Heparanase / Advances in Experimental Medicine and Biology Bd.1221 (PDF)

Israel Vlodavsky is a Professor of Cancer and Vascular Biology at Technion- Israel Institute of Technology's Rappaport Faculty of Medicine and Technion Integrated Cancer Center (TICC). Vlodavsky's discovery of the extracellular matrix as a reservoir for bioactive molecules provided the basis for the current appreciation of the tumor microenvironment and its significance in cancer progression and treatment. A pioneering achievement of Vlodavsky is the cloning and characterization of heparanase, the predominant enzyme that degrades heparan sulfate and fulfills important roles in tissue remodeling, cancer metastasis, angiogenesis, inflammation, diabetes, and kidney dysfunction. Through the combination of basic and translational research, Vlodavsky is the leading scientist in this area of research, offering basic insights and new treatment strategies for various cancers and other diseases. He earned his bachelor's and Master's degrees from The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, and Ph.D. from the Weizmann Institute, Rehovot, Israel. Ralph Sanderson is the UAB Endowed Professor of Cancer Pathobiology and Director, Division of Molecular and Cellular Pathology, Department of Pathology, UAB O'Neal Comprehensive Cancer Center, University of Alabama at Birmingham. Sanderson earned a B.S. from the University of Alabama, and a Ph.D. at the University of Alabama at Birmingham. His research focuses on determining how tumor-host cell interactions mediated by heparan sulfate and the enzyme heparanase regulate the tumor microenvironment and promote tumor progression, and to use that knowledge to design new cancer therapies.
Neta Ilan is a Senior Researcher at the Rappaport Faculty of Medicine and the Technion Integrated Cancer Center (TICC), Haifa, Israel. Neta earned a bachelor's degree in Agricultural Sciences and a Master's degree in Biotechnology from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. Neta completed his education at the Hebrew University, with a doctorate in Animal Sciences,