Bert Vogelstein

Bert Vogelstein is one of the most cited biomedical scientists in history who defined the genetic basis of colorectal cancer through characterization of the adenoma-carcinoma sequence, identifying APC, KRAS, SMAD4, and TP53 mutations as the stepwise genetic events driving cancer progression. His group performed the first comprehensive sequencing of cancer genomes, cataloguing the landscape of somatic mutations in human cancers. Vogelstein demonstrated through the colorectal cancer model that cancer is fundamentally a genetic disease driven by accumulation of driver mutations, establishing the conceptual and technical framework for the Cancer Genome Atlas and precision oncology. More recently, his CancerSEEK liquid biopsy work aims to detect multiple cancer types early from blood tests.