Overview
At Chiron Corporation, Giulia Kennedy’s subject shifted from metabolic disease to cancer. Veracyte’s investor-relations biography describes her as “a scientific leader for the colon cancer and breast cancer gene discovery efforts at Chiron Corporation, resulting in the identification of oncology markers for therapeutic drug development”.1 An earlier Veracyte biography uses the same description.2 Veracyte’s 2013 Form S-1 records the employer more plainly: before Affymetrix she “served in scientific roles at Chiron Corporation and Millennium Pharmaceuticals, Inc., both of which were biotechnology companies”.3
Contributions
The public trace of this work is in the patent record rather than in journals; no Chiron-era peer-reviewed paper naming her was found. She is a named inventor, with Sanmao Kang, Christoph Reinhard and Anne Bennet Jefferson, on the WIPO publication WO2001096523A2, “Polynucleotides related to colon cancer”.4 The corresponding US patent, 6,664,054, was assigned to Chiron Corporation and filed on January 31, 2001; it relates to DNA coding sequences of polynucleotides that are up- or down-regulated in cancer and dysplasia.56
The move from gene discovery to markers that could guide drug development is the first appearance of a pattern that runs through the rest of her career: molecular signals turned into something a clinician or a drug programme can act on.
Open questions
The sources give no dates for the role. The S-1 places it before January 2000, while the US patent was filed in January 2001, which is consistent with a late or continuation filing of earlier work but is not explained by any source. The chapter is therefore dated as a placeholder at the end of the 1990s. Chiron’s ordering relative to Millennium also differs between two Veracyte biographies; this site follows the investor-relations page, which lists Chiron as the later of the two.
Facts
- Was a scientific leader for the colon cancer and breast cancer gene discovery efforts at Chiron Corporation, resulting in the identification of oncology markers for therapeutic drug development.123
- Named inventor, with Sanmao Kang, Christoph Reinhard and Anne Bennet Jefferson, on WO2001096523A2, "Polynucleotides related to colon cancer", and on US 6,664,054, assigned to Chiron Corporation and filed January 31, 2001, covering DNA coding sequences of polynucleotides that are up- or down-regulated in cancer and dysplasia.456
- The Chiron role preceded her January 2000 start at Affymetrix, per Veracyte's Form S-1; its own start and end dates are not stated in any source.3
Contributions
Research
Gene regulation and gene discovery
1992 – 1999Kennedy's first research programme ran from insulin gene transcription to disease gene discovery. As a postdoctoral scientist in William J. Rutter's laboratory at UCSF she identified Pur-1, a zinc-finger transactivator of the insulin promoter (PNAS, 1992), and showed that the minisatellite at the type 1 diabetes locus IDDM2 regulates insulin transcription (Nature Genetics, 1995). At Millennium Pharmaceuticals she implemented genomic and genetic approaches to uncover diabetes susceptibility genes, and at Chiron Corporation she led colon and breast cancer gene discovery efforts that identified oncology markers for therapeutic drug development.
Achievements
- 31 JAN 2001patent
Chiron colon-cancer polynucleotide patent filed
US 6,664,054, assigned to Chiron Corporation and filed January 31, 2001, covers DNA coding sequences of polynucleotides that are up- or down-regulated in cancer and dysplasia; the related WIPO publication WO2001096523A2, "Polynucleotides related to colon cancer", names Giulia C. Kennedy as an inventor with Sanmao Kang, Christoph Reinhard and Anne Bennet Jefferson.456
Impact
- CHIRON COLON-CANCER POLYNUCLEOTIDE PATENT FILED
The public trace of her Chiron-era cancer gene discovery work; the filing postdates her January 2000 move to Affymetrix, consistent with a late or continuation filing of earlier work.