Lewis C. Cantley

Biography

Director of the Cancer Center at Weill Cornell Medical College and New York-Presbyterian Hospital; member of the National Academy of Sciences and American Academy of Arts and Sciences

Research Interest

Dr. Cantley is a foremost expert in understanding the biochemical pathways linking cancer and energy metabolism. His key contributions include: Discovering the phosphatidylinositol-3-kinase (PI3K) signaling pathway.Characterizing the mechanism by which PI3K is activated by growth factors and oncogenes and elucidating pathways downstream of PI3K, including the AKT/PKB signaling pathway Pioneering the application of fluorescence resonance energy transfer (FRET) for studying small molecule cell membrane transport Discovering pyruvate kinase M2 (PKM2) as a “hub” to integrate growth factor signaling and aerobic glycolysis, an evolution in the understanding of the Warburg effect