George Calin, MD, PhD

George Adrian Calin received both his M.D. and Ph.D. degrees at Carol Davila University of Medicine in Bucharest, Romania. After working cytogenetics as undergraduate student with Dr. Dragos Stefanescu in Bucharest, he completed a cancer genomics training in Dr. Massimo Negrini’s laboratory at University of Ferrara, Italy. In 2000 he became a postdoctoral fellow at Kimmel Cancer Center in Philadelphia, PA, and while working in Dr. Carlo Croce laboratory Dr. Calin was the first to discover the link between microRNAs and human cancers, a finding considered as a milestone in microRNA research history. He is presently a Professor in Experimental Therapeutics and Leukemia Departments at M. D. Anderson Cancer Center in Houston and studies the roles of microRNAs and other non-coding RNAs in cancer initiation and progression and in immune disorders, as well as the mechanisms of cancer predisposition linked to non-coding RNAs. Furthermore, he explores the roles of body fluids miRNAs as potential hormones and biomarkers, as well as new RNA therapeutic options for cancer patients. Simply, he is having fun making discoveries and publishing and, from time to time, getting funded grants!