Skip to main content
Vilcek Foundation

Join our Mailing List

Close
Vilcek Foundation
  • About
    • About

      The Vilcek Foundation raises awareness of immigrant contributions in the United States and fosters appreciation of the arts and sciences.

    • Our Mission
    • Board & Staff
    • Press Center
    • Contact
  • Prizes
    • Prizes

      The Vilcek Foundation Prizes are awarded to foreign-born individuals for extraordinary achievement in the arts and sciences.

    • About the Prizes

      Learn more about the Vilcek Foundation Prizes and the prizewinners.

    • Vilcek Prizes

      Awarded to immigrants with a legacy of major accomplishments.

    • Vilcek Prizes for Creative Promise

      Awarded to young immigrant professionals who have demonstrated outstanding achievement early in their careers.

    • Vilcek Prize for Excellence

      Awarded to immigrants who have had a significant impact on American society, or to individuals who are dedicated champions of immigrant causes.

    • Prize Recipients
    • Grants for Organizations
  • Art
  • Events
  • News
Search
Home > About > Board and Staff > Titia de Lange
Titia de Lange

Titia de Lange

Director

Dr. Titia de Lange—Leon Hess Professor, Director of the Anderson Center for Cancer Research, and head of the laboratory for Cell Biology and Genetics at the Rockefeller University—has long been fascinated by telomeres, the protective elements at the ends of chromosomes that are essential for the maintenance of genetic integrity. She has studied them since her days as a postgraduate fellow in the lab of Nobel laureate Harold Varmus at the University of California, San Francisco, where she first moved from her native Amsterdam. There, she was one of the first to isolate the telomeres of human chromosomes.

As head of her own lab at the Rockefeller University today, the goal of Dr. de Lange’s research is to understand how telomeres protect chromosome ends, and what happens when telomere function is lost during the early stages of tumorigenesis before telomerase is activated.

Dr. de Lange’s group was instrumental in the discovery of shelterin, the protein complex that binds to telomeres and prevents DNA damage signaling and inappropriate DNA damage repair at chromosome ends. When shelterin is compromised, cells perceive their chromosome ends as if they are DNA breaks, resulting in cell cycle arrest of genome instability. Dr. de Lange’s group discovered that shelterin protects chromosome ends by remodeling telomeres into a looped structure, the t-loop, that hides the chromosome end. Deficiency in telomere function can cause genomic alterations in cancer, and diminished telomere function plays a role in a wide range of inherited bone marrow disorders.

For her contributions to the understanding of human telomeres, Dr. de Lange is the recipient of the 2014 Gairdner International Award, the 2013 Breakthrough Prize in Life Sciences, the 2012 Dr. H.P. Heineken Prize for Biochemistry and Biophysics, the 2012 Vanderbilt Prize in Biomedical Sciences, the 2011 Vilcek Prize in Biomedical Science, the 2010 American Association for Cancer Research Clowes Memorial Award, the 2008 Massachusetts General Hospital Cancer Center Prize, the 2005 National Institutes of Health Director’s Pioneer Award, and the first Paul Marks Prize for Cancer Research, in 2001.

She is a member of the Royal Dutch Academy of Sciences, the European Molecular Biology Organization, the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and is a foreign associate of the National Academy of Sciences, and a member of the National Academy of Science Institute of Medicine. Dr. de Lange earned her Ph.D. in biochemistry from the University of Amsterdam and the Netherlands Cancer Institute in 1985.

Join our Mailing List

Vilcek Foundation
21 East 70th Street
New York, New York 10021

Phone: 212.472.2500

Email: info@vilcek.org

  • About
    • Our Mission
    • Board and Staff
    • Press Center
    • Contact
  • Prizes
    • Vilcek Prizes
    • Vilcek Prizes for Creative Promise
    • Vilcek Prize for Excellence
    • Prize Recipients
    • Grants for Organizations
  • Art
  • Events
  • News
Connect with us
  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Twitter
  • Youtube
  • LinkedIn
  • Privacy Policy
  • Accessibility Statement
© 2021   Vilcek Foundation