibitors he discovers to the point that they become generally useful as research tools or as potential drug candidates.