Tuesday, June 10, 8PM @ the Bell House, FREE! Secret Science Club & the Albert and Mary Lasker Foundation present the 2014 Lasker Public Lecture with Award-Winning Cancer Researcher Charles Sawyers

Each of us is made of trillions of cells. It's scary to think that just one cell or a tiny group gone wrong can bring down our whole being. But that's how cancerous cells work—their genes mutate, and then they go rogue, multiplying and refusing to die.

Charles Sawyers is a molecular monster slayer, fighting on the front lines in the battle against deadly cancers. In clinical trials of new cancer drugs, he has observed dying patients dramatically improve, and he has also witnessed relapses when resistance to new drugs develops. Cancer cells are tragically, maddeningly crafty. But scientists like Sawyers are crafty, too, and recent advances allow them to study and defeat cancer cells in ways unthinkable in the past.

With colleagues, Dr. Sawyers pioneered one of the first-ever targeted molecular drugs for cancer treatment, and he recently developed one of the newest—translating lab discoveries into clinical trials and life-extending therapies. At the Secret Science Club, Dr. Sawyers explores the science “From Cancer Genomics to Cancer Drugs” and asks: What causes cells to mutate and turn into cancerous rogues? How has mapping the human genome changed cancer research? What future therapies are part of the hunt for new cures? Will cancer one day be a controllable condition?

Charles Sawyers is chair of the Human Oncology and Pathogenesis Program at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, investigator at the Howard Hughes Medical Institute, and professor in the Cell and Developmental Biology Program and Department of Medicine at the Weill Cornell Graduate School of Medical Sciences. Dr. Sawyers has received numerous accolades, including the Lasker-Debakey Clinical Medical Research Award (often hailed as the American Nobel Prize) for his work on the development of a molecularly targeted treatment for chronic myeloid leukemia, the Doris Duke Distinguished Clinical Scientist Award, and the 2013 Breakthrough Prize in Life Sciences. He is past president of the American Association for Cancer Research and serves on the National Cancer Advisory Board.

This edition of the Secret Science Club is sponsored by the Albert and Mary Lasker Foundation. The Foundation works to foster the prevention and treatment of disease and disabilities by honoring excellence in basic and clinical science, educating the public, and advocating for support of medical research. Yeah!

BEFORE & AFTER

--Imbibe our scientifically inspired cocktail, the Cell-o-bration!

--Groove to clinically approved tunes
--Stick around for the ever-evolving Q&A

The Secret Science Club meets Tuesday, June 10, 8 pm @ the Bell House, 149 7th St. (between 2nd and 3rd avenues) in Gowanus, Brooklyn. Subway: F or G to 4th Ave.

Doors open at 7:30 pm. Please bring ID: 21+. No cover. 

Tuesday, May 20, 8PM @ the Bell House, FREE! Secret Science Club presents “It’s a Jungle in There” with Microbiologist & Author Martin Blaser

Say hello to your little friends—all 100 trillion of them. Microbiologist Martin Blaser explores the human microbiome (the 1,000 or so microbial species that inhabit our noses, mouths, guts, and skin); the health benefits conferred by our inner ecosystem; the dangers of overusing antibiotics; how obesity, asthma, diabetes, and even mood swings may be linked to changes in our microbiota; and—yes!—fecal transplants. 

Director of NYU’s Human Microbiome Program and Muriel G. and George W. Singer Professor of Translational Medicine at the NYU School of Medicine, Dr. Blaser is the author of Missing Microbes: How the Overuse of Antibiotics Is Fueling Our Modern Plagues. He has recently been a featured scientist on the Daily Show with Jon Stewart, CNN, and NPR, and in the New Yorker and New York Times.

Before & After 

--Try our bugged-out cocktail of the night, the Super Organism 
--Wiggle to grooves that wriggle 
--Stick around for the scintillating Q&A 
--Snag a signed copy of Dr. Blaser’s spanking-new book, Missing Microbes: How the Overuse of Antibiotics Is Fueling Our Modern Plagues 

This multicellular edition of the Secret Science Club meets Tuesday, May 20, 8 pm @ the Bell House, 149 7th St. (between 2nd and 3rd avenues) in Gowanus, Brooklyn. Subway: F or G to 4th Ave. 

Doors open at 7:30 pm. Please bring ID: 21+ No cover.