Ashok Venkitaraman wins 2017 Basser Global Prize

It has been announced that Professor Ashok Venkitaraman (2007) has been awarded the 2017 Basser Global Prize by the Basser Center for BRCA, at the University of Pennsylvania's Abramson Cancer Center.

The prize is awarded for conceptual advancements BRCA1/2-related research that has led to improvements in clinical care. Professor Venkitaraman's research focuses on understanding the genetics and biology of cancer, seeking to explain the impact of genome instability on the formation of cancer and cancer therapy. His laboratory has established that the BRCA2 gene plays a key part in repairing the human genome, that people with an inherited mutation of this gene are predisposed to cancer and explaining how this occurs.

Professor Venkitaraman will deliver the keynote address at the 2018 BRCA Scientfic Symposium at the Basser Center on 22 May 2018. He will also be presented with the Basser trophy, a $10,000 cash prize and $100,000 in unrestricted support of BRCA1/2-related research efforts.

Professor Venkitaraman is the Ursula Zoellner Professor of Cancer Research and director of the Medical Research Council Cancer Unit. He joined Pembroke as a Fellow in 2007.

Official press release: https://www.pennmedicine.org/news/news-releases/2017/november/basser-center-for-brca-names-cancer-researcher-ashok-venkitaraman-winner-of-2017-basser-global-prize