News release prepared by: Marcia Locke, 785-532-6705, marcia@k-state.edu
Thursday, Oct. 18, 2007
K-STATE ALUM, CANCER EXPERT TO SPEAK ON SPEEDING THE DEVELOPMENT OF NEW DRUGS
MANHATTAN -- Robert Kinders, who earned his Ph.D. in biology at Kansas State University in 1981, will return to campus to present "A New Approach to Drug Development at the National Cancer Institute."
Kinders will speak at 7 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 25, in the Big 12 Room of the K-State Student Union. The speech is free and the public is invited.
The lecture is part of the George S. Bascom Memorial Workshop Series on Current Issues in Clinical Medicine, which is sponsored by K-State's Terry C. Johnson Center for Basic Cancer Research.
According to Kinders, the pace of introduction of new anticancer drugs has not increased in 10 years. He will discuss a new type of clinical trial begun by the National Cancer Institute to speed drug development, increase success rates and reduce the cost of bringing new drugs to patients.
Kinders is a principal scientist at the institute in Frederick, Md., where he leads the pharmacodynamics section in the laboratory of human toxicology and pharmacology. His section develops technologies for measuring drug efficacy at the molecular level, particularly in new drug trials.
Kinders is a former student of the center's founder, Terry C. Johnson, who died from cancer in 2002. Kinders is now president of the center's research and education advisory council.
Kinders has been awarded 11 patents and has led or contributed to the development of 10 cancer diagnostic assays. He also contributed to three anticancer agents that are in clinical trials.
Before joining the National Cancer Institute, Kinders was head of molecular diagnostics applications at Abbott Laboratories.
The Bascom lecture series was established in 1996 in memory of Manhattan physician George S. Bascom, who played a significant role in the formation of the K-State cancer center.
K-State's Terry C. Johnson Center for Basic Cancer Research is dedicated to funding basic cancer research and supporting higher education, training and public outreach. Its programs are made possible through private donations. Information is available at http://www.k-state.edu/cancer.center or by calling 785-532-6705.