Speaker Detail

Speaker's Biography

Owen Witte
Director, Broad Stem Cell Research Center; Investigator, Howard Hughes Medical Institute; Professor, Microbiology and Pharmacology, University of California, Los Angeles

Owen Witte is the director of the Broad Stem Cell Research Center and a professor of microbiology and pharmacology at UCLA. He is also an investigator at the Howard Hughes Medical Institute. Witte discovered tyrosine kinase activity for the ABL gene and the demonstration of the BCR-ABL oncoproteins in human leukemias, leading to the development of kinase-targeted therapy. He discovered Bruton's tyrosine kinase, which is required for normal B-lymphocyte development, and when mutated leads to the immune deficiency X-linked agammagloblulinemia. Recent work on stem cells for epithelial cancers of the prostate defined new therapies for this disease. Witte is a member of the National Academy of Sciences and the Institute of Medicine. His honors include the Milken Foundation Award, the Rosenthal Award and the Alpert Foundation Prize. Witte received a bachelor's degree from Cornell and an M.D. from Stanford. After postdoctoral research at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, he joined the faculty at UCLA.

Panels:

Advances Against the Crafty Cancer Cell