Chapter 09: Evolution of Research on Estrogen and Sweeping Changes in Biomedical Science
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Description
Dr. Stancel next turns to his own research linking estrogen and uterine cancer. During his postdoctoral fellowship at the University of Illinois at Urbana he worked in the “hot contemporary area” of hormone mechanisms. He summarizes the shift in thinking about hormones at the time and the innovations that enabled detailed investigation of these substances and their relationship to cancer. Dr. Stancel was recruited for his work on steroid hormone action. He gives a vivid description of how technical innovations completely transformed his laboratory between 1972 and 2000. He describes several of the projects undertaken in his lab, including attempts to distinguish estrogenicity and carcinogenicity, successful demonstrations that hormones such as insulin and thyroid hormone would effect how a female animal would respond to estrogen, and work on mechanisms to predict susceptibility to uterine cancers. Dr. Stancel offers a lively anecdote of how the lab relied on-cutting edge equipment, such as the RT-PCR --a first reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction processor, the first at the UT Medical Center (and one of the first in the nation –their processor had serial #8), which they shared with others. At the end of this segment he describes the process of closing down his laboratory.
Publication Date
2-29-2012
City
Houston, Texas
Interview Session
George Stancel, PhD, Oral History Interview, February 29, 2012
Topics Covered
The Interview Subject's Story - The Researcher; The Researcher Understanding Cancer, the History of Science, Cancer Research; Cultural/Social Influences; MD Anderson Culture; MD Anderson History; Discovery and Success; Technology and R&D; Professional Practice; The Professional at Work; Discovery and Success; Overview; Definitions, Explanations, Translations
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 License.
Disciplines
History of Science, Technology, and Medicine | Oncology | Oral History
Recommended Citation
Stancel, George M. PhD and Rosolowski, Tacey A. PhD, "Chapter 09: Evolution of Research on Estrogen and Sweeping Changes in Biomedical Science" (2012). Interview Chapters. 1475.
https://openworks.mdanderson.org/mchv_interviewchapters/1475
Conditions Governing Access
Open
