Tak W. Mak

Princess Margaret Cancer Centre, University of Toronto, Canada and The University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong,China

An award-winning Canadian researcher, Dr. Mak is known for his pioneering work in the genetics of immunology. In 1984, he led the group that discovered the T-cell receptor, and his published work on the immune system and cancer biology has been cited over 100,000 times. His current focus is on the mechanisms underlying immune responses and tumorigenesis by using genetically engineered mouse strains to identify genetic susceptibility factors associated with different types of cancer. His studies of gene-targeted mutant mice and of the expression level of various gene products in normal and mutant cells are yielding information on the biology of normal and cancerous cells have led to the development of new and more effective cancer therapies.