Erkki Ruoslahti

Dr. Erkki Ruoslahti is Distinguished Professor at the Cancer Center, Sanford Burnham Prebys Medical Discovery Institute in La Jolla, CA and former president/CEO of the institute.  He also holds an adjunct appointment at University of California, Santa Barbara. Dr. Ruoslahti’s main scientific contributions are in the field of cell adhesion. He was one of the discoverers of fibronectin.  His laboratory subsequently discovered in fibronectin the RGD cell attachment sequence and isolated cellular RGD receptors, now known as integrins. The RGD discovery has led to the development of drugs for diseases ranging from vascular thrombosis to cancer.  Dr. Ruoslahti currently studies specific marker molecules in blood vessels that can be used to direct drugs and nanoparticles to tumors and other sites of disease.