Medical researcher Judah Folkman died Jan. 14 at the age of 74. A central theme of his research was the idea of angiogenesis, the formation of new blood vessels.
In 1971, Folkman published a paper in the New England Journal of Medicine arguing that angiogenesis was a key component in the growth of tumors. If a way could be found to limit the growth of blood vessels servicing a tumor, he reasoned, the tumor would be unable to grow. The idea has since been incorporated into many different fields, and spurred the development of new cancer treatments.
Guests:
Robert Cooke, science writer and author of Dr. Folkman's War: Angiogenesis and the Struggle to Defeat Cancer
Larry Norton, deputy-in-chief of breast cancer programs at the Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center
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