WVU Cancer Institute DeLynn Lecture

Event location: Okey Patteson Auditorium, WVU Health Sciences Center

The WVU Cancer Institute will hold its annual DeLynn lecture in on Wednesday, Sept. 4, at 4 p.m. in the Okey Patteson Auditorium at the WVU Health Sciences Center. This year’s speaker will be John C. Byrd, MD, D. Warren Brown Chair of Leukemia Research at Ohio State University.

Dr. Byrd’s research accomplishments relate best to studies done between the laboratory and clinic (translational work) with several different therapeutic agents active in chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) and related leukemias and lymphomas.

His work has shown that therapeutic agents such as rituximab, TRU-16, flavopiridol, dinaciclib, and the B-cell receptor kinase inhibitors (GS1101 and ibrutinib) are effective against CLL. In particular, Byrd has been and continues to be active in developing therapeutic antibodies and other targeted agents in his pursuit of non-toxic therapies for leukemia.

The basic-science and clinical work of Byrd and his colleagues played a key role in the US Food and Drug Administration’s February 2014 approval for expanding the use of ibrutinib to treat certain patients with CLL.

For more information, contact Deanna Dalton at 304-293-0781 or deanna.dalton@hsc.wvu.edu.