GWU'S DR. PATRICIA BERG TO TELL AMER ASSN. FOR ADVANCEMENT OF SCIENCE: NOVEL GENE GIVES "PROMISE FOR PROGNOSIS AND TREATMENT OF MANY CANCERS" -- SAT., FEB 16, 3:30 pm, Wash. DC, Marriott Wardman Park--Flash Talk Stage

WASHINGTON, Feb. 11, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- George Washington University's Dr. Patricia Berg will tell the American Association for Advancement of Science's Annual Meeting that a gene provides "Promise for Prognosis and Treatment of Many Cancers." Berg's talk, based on a 2018 article in Biomarkers in Medicine summarizing her seventeen years of research into the gene she discovered and cloned, BP1, will open the 3:30 session of talks Saturday, February 16, at the Marriott Wardman Park Flash Talk Stage. Last year in Austin, 10,000 scientists attended the annual meeting of one of the nation's most important scientific organizations.

In her presentation abstract, Berg states that tests showed 80% of women with breast cancer tested positive for BP1, 70% of men with prostate cancer, 63% of acute myeloid leukemia patients, 78% with non-small cell lung cancer, and 47% with ovarian cancer. She says, last year alone, "over 40,000 U.S. women died from breast cancer; over 260,000 women were diagnosed with it." An important part of the discovery showed a disproportionate number of African-American women with breast cancer, 89%, tested positive for BP1, indicating the research could be particularly helpful to African-American patients.

Dr. Berg directs a breast cancer laboratory at GWU Medical Center. She was named Fellow of AAAS in 2016. She is now developing a blood test for the gene, and is working toward a repressor. She and researchers in other nations are "continuing to explore the involvement of BP1 in still more cancers." 

She will be leading off the Flash Talk session on "Genetics and Biomarkers." The overall theme of the AAAS convention this year is "Science Transcending Boundaries." Berg stated, "In keeping with the theme, we have found many cancers impacted already. Many more of the over 200 cancers could be involved. Our research could have quite broad significance." She said her work is motivated "as a scientist and a mother."

Patricia E. Berg, Ph.D., is Professor of Biochemistry and Molecular Medicine, and was a fellow at NIH for eleven years prior to her work at GWUMC for fifteen years. 

The abstract of her February 16 talk may be found on the conference website: https://aaas.confex.com/aaas/2019/meetingapp.cgi/Paper/24408.

Dr. Berg will also speak on her research on BP1's potential impact at the 2nd World Congress on Separation Science, in Rome, Italy April, 16-17, where she is Organizing Committee Member. The Congress website is http://www.cognizancescientific.com/seperation-techniques/. It states: "Her work centers on the BP1 gene, which she cloned, and its involvement in breast cancer. Her research has been featured on network television and in the New York Times, Washington Post, Washington Times, Los Angeles Times, AP, and Reuters among other major media. Hillary Clinton, Steny Hoyer, and congressional leaders headlined an event supporting her work." 

Marriott Wardman Park is 2660 Woodley Rd NW, Washington, DC 20008. To cover the meeting, contact AAAS media for credentialing, recommended in advance. Media may also register onsite: https://www.eurekalert.org/aaasnewsroom/2018/credentialing/.

FOR INTERVIEWS OF DR. BERG BY PHONE OR IN-PERSON, Contact Bob Weiner, 202-306-1200, office 301-283-0821, [email protected].

SOURCE Weiner Public News/Robert Weiner Associates