Dr. Channing Der, Kenan Professor of Pharmacology and member of the UNC Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center and UNC Cancer Hospital, has been honored with one of two Hyman L. Battle Distinguished Cancer Research Award for 2011 and comes with an award of $25,000.
The other recipient of the award is Dr. Yue Xiong, Distinguished Professor of Biochemistry and Biophysics.
This award was established in 2007 by the Battle Foundation of Rocky Mount to recognize exceptional cancer research at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. The Battle award fund is a permanent endowment held by The Medical Foundation of North Carolina, Inc.
Hyman L. Battle (1896-1972) established The Battle Foundation in 1946. His grandfather, Kemp Plummer Battle, was an early president of UNC-Chapel Hill, and both Kemp and Hyman were deeply interested in education.
The UNC School of Medicine’s announcement of the award states that Dr. Der “is internationally regarded for his pioneering work with the RAS oncogene and other members of this large gene family. Der has elucidated the role of RAS mutations in cancers particularly colorectal and pancreatic cancers in which RAS is mutated in over 50 percent of the cases. His research has helped define the role of RAS, and related pathways, in the cause and progression of these diseases. In recent years, he has established that other members of the RAS gene family can accelerate growth of cancer invasion and metastasis. He is now studying the potential of drugs that might change these cancer-causing pathways with the aim of developing new therapies.”
“He is revered as a mentor to young scientists and as a generous collaborator with other scientists. Der leads the Lineberger Center’s graduate program in cancer biology; he joined the UNC faculty in 1992.”
Read the full School of Medicine Announcement here.
Our congratulations to Dr. Der!