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Awards and Honors:

Chair, Internal Advisory Board for UCLA-NCI Prostate SPORE program
Pfizer Visiting Professor, Yale University Medical School
Executive Advisory Board for UCLA-NCI Scholars in Oncologic Molecular Imaging Program
Israeli Cancer Research Foundation Award for Excellence in Scientific Research
Merck Visiting Professor, University of Connecticut Health Sciences
Member, ACCESS admissions committee
UCLA Faculty Research Lecture
UCLA Medical School Alumnae Award for Excellence in Scientific Research

Research Interest:

The role of prostaglandins and cycloxygenases in nomal physiology and disease; applications of molecular imaging

<p>Dr. Herschman's laboratory studies how extracellular stimuli elicit changes in cell growth and differentiation, as a result of induced transcription of "primary response" genes. One gene discovered by Dr. Herschman and his colleagues encodes a second form of cyclooxygenase (COX-2), the rate limiting enzyme in prostaglandin production and the target of a new generation of anti-inflammatory, anti-pyretic and analgesic pharmaceutical agents. The laboratory also identified synaptotagmin 4 as a depolarization-induced neuronal gene; a candidate for a mediator of depolarization-induced synaptic plasticity. Lastly, the laboratory has merged principles of cell biology, molecular biology and molecular imaging technologies to develop procedures that repetitively, non-invasively and quantitatively image reporter gene expression in intact, living animals. Current research interests center on improved therapies for colorectal cancer, and on the role of the COX-2 gene in the progression of a variety of epithelial cancers. </p> <p> Dr. Herschman is Distinguished Professor in both the Department of Biological Chemistry and the Department of Molecular and Medical pharmacology. He holds the Ralph and Marjorie Crump Endowed Chair in Molecular Imaging. Dr. Herschman is the Director for Basic Research for the UCLA Jonsson Comprehensive Cancer Center, and the Principal Investigator for the UCLA in vivo Cellular and Molecular Imaging Center, a National Cancer Institute supported center for non-invasive imaging studies of cancer. He is a member of the Molecular Biology Institute, the CNSI and the Jonsson Comprehensive Cancer Center at UCLA.</p>

Detailed Biography:

Dr. Harvey Herschman received a B.A. from Rice University and a Ph.D. from the University of California at San Diego. After two years as a post doctoral fellow at Brandeis University, he joined the UCLA faculty as an Assistant Professor in the Department of Biological Chemistry in 1969 . He is currently Distinguished Professor in both the Department of Biological Chemistry and the Department of Molecular and Medical pharmacology. Dr. Herschman's laboratory discovered the COX-2 gene, and has been involved in studies on COX-2 induction, and in investigations of the role of COX-2 in normal biology and in the pathophysiologies of inflammation, neurodegeneration and cancer. He has also pioneered in the development and application of non-invasive, repeated and quantitative methods for molecular imaging of gene expression in living animals, and is the Director of UCLA's In Vivo Cellular and Molecular Imaging Center, funded by the National Cancer Institute.