A leading light in basic cancer research, Dr. Prives has transformed the field by immersing herself in characterizing the structure and function of the p53 tumor suppressor and its binding partners, notably Mdm2. She discovered that wild-type p53 is a sequence-specific DNA binding transcriptional activator, a finding that stimulated numerous studies devoted to identifying genes that regulate p53-mediated cellular outcomes. Her work has continues to the present to delve into the mechanisms but which wild-type p53 recognizes its cognate sites in DNA. She was also the first to demonstrate that SV40 large T antigen as well as the p53 missense mutations that are most common in cancer inhibit p53 transcription activation by interfering with p53 DNA-binding. Dr. Prives has further demonstrated that such mutant forms of p53 can inhibit the pro-apoptotic p53 homologues, p63 and p73. More recently she identified the mevalonic acid pathway as being promoted by cancer related mutant forms of p53 in breast cancer cells.
Dr. Prives showed that in response to genotoxic stress and DNA damage, wild-type p53 is phosphorylated at sites that weaken its interaction with Mdm2, its negative regulator. Work from her group also revealed that key sites on p53 are phosphorylated by checkpoint kinases 1 and 2 (Chk1/2). She has identified a number of regulators of Mdm2 including RPS7 (40S ribosomal protein S7) and TAB1 as being important in the p53 response to common chemotheraputics such as 5’FU (fluorouracil) and cisplatin.
Career Highlights
2021 AACR-G.H.A. Clowes Award for Outstanding Basic Cancer Research
2018 Outstanding Investigator Award, National Cancer Institute
2011 AACR-Women in Cancer Research Charlotte Friend Memorial Lectureship
2010 Paul Janssen Prize in Biotechnology and Medicine, Center for Advanced Biotechnology and Medicine
2009 Rosalind E. Franklin Award for Women in Science, National Cancer Institute
2008 Elected Member, National Academy of Sciences, Washington, D.C.
2005 Elected Member, Institute of Medicine
2004-2007 Board of Directors, AACR
2001 Elected Fellow, American Academy of Microbiology
2000 Elected Fellow, American Academy of Arts and Sciences
1998 Research Professorship Award, American Cancer Society
1996 MERIT Award, National Institutes of Health
1995 Da Costa Professor of Biology Appointment, Columbia University
1966 PhD, McGill University, Montreal, Québec