Keith T. Flaherty, M.D., Principal Investigator and Director of Developmental Therapeutics at Massachusetts General Hospital Cancer Center to give keynote presentation titled “Targeting BRAF in Cancer Reveals Unexpected Biology and Points to the Next Generation of Inhibitors” at GTCbio’s 6th Protein Kinases in Drug Discovery Conference on May 26-27, 2011 in Boston, MA
Dr. Flaherty’s primary focus has been to perform clinical trials with molecularly targeted therapies aimed at blocking oncogene signaling and tumor angiogenesis in melanoma and renal cell carcinoma. In this context, he has led multidisciplinary research teams in each area and has been supported by the NIH through K23 and RO1 funding. He has led numerous first-in-human trials as well as NCI cooperative groups trials investigating the clinical effect and predictive markers of novel targeted therapy regimens. He is internationally known for expertise in clinical and translational research directed against signal transduction pathways in melanoma, having led both the first and definitive trials with BRAF inhibitors in metastatic melanoma harboring BRAF mutations.
His current research seeks to understand the hierarchy of oncogenes and signal transduction pathways toward the goal of developing rational targeted therapy combination regimens. Through the conduct of the first clinical trials with this approach, Dr. Flaherty seeks to expand the degree to which therapy is personalized based on the genetic underpinnings of an individual cancer.
Also presenting at the Protein Kinase Conference are prestigious organizations including Abbott, Amgen, Ansaris, ArQule, Avila Tx, Biogen Idec, Broad Institute, Dana Farber, DE Shaw Research, Genentech, Harvard Neurodiscovery Center, Incyte, Millennium, Merck, Novartis, OSI Pharma, Pfizer, and other leaders in the kinase industry. For more information, please visit http://www.gtcbio.com.
