Influential Cancer Researcher Receives Agilent Thought Leader Award

Agilent announced that Dr Scott Lowe has received an Agilent Thought Leader Award in recognition for his contributions to the identification of key genes – including those that promote or suppress cancer – and their characterization as therapeutic targets using novel genetic screens and animal models.

Dr Lowe chairs the Cancer Biology & Genetics Program at the Sloan Kettering Institute as well as the Geoffrey Beene Cancer Research Center at the Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center and is widely recognized for his work in cancer biology.

The award will support Dr Lowe’s work on the development and implementation of next generation CRISPR-based genetic screens to systematically identify and characterize novel targets for cancer therapeutics. Notably, Agilent will support the work in Dr Lowe’s laboratory by providing unique capabilities for the generation of CRISPR libraries, including their massively parallel oligonucleotide synthesis technologies and other molecular biology tools and reagents.

“We anticipate the work by Dr Lowe will not only generate new CRISPR-based technologies and resources for identifying therapeutic targets, but will also serve as an example for others to create equivalent tools for other diseases,” said Herman Verrelst, Agilent vice president & general manager, Genomics Solutions Division and Clinical Applications Division, and the executive sponsor of this award. “We are pleased to support Dr Lowe’s research as it promises to have many applications in identification and validation of cancer drug targets and in creating effective pharmaceuticals.”

“I am honored and pleased to receive the Thought Leader Award from Agilent,” said Dr Lowe. “This award represents a unique partnership that will enable us to rapidly develop and implement genome engineering technologies to identify strategies for treating cancers that are currently resistant to conventional therapies.”