- Director, Institute for Cancer Genetics
- Columbia University
Riccardo Dalla-Favera is best known for his studies on the genetic alterations involved in the pathogenesis of human cancer, in particular, human B cell lymphoma. Dr. Dalla-Favera and his research team have contributed significantly to the understanding of normal B cell function, directly impacting the diagnostics and therapeutic targeting of B cell malignancies including Burkitt Lymphoma, Diffuse Large B Cell Lymphoma, and Chronic Lymphocytic Leukemia.
He co-discovered the MYC oncogene involvement in chromosomal translocations associated with Burkitt lymphoma. Subsequently, his laboratory identified several mutated genes involved in lymphomagenesis, including BCL6, a key transcription factor in B cell development, and an important oncogene in B cell lymphoma. More recently, using genome-wide gene sequencing and gene expression analysis, the Dalla-Favera laboratory elucidated a more complete landscape of the genome of these malignancies. They have identified the normal function, as well as the contribution to B-cell transformation of recurrently altered genes, by using in vitro studies and conditional mouse models reproducing the lesions in B cells.
Dr. Dalla-Favera's work is widely recognized with numerous National and International prizes and awards, including two NIH MERIT Awards, the 2006 William Dameshek Prize for Outstanding Contribution to Hematology from The American Society of Hematology, the 2012 Alfred Knudson Award from the National Cancer Institute, and in 2014, the OncLive Giants of Cancer Care Award. Dr. Dalla-Favera is a member of the National Academy of Medicine and the National Academy of Sciences.