The people behind the paper
Here's how a string of informal scientific collaborations
helped to boost our knowledge of melanomas
In the summer of 2002, graduate student Piyush Gupta
came up with an idea about the mechanisms that might
drive the growth of melanomas, an often deadly form
of skin cancer. In September 2005, he and his colleagues
published a paper in Nature Genetics that validated
the idea. His three-year journey demonstrated how biological
research thrives on informal collaborations inside and
outside a home laboratory, in this case the lab of Whitehead
Member Robert
Weinberg.
Gupta and his seven collaborators demonstrated that
human melanocytes, the skin cells that produce pigment,
appear to be far more predisposed than most cells to
turn malignant because of their developmental history.
(See “Researchers
discover why melanoma is so malignant”) Once
morphed into cancer cells, melanocytes reawaken a dormant
cellular process that lets them scatter throughout the
body, with a gene called Slug playing a leading role.
The researchers demonstrated how much more effectively
melanoma metastasizes, compared to other cancers, when
injected in mice. They proved that this is not caused
by mutations in the melanoma tumor beyond those needed
to make the initial primary tumor. And they showed that
when the melanoma cells are deprived of the Slug gene,
their ability to metastasize is strongly inhibited.
As Gupta kicked off the project, he drew on occasional
guidance from Weinberg and other Whitehead researchers.
As challenges rose, he also tapped into what he describes
as “the social network of science,” getting
expertise and suggestions from other researchers near
and far.
“I had to learn every technique in this paper,”
says Gupta, whose undergraduate degree was in math and
biochemistry. “There were many technical and experimental
hurdles along the way that I could never have overcome
without the generous assistance of others in the lab.
When experiments did work, I drew heavily on discussions
with Bob, collaborators and others in the lab to help
me to conceptualize my results.”
“I run a lab that actively encourages people like
Piyush to go out and take initiatives on their own,
including forming collaborations with other laboratories”
says Weinberg. “One of the key powers of our scientific
community is an ability to form transient alliances
with other research groups in order to get certain projects
done. This explains how Piyush accomplished so much
in such a relatively short time.”
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