GRAND RAPIDS – Phillip A. Sharp, Ph.D., winner of the 1993 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for his discovery of RNA splicing, will be honored May 23 at Van Andel Institute as the first recipient of the Han Mo Koo Memorial Award.

The award is named after one of VAI?s founding scientists who succumbed to a rare form of cancer – aggressive NK T-cell lymphoma – in 2004, at the age of 40.

?It is fitting that this award, named after a cancer researcher whose promising career was struck down by the disease he studied, is bestowed on a scientist whose breakthrough achievement is vital to understanding the genetic causes of cancer,? said VAI Chairman and CEO David Van Andel.

Much of Sharp’s scientific work has been conducted at MIT’s Center for Cancer Research (now the Koch Institute), which he joined in 1974 and directed from 1985 to 1991. His research interests have centered on the molecular biology of gene expression relevant to cancer and the mechanisms of RNA splicing.

Sharp?s landmark achievement was the 1977 discovery of RNA splicing, which fundamentally changed scientists’ understanding of the structure of genes and earned him the 1993 Nobel Prize. This work provided one of the first indications of the startling phenomenon of ?discontinuous genes? in the cells of mammals.

The discovery that genes contain noncoding segments that are edited out by cells in the course of utilizing genetic information is important in understanding the genetic causes of cancer and other diseases. Dr. Sharp?s lab has now turned its attention to RNA interference ? understanding how RNA molecules act as switches to turn genes on and off. These newly discovered processes have revolutionized cell biology and could potentially generate a new class of therapeutics.

Han-Mo Koo, Ph.D., joined Van Andel Institute from the National Cancer Institute (NCI) in 1999 as one of its founding investigators. As Head of the Laboratory of Cancer Pharmacogenetics, Dr. Koo established important projects focused on the identification of genetic targets for anti-cancer drug development for melanoma and pancreatic cancer. In May 2004, he passed away following his own six-month battle with cancer.

In 2010, six years following Koo?s death, the result of a clinical trial that he helped design and hoped would find a more effective chemotherapy treatment for pancreatic cancer patients, was published in the journal Molecular Cancer Therapeutics.

The study, ?Phase II Trial to Evaluate Gemcitabine and Etoposide for Locally Advanced or Metastatic Pancreatic Cancer,? involved forty patients with locally advanced or metastatic pancreatic cancer harboring mutations of a family of genes involved in cellular signal transduction. Patients with these mutations had commonly shown remarkable sensitivity to two common chemotherapeutic drugs: gemcitabine and etoposide, something that was demonstrated by Koo?s early work at the NCI.

After being administered a combination of the two drugs, quality of life improved or remained stable in nearly 40 percent of patients, and significantly, in a disease that kills most patients within 5-8 months of diagnosis, four patients survived more than a year, while two survived more than two years.

?This was an important study that was completely dependent on Han-Mo Koo?s discovery? said Van Andel Institute Founding Research Director George F. Vande Woude, Ph.D. ?He is terribly missed, both as a friend and as a colleague. He had so much more to give to the field of cancer research.?

The Inaugural Han-Mo Koo Memorial Lecture Schedule of Events Follows:

Wednesday, May 23

4:00 pm: Wine and Cheese Reception

5:15 pm: Welcoming Remarks

5:30 pm: Lay Lecture by Sharp

6:30 pm: Award Presentation and Closing Remarks

Thursday, May 24

12:00 pm: Scientific Lecture by Sharp

Van Andel Institute

333 Bostwick Avenue NE | Grand Rapids MI 49503

Register for these free lectures at VAI.Org

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