Judah Folkman's Legacy (broadcast Friday, January 25th, 2008)

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Folkman lecturing. courtesy Children's Hospital / Mark Ostow.

Medical researcher Judah Folkman passed away last week at the age of 74. Until his death, he was Director of the Vascular Biology Program at Children's Hospital Boston. A central theme of his research was the idea of angiogenesis, the formation of new blood vessels. In 1971, Folkman published a paper in the New England Journal of Medicine arguing that angiogenesis was a key component in the growth of tumors. If a way could be found to limit the growth of blood vessels servicing a tumor, he reasoned, the tumor would be unable to grow. The idea has been incorporated into many differnt fields, and has led to the development of drugs such as Avastin (Bevacizumab), an angiogenisis inhibitor developed by Genentech. In this segment, we'll talk about Folkman's work and scientific legacy. Teachers, find more information about using Science Friday as a classroom resource in the Kids' Connection.

Guests

Robert Cooke
Science Writer
Author, "Dr. Folkman's War: Angiogenesis and the Struggle to Defeat Cancer," (Random House, 2001)

Stow, Massachusetts

Larry Norton
Deputy-in-Chief of Breast Cancer Programs
Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center
New York, New York

Related Links

Segment produced by:Annette Heist

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Support for Science Friday provided in part by the Noyce Foundation and The Alfred P. Sloan Foundation