The American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) named Patricia Berg, Ph.D., professor of biochemistry and molecular medicine at the George Washington University School of Medicine and Health Sciences, a fellow of the AAAS.
Berg was selected for her “important contributions to cancer research with the discovery of BP1 protein, activated in 80 percent of breast cancers and 70 percent of prostate cancers,” according to the AAAS.
Berg also discovered that the presence of BP1 protein increases as breast cancer progresses from normal tissue to aggressive breast cancer. BP1 is associated with increased cell growth, resistance to drugs, and metastasis. Moreover, BP1 protein can control other genes, including several oncogenes known to cause breast cancer. Her work has had a dramatic effect on cancer research.
