Friday, January 25th, 2008

Judah Folkman's Legacy

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.