Arul M. Chinnaiyan is a Hicks Endowed Professor of Pathology and professor of pathology and urology at the

University of Michigan Medical School The University of Michigan Medicine (branded as Michigan Medicine) is the academic medical center of the University of Michigan, a public research university in Ann Arbor, Michigan. It consists of the university's Medical School, affiliated hos ...

. He is also a Howard Hughes medical Investigator (HHMI) at the

Howard Hughes Medical Institute The Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI) is an American non-profit medical research organization headquartered in Chevy Chase, Maryland with additional facilities in Ashburn, Virginia. It was founded in 1953 by Howard Hughes, an American busin ...

. Arul Chinnaiyan received both PhD and MD degrees at the

in 1999. He is a cancer researcher and the recipient of the 28th annual

American Association for Cancer Research The American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) is the world's oldest and largest professional association related to cancer research. Based in Philadelphia, the AACR focuses on all aspects of cancer research, including Basic research, basic, ...

Award for Outstanding Achievement in Cancer Research at the annual meeting of the AACR in April 2008 in San Diego. He was also the leader of a group of scientists who received the inaugural 2007

"Team Science" Award for their discovery of gene fusions in prostate cancer. Arul Chinnaiyan received a number of other awards and prizes, including the Burroughs Wellcome Fund Clinical Scientist Award in Translational Research and of the Ramzi Cotran Young Investigator Award from the United States and Canadian Academy of Pathology. He is an elected member of the American Society for Clinical Investigation. He is a member of the editorial board for ''

Oncogene An oncogene is a gene that has the potential to cause cancer. In tumor cells, these genes are often mutated, or expressed at high levels.

''.

Research and discovery

The focus of his research is molecular profiling of cancer to discover novel diagnostic markers and therapeutic targets. It is generally believed that blood cancers are caused by chromosome translocation such as Bcr-Abl in chronic myelogenous leukaemia (CML), whereas solid tumors are caused by mutations in growth or tumour suppressor genes. In research which challenges the current dogma, Arul has discovered chromosome translocation in solid prostate tumours. Arul has discovered that this translocation occurs between a male hormone related gene TMPRSS2 and transcription factors of the Erythroblast transformation specific (ETS) family.

Publications

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References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Chinnaiyan, Arul Year of birth missing (living people) Living people American health professionals of Indian descent University of Michigan faculty University of Michigan Medical School alumni Place of birth missing (living people) Howard Hughes Medical Investigators Members of the National Academy of Medicine Members of the United States National Academy of Sciences