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Mehdi Mollapour is named Vice Chair for Translational Research for Urology

Mehdi Mollapour is named Vice Chair for Translational Research for Urology

SYRACUSE, N.Y.-- Mehdi Mollapour, PhD, has been named vice chair for translational research for the Department of Urology.

The appointment, effective Aug. 21, was announced by Gennady Bratslavsky, MD, chair of Department of Urology. Mollapour, professor of urology and adjunct professor of biochemistry and molecular biology, will continue to serve as the director of Renal Cancer Biology Section in Urology

“I am very excited that Dr. Mollapour will serve as vice chair for translational research,” Bratslavsky said. “His research and lab at Upstate have continuously bridged the gap between basic scientists and surgeons. He has the experience and vision to move the translational research component of the Department of Urology forward.”

Bratslavsky called “Mollapour is a world leader in kidney cancer research and molecular chaperones.” Bratslavsky admits that he was “truly lucky to attract and convince Mollapour to move from NIH (National Institutes of Health) to Upstate.”

After receiving his PhD in biochemistry from the University College London (UCL), UK, Mollapour completed his post-doctoral research at the University of Sheffield, UK. He was also trained at the Urologic Oncology Branch, National Cancer Institute, NIH.

Mollapour previously received the Federation of European Societies (FEBS) fellowship and the First Ferruccio Ritossa Career Award from Cell Stress Society International. He is a Research Scholar of the Urology Care Foundation and the American Urological Association (AUA), and also Society for Basic Urological Research (SBUR) Investigator.

Mollapour’s NIH-funded laboratory works on the role of the molecular chaperone Hsp90 in kidney cancer and how to improve the efficacy of Hsp90 drugs in kidney cancer therapy. His group has also focused on the identification of predictive biomarkers for Hsp90 drugs activity in breast cancer. Throughout his career, Mollapour has trained more than 50 undergraduates, masters, PhD students, residence, postdoctoral and clinical fellows in his laboratory.

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