Interview with Dr. Andrew L. Wolfe—Winner of the Current Oncology Distinguished Paper Award
The Current Oncology Distinguished Paper Award is granted annually to highlight publications of high quality, scientific significance, and extensive influence. Following a comprehensive evaluation of originality, scientific relevance, citation performance, and download metrics, the winning paper was selected.
For more information about the award, please visit the following link: https://www.mdpi.com/journal/curroncol/awards/3198.
Today, we are honored to have this conversation with Dr. Andrew L. Wolfe, the corresponding author of the winning paper:
“KRAS: Biology, Inhibition, and Mechanisms of Inhibitor Resistance”
by Leonard J. Ash, Ottavia Busia-Bourdain, Daniel Okpattah, Avrosina Kamel, Ariel Liberchuk and Andrew L. Wolfe
Curr. Oncol. 2024, 31(4), 2024–2046; https://doi.org/10.3390/curroncol31040150
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Name: Dr. Andrew L. Wolfe Affiliations: 1 Department of Biological Sciences, Hunter College, City University of New York, USA; 2 Molecular, Cellular, and Developmental Biology Subprogram of the Biology Ph.D. Program, Graduate Center, City University of New York, USA; 3 Biochemistry Ph.D. Program, Graduate Center, City University of New York, USA; 4 Department of Pharmacology, Weill Cornell Medicine, New York, USA Research interests: cancer; therapy; resistance; KRAS pathway; health disparities |
The following is an interview with Dr. Wolfe:
1. Congratulations on winning the Current Oncology Distinguished Paper Award! Could you briefly introduce yourself and tell us about your field of research?
I am Andy Wolfe, leader of the Wolfe lab and educator at Hunter College. My journey involved training as a biological researcher at the National Institutes of Health, The Institute for Genomic Research, Weill Cornell, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, Mount Sinai, and the University of California San Francisco. My lab focuses on the biology and inhibition of the Ras signaling pathway, which controls cellular proliferation and other phenotypes important in cancer. Overactivation of Ras by mutations is one of the most common drivers of tumor initiation and progression, and is especially common in lung cancer, colon cancer, and pancreatic cancer. By studying approaches and obstacles to inhibiting Ras in cancer, we hope to shed light on strategies that may help improve treatment outcomes for cancer patients.
2. What inspired you and your team to pursue this research topic, and what important gap in the field were you hoping to address?
The Ras field is at a fascinating inflection point, where a bevy of viable Ras inhibitors have been generated and are now being tested in the clinic, but the potentially life-changing results have largely not yet been translated to FDA approval for widespread use in diseases such as pancreatic cancer. Will the next generations of Ras inhibitors extend lifespan by a few precious months, only to result in relapses? Or can researchers identify approaches, such as rationally selected combination therapies, that can convert otherwise terminal prognoses into sustained tumor shrinkage and long-term lifespan extensions?
To frame these questions, a graduate student in my lab pitched that the members of the Wolfe lab should together write a review about the many described mechanisms of resistance to Ras inhibition. We applied our knowledge and researched the topic from many different angles to construct what we hoped would be a useful compendium of information about Ras biology, the many approaches that different laboratories and pharmaceutical companies have taken to directly target the Ras family of oncoproteins, and the mechanisms of drug resistance that have been described in experimental models and patients. In my opinion, Ras inhibition is a hot field with new research findings arriving every day, so collecting as many of the highlights as possible in one place, and filtering it through our own perspective, was a project we were excited to pursue. This award serves as a gratifying recognition that people found our review useful!
3. How was your experience with the editorial and peer-review process for Current Oncology?
I had read publications in this journal before, and liked the content and scope. When the idea arose to write a review about KRAS biology, inhibition, and mechanisms of therapeutic resistance, I was happy to connect with the editor about the submission. The peer review process was helpful and we incorporated suggestions from the reviewers into the final manuscript.
4. What are your thoughts on the impact of open access (OA) publishing on authors in academia?
I deeply support an open access model of publishing for cancer research. Knowledge is power, and I believe peer-reviewed scientific findings should be free and publicly available, instead of paywalled, especially when it comes to research related to deadly diseases. Open access models provide researchers, doctors, and patients with critical information that can influence future approaches to research and treatment.
5. What are the main research projects currently occupying your attention, and which research topics do you think will be of particular interest to the research community in the coming years?
Today, strategies for cancer treatment are a mixed bag of remarkable successes and holes where treatment remains inadequate. I am interested in combining Ras inhibition with other therapeutic approaches to gain insight into the biology of how different pathways intersect. Building a deeper understanding of the regulators of Ras expression and activity may lead to alternative strategies for cancer therapeutics. In the coming years, improved understanding of cancer biology and innovation in treatment strategies may close many of the gaps seen today.
6. What advice would you offer to early career researchers who are interested in pursuing work in this area?
This is the advice I give to students and trainees seeking a scientific direction: Identify a problem that you are passionate about working to solve. Something you would be excited to get up every day and work on. Something that makes the world better. Something you can look back on at the end of your life and be proud of. Build your career around applying the scientific method to tackling your passion problem.
Thank you for participating in this interview and congratulations again on being selected as one of the winners of the Current Oncology Distinguished Paper Award. We are delighted to recognize the impact of your work and are grateful for your contribution to the journal.
We look forward to sharing your perspectives with the wider research community and wish you continued success in your future research and professional endeavors.