Grand Challenges Lecture Series Welcomes Steven Rosen

Steven Rosen, Genevieve Teuton Professor of Medicine and Director of the Robert H. Lurie Comprehensive Cancer Center at the Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine, will speak on Wednesday, April 21 at 4 p.m. in the ITW classroom in the Ford Motor Company Engineering Design Center as part of the Grand Challenges in Medicine and Engineering Lecture Series.

Rosen will give a talk titled, "Targeted Therapies for Cancer."

The Dean's Grand Challenges Lecture Series in Medicine and Engineering is a partnership between the McCormick School of Engineering and Applied Science and the Feinberg School of Medicine. The series of six lectures brings together engineering and medical faculty members to catalyze interdisciplinary collaboration. The 2009-2010 inaugural season spans topics ranging from neurobiology and nanomechanics, to cell-based therapies for heart disease, to oncofertility and more.

Rosen will provide an overview of biologic therapies used in cancer and will discuss the utility, toxicity, and mechanism of action of select biologic agents in cancer therapy.

Biotherapy encompasses the therapeutic use of any biologic substance or medications that affect a biologic response. These agents work through diverse mechanisms including a) promotion of programmed cell death (apoptosis), b) augmentation of host defenses, c) differentiation or cellular maturation, d) interference of growth promoting factors, e) inhibition of metastases, f) amelioration of chemotherapy or radiation toxicity, g) targeting of cytoxic molecules to tumor cells, and h) inhibition of angiogenesis.