Endocrine Abstracts

E R Simpson, Prince Henry's Institute, Clayton, Victoria, Australia. Abstract

Dr Evan Simpson is a native of Edinburgh, Scotland. He has had a long interest in the basic biology of estrogen biosynthesis, especially its relationship to breast cancer.

His group was the first to clone and characterize the aromatase gene and to show the unique use of tissue-specific promoters to regulate tissue-specific expression of the gene. This led in turn to the concept of breast-specific inhibitors of aromatase expression as a novel therapeutic modality for breast cancer in post-menopausal women.

His group's development of the aromatase knockout mouse, as a model of estrogen deficiency, provided insights into the role or estrogens in the physiology and pathophysiology of both male and females.

More recently his group is working to understand the molecular mechanisms underlying the relationship between obesity, aging and breast cancer.