Laureate Lecture Series

Joseph Schlessinger, PhD, the William H. Prusoff Professor and chair of the Department of Pharmacology at Yale School of Medicine, will be the next speaker in the 2015 Senior Vice Chancellor’s Laureate Lecture Series, a yearlong program highlighting some of the top biomedical researchers in their fields. Dr. Schlessinger’s lecture, “Cell Signaling by Receptor Tyrosine Kinases: From Basic Principles to Cancer Therapy,” will take place at noon on Tuesday, June 16, in Lecture Room 6, Scaife Hall.

Dr. Schlessinger, who is also the founding director of the Cancer Biology Institute at Yale West Campus and chief scientist at Yale Cancer Center, is interested in analyzing the mode of action of receptor tyrosine kinases and the intracellular signaling pathways activated in response to growth factor stimulation. Receptor tyrosine kinases and cytoplasmic protein tyrosine kinases play a critical role in the control of many cellular processes, including cell proliferation, differentiation, and metabolism, as well as cell survival and cell migration. Various diseases are caused by dysfunctions in protein tyrosine kinases or in components of signaling pathways that are activated by these enzymes. Dr. Schlessinger and his colleagues use biochemical and genetic approaches, as well as X-ray crystallography, to determine the mechanism of activation of receptor tyrosine kinases and the mode of action of downstream signaling proteins.

Dr. Schlessinger received his BS in chemistry and physics and his MS in chemistry from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. He earned his PhD in biophysics at the Weizmann Institute of Science in Rehovot, Israel. In his long career, he has chaired the Department of Pharmacology at NYU Langone Medical Center and held an endowed professorship in chemical immunology at the Weizmann Institute. He worked for several years in the biotech industry, founding or cofounding multiple biotech companies.

Dr. Schlessinger is an author on more than 480 scientific articles and papers focusing on signal transduction, growth control mechanisms, receptor structure functions, and the biophysics of proteins. He is a member of the National Academy of Sciences and the Institute of Medicine, a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, a foreign member of the Russian Academy of Science, and a member of the European Molecular Biology Organization. He has served on the editorial boards of Cell, Molecular Cell, the EMBO Journal, the Journal of Cell Biology, and other peer-reviewed journals.

Dr. Schlessinger’s academic honors include the 2015 Frontiers of Knowledge Award in Biomedicine from the BBVA Foundation, the Dan David Prize, and the Pezcoller Foundation–AACR International Award for Cancer Research, among many other honors.

		Joseph Schlessinger, PhD William H. Prusoff Professor and Chair of Pharmacology, Yale University Cell Signaling by Receptor Tyrosine Kinases: From Basic Principles to Cancer Therapy Tuesday, June 16, 12 noon Scaife Hall, Lecture Room 6 Joseph Schlessinger, PhD, the William H. Prusoff Professor and chair of the Department of Pharmacology at Yale School of Medicine, will be the next speaker in the 2015 Senior Vice Chancellor’s Laureate Lecture Series, a yearlong program highlighting some of the top biomedical researchers in their fields. Dr. Schlessinger’s lecture, “Cell Signaling by Receptor Tyrosine Kinases: From Basic Principles to Cancer Therapy,” will take place at noon on Tuesday, June 16, in Lecture Room 6, Scaife Hall. Dr. Schlessinger, who is also the founding director of the Cancer Biology Institute at Yale West Campus and chief scientist at Yale Cancer Center, is interested in analyzing the mode of action of receptor tyrosine kinases and the intracellular signaling pathways activated in response to growth factor stimulation. Receptor tyrosine kinases and cytoplasmic protein tyrosine kinases play a critical role in the control of many cellular processes, including cell proliferation, differentiation, and metabolism, as well as cell survival and cell migration. Various diseases are caused by dysfunctions in protein tyrosine kinases or in components of signaling pathways that are activated by these enzymes. Dr. Schlessinger and his colleagues use biochemical and genetic approaches, as well as X-ray crystallography, to determine the mechanism of activation of receptor tyrosine kinases and the mode of action of downstream signaling proteins. Dr. Schlessinger received his BS in chemistry and physics and his MS in chemistry from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. He earned his PhD in biophysics at the Weizmann Institute of Science in Rehovot, Israel. In his long career, he has chaired the Department of Pharmacology at NYU Langone Medical Center and held an endowed professorship in chemical immunology at the Weizmann Institute. He worked for several years in the biotech industry, founding or cofounding multiple biotech companies. Dr. Schlessinger is an author on more than 480 scientific articles and papers focusing on signal transduction, growth control mechanisms, receptor structure functions, and the biophysics of proteins. He is a member of the National Academy of Sciences and the Institute of Medicine, a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, a foreign member of the Russian Academy of Science, and a member of the European Molecular Biology Organization. He has served on the editorial boards of Cell, Molecular Cell, the EMBO Journal, the Journal of Cell Biology, and other peer-reviewed journals. Dr. Schlessinger’s academic honors include the 2015 Frontiers of Knowledge Award in Biomedicine from the BBVA Foundation, the Dan David Prize, and the Pezcoller Foundation–AACR International Award for Cancer Research, among many other honors.