Dr. Tony Hunter is a distinguished molecular biologist and pioneering cancer researcher who currently serves as the American Cancer Society Professor in the Molecular and Cell Biology Laboratory and Renato Dulbecco Chair at the Salk Institute for Biological Studies. He holds an adjunct professorship at the University of California San Diego and has been a cornerstone of the Salk community since joining the faculty in February 1975. After earning his BA in 1965 and PhD in 1969 from the University of Cambridge for research on mammalian protein synthesis, he completed postdoctoral work at both the Salk Institute and Cambridge before establishing his independent research program. His leadership extends to serving as Director of the Salk Institute Cancer Center since 2008 and participating on the Selection Committee for the Shaw Prize in Life Science and Medicine.
Dr. Hunter's seminal 1979 discovery that phosphate can be attached to the amino acid tyrosine in proteins revolutionized our understanding of cellular signaling mechanisms, revealing tyrosine phosphorylation as a fundamental process regulating cell growth and function. This groundbreaking work established that abnormal activation of tyrosine kinase enzymes can transform normal cells into cancerous ones through uncontrolled protein phosphorylation, providing critical insights into cancer development. His research directly catalyzed the development of Gleevec, a targeted therapy for leukemia driven by mutated tyrosine kinases, which became the prototype for an entirely new class of cancer therapeutics. To date, his fundamental discoveries have inspired the creation of more than 80 cancer drugs that target misbehaving tyrosine kinases, transforming treatment paradigms for numerous malignancies.
As an elected member of both the UK's Royal Society and the USA's National Academy of Sciences, Dr. Hunter has profoundly shaped the field of cancer biology through his leadership and mentorship of over 100 trainees, many of whom have become scientific leaders in their own right. His laboratory continues to pioneer innovative research approaches, currently focusing on identifying growth factors and cytokines produced in the pancreatic cancer microenvironment that promote tumor progression. Through his ongoing investigations into the molecular basis of cell growth control and cell cycle regulation, he maintains his position at the forefront of cancer research. Dr. Hunter's fifty-year legacy of transformational discoveries exemplifies how fundamental basic research can illuminate critical disease mechanisms and catalyze therapeutic breakthroughs that save countless lives worldwide.
