Discoverer of New Breast Cancer Gene, Dr. Patricia Berg, to Lead Off IIT Lecture
Berg, discoverer of gene activated in 80% of breast cancer patients, to update findings and work on suppressor, diagnosis, impact on other cancers; first IIT College of Science and Letters Dean's Distinguished Lecture.
12:30 PM, THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 10, 2005
IIT McCormick Tribune Campus Center Auditorium
3210 South State Street, Chicago
OPEN TO PUBLIC AND MEDIA
Dr. Patricia E. Berg, the discoverer of a new gene (BP1) activated in 80% of breast cancer patients, will be the lead-off speaker for a new lecture series, the Dean’s Distinguished Lecture, at Illinois Institute of Technology’s College of Science and Letters, featuring prominent individuals making contributions to the arts and sciences. Dr. Berg's speech, "Genetic Breakthroughs in Breast Cancer Research and Hopes for the Future", will be at 12:30 PM, Thursday, November 10, at IIT's McCormick Tribune Campus Center Auditorium, 3210 South State Street, Chicago. The address is free and open to the public and media.
Dr. Berg is director of the breast cancer laboratory at George Washington University Medical Center (GWUMC) in Washington, DC, where she is Associate Professor of Molecular Biology and Biochemistry. This year she won IIT's Professional Achievement award in Biological Sciences for her discovery and her work. She led a team of institutions including GWUMC, the University of Maryland, the National Institutes of Health, DOD's Armed Forces Institute of Pathology, Howard University, and Children’s National Medical Center, in the discovery, confirmed this April in the journal Breast Cancer Research and Treatment and first reported in 2003 with preliminary data in Breast Cancer Research. Mainstream media has covered the discovery and interviewed Dr. Berg, including CNN, NBC, CBS, Fox Television, and Associated Press, Reuters, the Washington Post, New York Times, Los Angeles Times, Miami Herald, New York Post, Prevention Magazine, and many others.
Dr. Berg will report on her discovery and her work on cutting edge follow-ups to her findings which could prove enormously useful to cancer patients, including a suppressor to the gene, early diagnosis tools including a blood test, and the impact of the gene on other cancers. She has already published that BP1 is found in a majority of leukemia cases as well. In addition, her data showed disproportionately high numbers of positives in the breast tumors of African American women, a finding which could be extremely helpful in finding solutions to racial disparities in breast cancer.
The lecture series, sponsored by the College of Science and Letters, is intended "to bring our students, faculty, and the public the best research and thought available and to foster public discussion and debate," said F.R. McMorris, Dean of IIT's College of Science and Letters. "Dr. Berg's lecture is first because we wanted to lead off with an IIT alumna who has made, and is making, an enormous contribution to an area of great importance."
Berg has an undergraduate degree in mathematics from the University of Chicago and a Ph.D. in microbiology from IIT. She served as senior fellow at NIH for eleven years and as Assistant Professor at the University of Maryland Medical School before joining the faculty of George Washington University Medical Center in 1999, when she launched her breast cancer research after finding and publishing that a majority of acute myeloid leukemia cases had activated BP1.
Founded in 1890, IIT is a Ph.D.-granting technological university awarding degrees in the sciences, mathematics and engineering, as well as architecture, psychology, design, business and law. IIT’s interprofessional, technology-focused curriculum prepares the university’s 6,200 students for leadership roles in an increasingly complex and culturally diverse global workplace.
