Dr.
Alfred George Knudson
(
–
)
1922
2016
Fox Chase Cancer Center
;
Philadelphia, PA
Pediatrician; Geneticist; Academic and research institution administrator; Educator
Area
Biological Sciences
Specialty
Medical Sciences
Elected
1993
Research focuses on the genetics of cancer. He formulated the two-hit hypothesis for the origin of cancer, in which the hits are mutations in the two copies of a particular antioncogene or tumor suppressor gene. One of these mutations can occur in the germ cells or in somatic cells, thus explaining hereditary and non-hereditary forms of the same cancer; the other occurs somatically. The result is a cell that is malignant or pre-malignant.
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