I think oncogenes continue, and will provide, the most important and critical targets for cancer treatment. Of course, there are also tumor suppressor genes that you could target. But it is much easier to inhibit aganofunction than to restore a lost function. And so I think from general principles, it follows that oncogenes will be the predominant targets in cancer therapy. The new developments that are coming up concern tumor micro-environment. Interaction of tumor cells and normal cells. But even that will have to be reduced to chemistry, and we'll have to understand it at a molecular level in order to do something. But this is-- I see this as an important development and as an important direction to go. Besides oncogenes and tumor suppressants.

Dr. Peter Vogt, M.D., Ph.D., serves as Member of Scientific Advisory Board of Onconova Therapeutics, Inc. Dr. Vogt is at the Scripps Institute in La Jolla, CA. He is a member of the National Academy of Sciences and a Lasker Award winner. His fundamental studies on oncogenic avian retroviruses led to the identification of oncogenes in human cells. Dr. Vogt is the editor-in-chief of Virology, a scientific journal.

Dr. Peter Vogt intends to continue his work at the Scripps Research Institute. He is currently working to generate small molecule inhibitors that interfere with the spread of cancer as a new therapeutic approach.