6:00 - 7:00 pm
Reception to follow
415 Main Street, Cambridge, MA
In the early 2000s, Broad Institute researchers found that the EGFR protein is mutated in lung cancer, sparking a revolution in targeted cancer treatment. But not all lung tumors respond to such treatments, leaving many patients with few options. In this Broad Discovery Series event, Heidi Greulich and Matthew Meyerson will describe the 20-year history of sevabertinib, a new lung cancer drug (and the first FDA-approved drug born of Broad science) that blocks both EGFR and the related HER2 protein; talk about the unmet need it fulfills, discuss the unique partnership behind its development, and explore drug development's evolving challenges.
This free talk is open to members of the general public and is appropriate for high school students and beyond.
Speaker
Heidi Greulich
Heidi Greulich is a cancer biologist and senior group leader in the Broad's Cancer Program, where she is also an institute scientist. She leads a group that studies genetic mutations that lead to cancer, with the goal of developing new cancer therapies. In particular, her group studies the mechanism of action of velcrin compounds (which kill cancer cells expressing elevated levels of the genes PDE3A and SLFN12) and therapeutic approaches to EGFR- and ERBB2- mutant lung cancer.
Matthew Meyerson
Matthew Meyerson is an institute member at the Broad; the Charles A. Dana Chair in Human Cancer Genetics at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute (DFCI); and professor of genetics and medicine at DFCI and Harvard Medical School. He is also co-director of the Center for Cancer Genomics at DFCI. His laboratory has contributed to the discovery of major cancer genes in lung, colon, and breast cancers, leukemias, and pediatric cancers, many with direct therapeutic implications.
Greulich and Meyerson together co-led at Broad the development of sevabertinib, an EGFR/HER2 inhibitor which received accelerated FDA approval in 2025 for the treatment of lung cancer patients with kinase domain mutations of ERBB2, which encodes HER2.
The Broad Discovery Series brings researchers to the stage to discuss and answer questions about some of the most pressing topics in science and medicine today. Held in-person and virtually at the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard, these free public events explore the genetic and biological roots of human health and disease, the mechanisms that govern how our cells and bodies function, new technologies that are changing what's possible in science, and the progress being made to translate these findings into treatments for common and rare diseases.
Please visit broad.io/DiscoveryLive to access the event live stream at the time of the event.