Tak Wah Mak
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Tak Wah Mak | |
---|---|
Born | University of Wisconsin University of Alberta | October 4, 1946
Known for | Discovery of the T-cell receptor
Discovery of the function of CTLA-4
Founder of Agios Pharmaceuticals |
Scientific career | |
Fields | Biochemistry Immunology Biology |
Institutions | Princess Margaret Cancer Centre University Health Network University of Toronto |
Academic advisors | Howard Martin Temin Ernest McCulloch James Till |
Tak Wah Mak,
Early life
Born in southern China in 1946 to parents who were silk merchants, and raised in Hong Kong, parents encouraged him to become a doctor, his interests lay elsewhere—in math, biology, and chemistry.[6] Mak and his family moved to the United States of America during the mid-1960s and with the choice of going to the University of California or Wisconsin, he was persuaded by his mother to attend Wisconsin to avoid the antiwar activities at California. His interest in life and chemistry led him to eventually studying biochemistry and biophysics at the University of Wisconsin.
University life
At the
Scientific career
In 1980, Mak returned to Wisconsin to learn new techniques in the lab of
In 1993, Mak received support from the world's largest independent biotech company,
In 2004 Mak became the director of the Advanced Medical Discovery Institute and the Campbell Family Institute for Breast Cancer Research. He is also the senior scientist, division of Stem Cell and Developmental Biology, Advanced Medical Discovery Institute/Ontario Cancer Institute. He is a member of the Cancer Research Institute Scientific Advisory Council.[11] Since 1984, he has been a Professor in the Departments of Medical Biophysics and Immunology at the University of Toronto.
From the early 2000s, Mak concentrated his efforts on the emerging field of cancer metabolism. Mak, Lewis C. Cantley, and Craig B. Thompson together founded Agios Pharmaceuticals, a biotech pharmaceutical company whose sole purpose is to discover methods of targeting cancer metabolism. The trio have contributed immensely in a few years to what was originally a forgotten paradigm. The discovery of the involvement of particular enzymes such as PKM2, mutated IDH as well as novel oncometabolites such as 2-hydroxyglutarate in cancer development have once again brought cancer metabolism back to the forefront of cancer biology. On August 1,[year needed] Agios announced that the FDA had approved their lead compound, IDHIFA®, for the treatment of acute myeloid leukemia.[5] IDHIFA® targets a mutant form of Isocitrate dehydrogenase 2 and is the first[citation needed] drug specifically targeting cancer metabolism to be used for cancer treatment.
Mak holds Honorary Doctoral Degrees from numerous universities in North America and Europe. He is an Officer of the
Honors
- 1985, awarded the Steacie Prize[12]
- 1986, elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada
- 1988, awarded the Emil von Behring Prize
- 1989, awarded the Gairdner Foundation International Award
- 1990, awarded the Royal Society of Canada's McLaughlin Medal
- 1994, made a Fellow of the Royal Society
- 1995, awarded the King Faisal Prize for Medicine
- 1996, awarded the Robert L. Noble Prize by the National Cancer Institute of Canada
- 1996, awarded the Sloan Prizeof the General Motors Cancer Foundation
- 2000, made an Officer of the Order of Canada
- 2002, elected as a foreign associate to the National Academy of Sciencesin the discipline of immunology
- 2003, awarded the Canada Council for the Arts.
- 2004, awarded the Paul Ehrlich and Ludwig Darmstaedter Prize[13]
- 2005, elected as an International Honorary Member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.[14]
- 2007, awarded the Order of Ontario.[15]
- 2009, introduced to the Canadian Medical Hall of Fame.
- 2015, award the Top 25 Canadian Immigrant Awards.[16]
- 2021, awarded the Szent-Györgyi Prize for Progress in Cancer Research[17]
- 2023 awarded the Pezcoller Foundation-AACR International Award for Extraordinary Achievement in Cancer Research.[18]
Select publications[19]
Year | Title | Publication | Author(s) | Volume/Issue Citation |
---|---|---|---|---|
2015 | Signalling thresholds and negative B-cell selection in acute lymphoblastic leukaemia | Nature | Chen Z, Shojaee S, Buchner M, Geng H, Lee JW, Klemm L, Titz B, Graeber TG, Park E, Tan YX, Satterthwaite A, Paietta E, Hunger SP, Willman CL, Melnick A, Loh ML, Jung JU, Coligan JE, Bolland S, Mak TW, Limnander A, Jumaa H, Reth M, Weiss A, Lowell CA, Müschen M. | 10.1038/nature14231 |
1999 | Glypican-3–Deficient Mice Exhibit Developmental Overgrowth and Some of the Abnormalities Typical of Simpson-Golabi-Behmel Syndrome | The Journal of Cell Biology | Cano-Gauci, D. F.; Song, H. H.; Yang, H.; McKerlie, C.; Choo, B.; Shi, W.; Pullano, R.; Piscione, T. D.; Grisaru, S.; Soon, S.; Sedlackova, L.; Tanswell, A. K.; Mak, T. W.; Yeger, H.; Lockwood, G. A.; Rosenblum, N. D.; Filmus, J. | 10.1083/jcb.146.1.255 |
1984 | A human T cell-specific cDNA clone encodes a protein having extensive homology to immunoglobulin chains | Nature | Yanagi, Y.; Yoshikai, Y.; Leggett, K.; Clark, S. P.; Aleksander, I.; Mak, T. W. | 10.1038/308145a0 |
1984 | Presence of T-cell receptor mRNA in functionally distinct T cells and elevation during intrathymic differentiation | Nature | Yoshikai Y, Yanagi Y, Suciu-Foca N, Mak TW | 10.1038/310506a0 |
1984 | Rearrangements of T-cell receptor gene YT35 in human DNA from thymic leukaemia T-cell lines and functional T-cell clones | Nature | Toyonaga B, Yanagi Y, Suciu-Foca N, Minden M, Mak TW | 10.1038/311385a0 |
References
- ^ "Science.ca: Tak Wah Mak".
- ^ "Tak Wah Mak | Living History". Archived from the original on 2016-03-04. Retrieved 2014-02-23.
- PMID 22080609.
- ^ S2CID 45993765.
- ^ a b "FDA Grants Approval of IDHIFA®, the First Oral Targeted Therapy for Adult Patients with Relapsed/Refractory Acute Myeloid Leukemia and an IDH2 Mutation | Agios Pharmaceuticals, Inc. – IR Site". Agios Pharmaceuticals, Inc. – IR Site. Retrieved 2017-08-04.
- ^ PMID 22080609.
- S2CID 86549895. Retrieved 25 March 2019.
- S2CID 4318667. Retrieved 21 April 2013.
- S2CID 5115476.
- ^ "Archived". Archived from the original on 6 October 2014. Retrieved 16 April 2023.[dead link]
- ^ Cancer Research Institute Scientific Advisory Council List
- ^ "Steacie Prize Recipient List". E.W.R. Steacie Memorial Fund. Retrieved 17 October 2022.
- ^ "Prize Winners since 1952". goethe-university-frankfurt.de. Goethe University Frankfurt. Retrieved 17 October 2022.
- ^ "Tak Wah Mak–American Academy of Arts and Sciences". July 2023.
- ^ "Order of Ontario 2007 Appointees".
- ^ "Canadas Top 25 Immigrants 2015". Canadian Immigrant. Retrieved 2021-06-18.
- ^ "2021 Szent-Györgyi Prize Awarded to Pioneering Research Duo Who Have Paved the Path to Life-Saving T-Cell Receptor-Based Cancer Immunotherapies". National Foundation for Cancer Research. 18 February 2021. Retrieved 24 February 2021.
- ^ Picard, Andre (13 March 2023). "Canadian doctor Tak Mak wins prestigious award for pioneering work in cancer research". Globe and Mail. Archived from the original on 14 March 2023. Retrieved 14 March 2023.
- ^ "Mak TW PubMed Publications". Retrieved 9 December 2020.