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Leading Melanoma Researcher to Speak in NYC on Skin Cancer

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Dr. Carmit Levy will be in West Hartford on June 16 to talk to members of the community about her groundbreaking melanoma research, which is being supported by the Israel Cancer Research Fund (ICRF).

The Skin Cancer Foundation reports that “a recent study has revealed an alarming rise in mel-anoma among people aged 18 to 39: over the past 40 years, the rates of this potentially deadly skin cancer grew by 800 percent among young women and 400 percent among young men.” In addition, Nature magazine has reinforced the findings of an earlier genetic study linking ultra violet ray (UVR) to melanoma, the deadliest form of skin cancer. This only emphasizes the need to follow sun safety measures such as shade, clothing, and SPF sunscreen as well as vigi-lant skin examinations.

Dr. Carmit Levy, a young principal investigator who established her own lab at Tel Aviv Uni-versity in April 2011 after completing post-doctoral studies at Harvard Medical School, will be in West Hartford on June 16 to talk to members of the community about her groundbreaking melanoma research, which is being supported by the Israel Cancer Research Fund (ICRF). She continues to study the role of microRNAs in development ,differentiation and malignant transformation of melanocytes, with the goal of developing novel approaches to the prevention, diagnosis, and treatment of skin cancer, in general, and melanoma in particular,

Upon completion of her M. Sc. studies, Dr. Levy began her Ph.D. studies, where she deci-phered the molecular mechanisms underlying MITF transcription factor regulation in mast cells and melanoma. MITF is the master regulator of melanocytes, the retinal pigmented epithelium, mast cells, and osteoclasts, and is an amplified oncogene in a fraction of human melanomas. At that time, little was known about factors involved in the repression of MITF activity. Dr. Levy’s work was one of the first descriptions of a factor involved in the repression of MITF activity. Her Ph.D. yielded seven scientific publications.

Following her Ph.D. studies, Dr. Levy joined the lab of David Fisher at Harvard Medical School for post-doctoral research where she studied the role of microRNAs in melanocyte and melanoma development and led three projects. The efforts of Israeli cancer researchers have resulted in many significant breakthroughs in recent years.

According to Brad Goldhar, ICRF President, “We are extremely proud of our Carmit Levy and our other ICRF-funded scientists and the intellectual and innovative research taking place in Israel today. The scientists that we have funded have helped to elucidate the role of the p53 tumor-suppressor gene (present in 50 percent of all human cancer and now the most studied gene in the human genome), develop widely used cancer drugs (Doxil ,Gleevec and Velcade), and new bone marrow transplant techniques. They have enhanced our understanding of BRCA1 and 2- related breast cancer. In the research we fund, all types of cancer are target-ed: brain, breast, colon, eye, gastrointestinal, kidney, liver, lung, ovarian and more.”

The Israel Cancer Research Fund is the largest organization in North America devoted solely to supporting cancer research in Israel. Founded in 1975 by a group of American and Cana-dian researchers , oncologists, and lay people, ICRF has provided more than 2,000 grants totaling more than $50 million to outstanding scientists who work at all of the leading research institutions in Israel .

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