Joan Massagué Solé
Encyclopedia
Joan Massagué is the Chair of the Cancer Biology and Genetics Program at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center
Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center
Memorial Sloan–Kettering Cancer Center is a cancer treatment and research institution founded in 1884 as the New York Cancer Hospital...

 and a Howard Hughes Medical Institute
Howard Hughes Medical Institute
Howard Hughes Medical Institute is a United States non-profit medical research organization based in Chevy Chase, Maryland. It was founded by the American businessman Howard Hughes in 1953. It is one of the largest private funding organizations for biological and medical research in the United...

 investigator. An internationally recognized leader in the study of both cancer
Cancer
Cancer , known medically as a malignant neoplasm, is a large group of different diseases, all involving unregulated cell growth. In cancer, cells divide and grow uncontrollably, forming malignant tumors, and invade nearby parts of the body. The cancer may also spread to more distant parts of the...

 metastasis
Metastasis
Metastasis, or metastatic disease , is the spread of a disease from one organ or part to another non-adjacent organ or part. It was previously thought that only malignant tumor cells and infections have the capacity to metastasize; however, this is being reconsidered due to new research...

 and growth factors that regulate cell behavior, he is also a professor at the Weill Cornell Graduate School of Medical Sciences and a member of the National Academy of Sciences
National Academy of Sciences
National Academy of Sciences commonly refers to the academy in the United States of America.National Academy of Sciences may also refer to :* National Academy of Sciences of Argentina* Armenian National Academy of Sciences...

.

Biography

Born in Barcelona
Barcelona
Barcelona is the second largest city in Spain after Madrid, and the capital of Catalonia, with a population of 1,621,537 within its administrative limits on a land area of...

, Spain
Spain
Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...

, on April 30, 1953, Massagué earned his doctorate degree in Pharmacy and Biochemistry at the University of Barcelona
University of Barcelona
The University of Barcelona is a public university located in the city of Barcelona, Catalonia in Spain. It is a member of the Coimbra Group, LERU, European University Association, Mediterranean Universities Union, International Research Universities Network and Vives Network...

 in 1978 under the mentorship of Professor Joan J. Guinovart. He completed a postdoctoral fellowship in 1982 in the laboratory of Michael P. Czech, PhD, at Brown University
Brown University
Brown University is a private, Ivy League university located in Providence, Rhode Island, United States. Founded in 1764 prior to American independence from the British Empire as the College in the English Colony of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations early in the reign of King George III ,...

, where he determined the structure of the receptor for the hormone insulin
Insulin
Insulin is a hormone central to regulating carbohydrate and fat metabolism in the body. Insulin causes cells in the liver, muscle, and fat tissue to take up glucose from the blood, storing it as glycogen in the liver and muscle....

. Later that year, he became an assistant professor in Biochemistry at the University of Massachusetts
University of Massachusetts
This article relates to the statewide university system. For the flagship campus often referred to as "UMass", see University of Massachusetts Amherst...

.

Massagué joined Memorial Sloan-Kettering in 1989 as the Alfred P. Sloan Chair of the Sloan-Kettering Institute’s Cell Biology Program and was named founding Chair of the Cancer Biology and Genetics Program in 2003. In addition, he is the Director of Memorial Sloan-Kettering’s Metastasis Research Center, which brings together a diverse group of the Center's basic scientists and clinicians who are studying the causes, mechanisms, and treatment of metastasis
Metastasis
Metastasis, or metastatic disease , is the spread of a disease from one organ or part to another non-adjacent organ or part. It was previously thought that only malignant tumor cells and infections have the capacity to metastasize; however, this is being reconsidered due to new research...

 — the spread of cancer in the body and the cause of a majority of cancer-related deaths.

In 1990, he was selected to be an investigator at the Howard Hughes Medical Institute
Howard Hughes Medical Institute
Howard Hughes Medical Institute is a United States non-profit medical research organization based in Chevy Chase, Maryland. It was founded by the American businessman Howard Hughes in 1953. It is one of the largest private funding organizations for biological and medical research in the United...

, a nonprofit medical research organization that ranks as one of the nation’s largest philanthropies and plays a powerful role in advancing biomedical research and science education in the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

. Massagué is also Adjunct Director of the Institute of Research in Biomedicine (IRB Barcelona), an independent, nonprofit research institution engaged in basic and applied biomedical science.

Scientific contributions

Massagué’s past and current research has focused on the study of signaling mechanisms by the cytokine transforming growth factor-β
TGF beta signaling pathway
The Transforming growth factor beta signaling pathway is involved in many cellular processes in both the adult organism and the developing embryo including cell growth, cell differentiation, apoptosis, cellular homeostasis and other cellular functions. In spite of the wide range of cellular...

 (TGF-β) that are essential for embryonic development, immunity, and maintenance of normal tissues, and whose alterations are a cause of congenital disorders and cancer
Cancer
Cancer , known medically as a malignant neoplasm, is a large group of different diseases, all involving unregulated cell growth. In cancer, cells divide and grow uncontrollably, forming malignant tumors, and invade nearby parts of the body. The cancer may also spread to more distant parts of the...

.

In the late 1980s and early 1990s, he helped establish the dual role of TGF-β, which can both inhibit and activate tumor cell growth. He identified the TGF-β receptors, their mechanism of activation, and the central concept of how the TGF-β pathway operates and leads to the inhibition of cell division through the p27 family of proteins, which he co-discovered. His work has provided a direct explanation for how external signals from the cell membrane to the nucleus control mammalian cell division and fate.

Massagué’s work has also been recognized for having clear implications for the potential prevention and treatment of cancer
Cancer
Cancer , known medically as a malignant neoplasm, is a large group of different diseases, all involving unregulated cell growth. In cancer, cells divide and grow uncontrollably, forming malignant tumors, and invade nearby parts of the body. The cancer may also spread to more distant parts of the...

 metastasis
Metastasis
Metastasis, or metastatic disease , is the spread of a disease from one organ or part to another non-adjacent organ or part. It was previously thought that only malignant tumor cells and infections have the capacity to metastasize; however, this is being reconsidered due to new research...

. In 2003, Massagué and colleagues published a paper documenting the effects of the gain or loss of the TGF-β pathway in a mouse model of breast cancer
Breast cancer
Breast cancer is cancer originating from breast tissue, most commonly from the inner lining of milk ducts or the lobules that supply the ducts with milk. Cancers originating from ducts are known as ductal carcinomas; those originating from lobules are known as lobular carcinomas...

.

Their results showed that an intact TGF-β pathway can increase lung metastases, but suppress the growth of primary tumors. That same year, he published another paper that found that two genes expressed in breast cancer
Breast cancer
Breast cancer is cancer originating from breast tissue, most commonly from the inner lining of milk ducts or the lobules that supply the ducts with milk. Cancers originating from ducts are known as ductal carcinomas; those originating from lobules are known as lobular carcinomas...

 were increased in the presence of TGF-β and enabled the tumor cells to metastasize to the bone.

In 2005, Massagué and his team published a similar study that fingered which breast cancer
Breast cancer
Breast cancer is cancer originating from breast tissue, most commonly from the inner lining of milk ducts or the lobules that supply the ducts with milk. Cancers originating from ducts are known as ductal carcinomas; those originating from lobules are known as lobular carcinomas...

 cells expressing an identified set of genes associated with metastasis
Metastasis
Metastasis, or metastatic disease , is the spread of a disease from one organ or part to another non-adjacent organ or part. It was previously thought that only malignant tumor cells and infections have the capacity to metastasize; however, this is being reconsidered due to new research...

 were destined to spread to the bone over those likely to metastasize elsewhere. These initial experiments spawned several other important papers that characterized gene sets and pathways in human cancer
Cancer
Cancer , known medically as a malignant neoplasm, is a large group of different diseases, all involving unregulated cell growth. In cancer, cells divide and grow uncontrollably, forming malignant tumors, and invade nearby parts of the body. The cancer may also spread to more distant parts of the...

 cells that enable breast and lung tumor cells to invade and colonize bones, lungs, and the brain. This work is helping researchers to understand the roles of these genes in cancer
Cancer
Cancer , known medically as a malignant neoplasm, is a large group of different diseases, all involving unregulated cell growth. In cancer, cells divide and grow uncontrollably, forming malignant tumors, and invade nearby parts of the body. The cancer may also spread to more distant parts of the...

 and to develop new ideas for therapies that would specifically target metastasis
Metastasis
Metastasis, or metastatic disease , is the spread of a disease from one organ or part to another non-adjacent organ or part. It was previously thought that only malignant tumor cells and infections have the capacity to metastasize; however, this is being reconsidered due to new research...

.

Massagué and colleagues have also shed light on a recently described phenomenon called self-seeding, in which circulating tumor cells — cancer
Cancer
Cancer , known medically as a malignant neoplasm, is a large group of different diseases, all involving unregulated cell growth. In cancer, cells divide and grow uncontrollably, forming malignant tumors, and invade nearby parts of the body. The cancer may also spread to more distant parts of the...

 cells that break away from a primary tumor and disseminate to other areas of the body — can also return to and grow in their tumor of origin. In one study, they discovered a genetic function that gives breast cancer
Breast cancer
Breast cancer is cancer originating from breast tissue, most commonly from the inner lining of milk ducts or the lobules that supply the ducts with milk. Cancers originating from ducts are known as ductal carcinomas; those originating from lobules are known as lobular carcinomas...

 cells the ability to survive and spread to the bone years after treatment has been administered. They later found that self-seeding can enhance tumor growth through the release of signals that promote angiogenesis
Angiogenesis
Angiogenesis is the physiological process involving the growth of new blood vessels from pre-existing vessels. Though there has been some debate over terminology, vasculogenesis is the term used for spontaneous blood-vessel formation, and intussusception is the term for the formation of new blood...

, invasion, and metastasis
Metastasis
Metastasis, or metastatic disease , is the spread of a disease from one organ or part to another non-adjacent organ or part. It was previously thought that only malignant tumor cells and infections have the capacity to metastasize; however, this is being reconsidered due to new research...

.

Massagué continues to explore the processes of cancer
Cancer
Cancer , known medically as a malignant neoplasm, is a large group of different diseases, all involving unregulated cell growth. In cancer, cells divide and grow uncontrollably, forming malignant tumors, and invade nearby parts of the body. The cancer may also spread to more distant parts of the...

 cell dissemination, the concept of self-seeding, and therapeutic opportunities to interfere with and limit metastasis
Metastasis
Metastasis, or metastatic disease , is the spread of a disease from one organ or part to another non-adjacent organ or part. It was previously thought that only malignant tumor cells and infections have the capacity to metastasize; however, this is being reconsidered due to new research...

. The Metastasis Research Center at Memorial Sloan-Kettering facilitates this work.

Having authored more than 300 scientific articles, Massagué was one of the 50 most cited researchers in all areas of science between 1983 and 2002. He has mentored and trained nearly one hundred graduate students and postdoctoral fellows.

Personal life

Massagué, whose parents were both pharmacists, is the oldest of six siblings, two of whom are also pharmacists. He and his wife, Roser Salavert i Casamor, EdD, have homes in New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...

 and Barcelona
Barcelona
Barcelona is the second largest city in Spain after Madrid, and the capital of Catalonia, with a population of 1,621,537 within its administrative limits on a land area of...

. They have two daughters.

Memberships

  • American Academy of Arts and Sciences
    American Academy of Arts and Sciences
    The American Academy of Arts and Sciences is an independent policy research center that conducts multidisciplinary studies of complex and emerging problems. The Academy’s elected members are leaders in the academic disciplines, the arts, business, and public affairs.James Bowdoin, John Adams, and...

  • American Association for Cancer Research
    American Association for Cancer Research
    The American Association for Cancer Research is the world's oldest and largest professional association to advancing cancer research. Based in Philadelphia, AACR focuses on all aspects of cancer research including basic, clinical and translational research into the etiology, prevention, diagnosis,...

  • European Molecular Biology Organization
    European Molecular Biology Organization
    EMBO stands for excellence in the life sciences. The EMBO mission is to enable the best science by supporting talented researchers, stimulating scientific exchange and advancing policies for a world-class European research environment....

  • Institute of Medicine
    Institute of Medicine
    The Institute of Medicine is a not-for-profit, non-governmental American organization founded in 1970, under the congressional charter of the National Academy of Sciences...

  • National Academy of Sciences
    National Academy of Sciences
    National Academy of Sciences commonly refers to the academy in the United States of America.National Academy of Sciences may also refer to :* National Academy of Sciences of Argentina* Armenian National Academy of Sciences...


External links

The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.  The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.
 
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