New cancer researcher to join The Jackson Laboratory

Date: November 14, 2008

Cancer researcher Chengkai Dai, M.D., Ph.D., will join The Jackson Laboratory faculty at the end of 2008. Dr. Dai is finishing a postdoctoral appointment at the Whitehead Institute for Biomedical Research, an independent institution affiliated with MIT.

Dr. Dai studies a family of proteins, called heat shock proteins, that normally protect healthy cells from environmental stress. In cancer, however, the proteins change allegiance and instead help to protect cancer cells, allowing them to grow and divide very rapidly.

Dr. Dai earned his M.D. from Tianjin Medical University in 1995, followed by an M.S. degree in 1998. He conducted graduate work with Eric Holland, M.D., Ph.D., and received his Ph.D. from the University of Texas—Houston Health Science Center in 2003. At the Whitehead Institute, his postdoctoral fellowship is in the laboratory of Susan Lindquist, Ph.D. Dr. Dai has co-authored 17 research and review articles (seven as first author) in peer-reviewed journals including Cell and Genes & Development. He received The Children's Tumor Foundation Young Investigator Award in 2006.

Through his graduate work, Dr. Dai developed a focus on cancer, reasoning that the ability of cancer cells to evolve quickly is the main obstacle to developing therapy for established cancers. His interests in the heat shock stress response could have widespread application to the work of many of his future Jackson colleagues who study neurodegenerative and metabolic disorders and aging, as well as cancer.

The Jackson Laboratory is one of 63 National Cancer Institute-designated centers: 22 Cancer Centers (including The Jackson Laboratory) for basic research, and 41 Comprehensive Centers for clinical research.

Dr. Dai’s appointment marks additional progress in The Jackson Laboratory’s research expansion, whereby the number of research teams is projected to grow from 36 to 45 over the next 5 years.

The Jackson Laboratory is a nonprofit biomedical research institution based in Bar Harbor, Maine. Its mission is to discover the genetic basis for preventing, treating and curing human diseases, and to enable research and education for the global biomedical community.

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Note: a high-resolution version of the photo of Dr. Dai is available upon request.

See also: Computer scientist Matt Hibbs, Ph.D., joining Jackson faculty

Contact(s): Joyce Peterson, 207-288-6058

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