Professor Carol L. Prives FRS is the Da Costa Professor of Biological Sciences at

Columbia University Columbia University in the City of New York, commonly referred to as Columbia University, is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Churc ...

. She is known for her work in the characterisation of

p53 p53, also known as tumor protein p53, cellular tumor antigen p53 (UniProt name), or transformation-related protein 53 (TRP53) is a regulatory transcription factor protein that is often mutated in human cancers. The p53 proteins (originally thou ...

, an important tumor suppressor protein frequently mutated in cancer. Professor Prives is an elected member of the

National Academy of Sciences The National Academy of Sciences (NAS) is a United States nonprofit, NGO, non-governmental organization. NAS is part of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, along with the National Academy of Engineering (NAE) and the ...

(elected in 2008).

Education

Prives was educated in Canada, received her BSc and PhD in 1966 from

McGill University McGill University (French: Université McGill) is an English-language public research university in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Founded in 1821 by royal charter,Frost, Stanley Brice. ''McGill University, Vol. I. For the Advancement of Learning, ...

, undertaking research in the lab of

Juda Hirsch Quastel Juda Hirsch Quastel, (October 2, 1899 – October 15, 1987) was a British-Canadian biochemist who pioneered diverse research in neurochemistry, soil metabolism, cellular metabolism, and cancer. Biography Quastel, also known as "Harry" or ...

. She pursued postdoctoral fellowships at

Albert Einstein College of Medicine The Albert Einstein College of Medicine is a Private university, private medical school in New York City. Founded in 1953, Einstein is an independent degree-granting institution within the Montefiore Einstein Health System. Einstein hosts Doc ...

and the

Weizmann Institute The Weizmann Institute of Science ( ''Machon Weizmann LeMada'') is a Public university, public research university in Rehovot, Israel, established in 1934, fourteen years before the State of Israel was founded. Unlike other List of Israeli uni ...

under the mentorship of Professor Michel Revel. after which she became a faculty member at the Weizmann Institute. She received an honorary Doctor of Sciences degree from McGill University, her alma mater, on 29 May 2014 for her contributions to the understanding of p53.

Research and career

In 1995, she was appointed as the Da Costa Professor of Biology at

. She was the chair of the Department of Biological Sciences from 2000 to 2004. Her early interest in the SV40 DNA tumour virus as a model for eukaryotic

gene expression Gene expression is the process (including its Regulation of gene expression, regulation) by which information from a gene is used in the synthesis of a functional gene product that enables it to produce end products, proteins or non-coding RNA, ...

and

oncogenic Carcinogenesis, also called oncogenesis or tumorigenesis, is the formation of a cancer, whereby normal cells are transformed into cancer cells. The process is characterized by changes at the cellular, genetic, and epigenetic levels and abno ...

transformation led her to the study of p53. Since the late 1980s, her lab has focused on the

tumour suppressor gene, one of the most frequently mutated in human cancers. Prives has served as chair of the Experimental Virology and the Cell and Molecular Pathology study sections of the

National Institutes of Health The National Institutes of Health (NIH) is the primary agency of the United States government responsible for biomedical and public health research. It was founded in 1887 and is part of the United States Department of Health and Human Service ...

. She has been a member of the Scientific Advisory Boards of the

Dana–Farber Cancer Institute Dana–Farber Cancer Institute (DFCI) is a comprehensive cancer treatment and research center in Boston, Massachusetts. Dana-Farber is the founding member of the Dana-Farber/Harvard Cancer Center, Harvard's Comprehensive Cancer Center designated ...

, the

Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center (MSK or MSKCC) is a cancer treatment and research institution in Manhattan in New York City. MSKCC is one of 72 National Cancer Institute– designated Comprehensive Cancer Centers. Its main campus is ...

, the Massachusetts General Cancer Center, the

National Cancer Institute The National Cancer Institute (NCI) coordinates the United States National Cancer Program and is part of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), which is one of eleven agencies that are part of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. ...

, and the

. She was a member of the board of directors of the

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, ...

from 2004 to 2007. She also served on the Life Sciences jury for the

Infosys Prize The Infosys Prize is an annual award granted to scientists, researchers, engineers and social scientists of Indian origin (not necessarily born in India) by the Infosys Science Foundation and ranks among the highest monetary awards for researc ...

in 2010. She is a member of the editorial boards of ''

Cell Cell most often refers to: * Cell (biology), the functional basic unit of life * Cellphone, a phone connected to a cellular network * Clandestine cell, a penetration-resistant form of a secret or outlawed organization * Electrochemical cell, a de ...

'', ''

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.

'' and the ''

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences ''Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America'' (often abbreviated ''PNAS'' or ''PNAS USA'') is a peer-reviewed multidisciplinary scientific journal. It is the official journal of the National Academy of Scie ...

''.

Awards

* 1996

NIH MERIT Award The NIH MERIT award (Method To Extend Research in Time) Award (R37) was created by the National Institutes of Health The National Institutes of Health (NIH) is the primary agency of the United States government responsible for biomedical an ...

* 2000 Elected Fellow,

American Academy of Arts and Sciences The American Academy of Arts and Sciences (The Academy) is one of the oldest learned societies in the United States. It was founded in 1780 during the American Revolution by John Adams, John Hancock, James Bowdoin, Andrew Oliver, and other ...

* 2001 Elected Fellow,

American Academy of Microbiology American(s) may refer to: * American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America" ** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America ** American ancestry, p ...

* 2005 Elected Member,

Institute of Medicine The National Academy of Medicine (NAM), known as the Institute of Medicine (IoM) until 2015, is an American nonprofit, non-governmental organization. The National Academy of Medicine is a part of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineerin ...

* 2008 Elected Member,

* 2009 Rosalind E. Franklin Award for Women in Science,

* 2010 Paul Janssen Prize in Biotechnology and Medicine, Center for Advanced Biotechnology and Medicine * 2011 AACR-Women in Cancer Research Charlotte Friend Memorial Lectureship * 2015 Elected Fellow,

AACR Academy The American Association for Cancer Research elects classes of fellows to recognize influential scientists in the field of cancer research. Six fellows were appointed to Vice President Biden’s Cancer Moonshot Initiative Blue Ribbon Panel. Sever ...

* 2020 Elected Fellow,

The Royal Society The Royal Society, formally The Royal Society of London for Improving Natural Knowledge, is a learned society and the United Kingdom's national academy of sciences. The society fulfils a number of roles: promoting science and its benefits, r ...

* 2021 Recipient of AACR-G.H.A. Clowes Award for Outstanding Basic Cancer Research

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Prives, Carol Year of birth missing (living people) Living people Fellows of the AACR Academy Columbia University faculty McGill University alumni Canadian women biologists 20th-century Canadian biologists 21st-century Canadian biologists Albert Einstein College of Medicine alumni 20th-century American biologists 21st-century American women scientists 20th-century American women scientists 21st-century American biologists Scientists from New York City Female fellows of the Royal Society American women academics 20th-century Canadian women scientists 21st-century Canadian women scientists Canadian fellows of the Royal Society Members of the United States National Academy of Sciences Members of the National Academy of Medicine