Edward Lin Nobel Laureate Harold Varmus
speaks on campus Wednesday about the treatment of cancer. His
speech discussed the role of genes in identifying and treating
cancer, and was aimed at a non-scientific audience.
By Bimal Rajkomar
Daily Bruin Contributor
Undergraduate English student turned Nobel Laureate Harold
Varmus spoke on campus Wednesday about future cancer treatments
that will stem from the findings of the Human Genome Project.
His speech, “How Genes Help Us Understand and Control
Cancer,” was aimed at non-scientists as the first of two
lectures he’s giving at UCLA. The second, to be held today,
will be geared toward faculty and students.
In 1989, Varmus shared the Nobel Prize in physiology for his
research on the genetic basis of cancer.
The Nobel laureate, however, was not always a scientist. Though
his father was a physician, he chose to study Elizabethan poetry at
Amherst College.
“Do what you enjoy, not what your parents think you should
do. Too many undergraduates specialize too early. They should
explore many areas,” Varmus said.
In their prize-winning research, Varmus and current UC San
Francisco Chancellor Michael Bishop explored how normal genes
control growth in every living cell, but under certain conditions
can turn cancerous. These normal genes that malfunction are known
as onconogenes.
Some onconogenes cause cancer by being turned on, or activated,
at the wrong time, while anti-onconogenes do the opposite, causing
cancer by failing to shut off growth at the right time.
Varmus and Bishop’s discovery led to the identification of
more than 50 onconogenes.
Speaking to a crowd at Covel Grand Horizon Ballroom, he began
his speech with an explanation of some of the causes of cancer.
“Cancer is a disease of genes, but most cancers result
from the accumulation of environmental exposures that do bad things
to genes,” Varmus said.
While extensive media coverage has publicized the Human Genome
Project, Varmus emphasized how therapies and applications will take
time.
In the future, he anticipates general screening and more drugs
that can specifically target cancerous cells now that they have the
data from the Genome project which catalogued the Human DNA
sequence.
“Its not enough to know the catalogue of genes,” he
said.
He presented the difficulties of finding the genes implicated in
cancer when there are thousands of genes and they differ from one
person to the next by only 0.1 percent.
“It was good how he explained the route by which basic
science is translated into bedside treatments,” said Nick
Nichols, a first-year student in the M.D./Ph.D. program.
Varmus ended his speech hopeful for the future of cancer
research
“On the whole, the era of genomics is good for those of us
who have dedicated our lives to curing human diseases,”
Varmus said.
For the most part, the audience appreciated the accessible style
and simplicity of Varmus’ speech.
“He gave a good picture of where we stand and where we are
going in the field of cancer research,” said Mason Jiang, an
assistant researcher in anesthesiology.
Varmus currently serves as president and chief executive officer
of Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in New York City since
leaving his post as director of the National Institutes of Health
for six years.
He is the author of more than 300 scientific papers and four
books. He earned a postgraduate degree in English at Harvard before
deciding to be a doctor, and then received his M.D. in 1966 from
Columbia University.
Tomorrow Varmus will present a public research lecture, titled
“Mouse Models for Human Cancer,” in Franz Hall, Room
1178 today at 4 p.m.