The 41st annual Charlton lecture will be held on Wednesday, November 30, 4-5.30 pm, in the Sackler Auditorium. The lectureship, established in 1975 in honor of Mr. Earle P. Charlton, has since evolved to include a poster competition that serves as a platform to recognize outstanding research work performed by graduate and professional students on the medical school campus. This year, the poster competition will be held on Tuesday, November 29 and Wednesday, November 30 in Sackler 114. Details regarding participation, eligibility and review criteria can be found here – http://sackler.tufts.edu/Student-Life/Student-Awards/Charlton-Poster-Award. The deadline for submitting abstracts for the competition is Thursday, Nov. 9, 5 pm. Please submit your abstracts electronically to Rachael Bailey at Rachael.Bailey@tufts.edu.
The keynote lecture will be delivered by Dr. Tyler Jacks, Professor of Biology at Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and Director of the David H. Koch Institute for Integrative Cancer Research. His talk is titled “Engineering the Cancer Genome”.
Mr. Earle P. Charlton was a renowned entrepreneur and a social benefactor, as exemplified by his legacy, the Charlton Trust. Mr. Charlton established a chain of stores throughout Massachusetts back in 1890, before merging with the Woolworth company and expanding to the west and Canada. The Woolworth company would later go on to acquire several brands throughout the twentieth century. However, due to increased competition in the retail sector, the company chose to focus on a select brands and is today represented by the Foot Locker stores. Mr. Charlton passed away in 1930, and is commemorated by the Charlton Memorial Hospital in Fall River, MA, a town which benefitted greatly from his entrepreneurship and generosity. (Source – https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/E._P._Charlton_%26_Company)
About the Speaker
Dr. Tyler Jacks is the Professor of Biology at MIT, the Director of the David H. Koch Institute for Integrative Cancer Research and a Howard Hughes Medical Investigator. He has served on public and private advisory panels on cancer research and also sits on the board of directors for Aveo Oncology and Thermo Fisher, Inc. His expertise in the field is of no surprise given his pedigree – Dr. Jacks completed his PhD under the guidance of Nobel Laureate Dr. Harold Varmus at University of California, San Francisco, and went on to do his postdoctoral work with Dr. Robert Weinberg at the Whitehead Institute, both of whom were pioneers of the field. His work has earned him prestigious awards including the Paul Marks Prize for Cancer Research and other accolades.
Dr. Jacks’ research focuses on the “genetic events contributing to the development of cancer” using mouse models that have been engineered to carry clinically relevant mutations. His lab works on a number of different cancers that range from lung, pancreatic and ovarian cancers to peripheral nervous system tumors, astrocytoma and retinoblastoma. A major focus of his current research is to develop more powerful and accurate mouse models of cancer using cutting edge genetic technology.
More detailed information regarding his work can be found on his lab website.