Thomas Jefferson University professor elected AAAS Fellow

Exemplary work in genetic imaging and therapy have earned Eric Wickstrom, Ph.D., a Professor of Biochemistry & Molecular Biology at Jefferson Medical College of Thomas Jefferson University and member of the Kimmel Cancer Center at Jefferson, recognition by his peers as a 2010 Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS).

AAAS is honoring Dr. Wickstrom for his "distinguished contributions to genetic imaging and genetic therapy by design and application of modified oligonucleotides."

Dr. Wickstrom will be recognized, along with the other 502 members elected, at the AAAS Fellows Forum during the 2011 AAAS Annual Meeting in Washington, D.C. on February 19. A tradition that began in 1874, AAAS names Fellows every year for their scientifically or socially distinguished efforts to advance science or its applications.

As part of the Jefferson Medical College and Kimmel Cancer Center, Dr. Wickstrom, along with his co-workers, create new methods to see cancer gene activity from outside the body, and to capture cancer cells flowing through the blood.

More specifically, his laboratory is developing cancer gene-specific oligonucleotides and siRNAs against cancer genes in the signal transduction pathway for use as diagnostics and therapeutics for cancers.

This year's AAAS Fellows will also be announced in the AAAS "News & Notes" section of the journal Science on January 28, 2011.

Provided by Thomas Jefferson University