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Scientist Profile: J. Michael Ruppert, M.D., Ph.D.
In some ways, the worlds of business and cancer research aren’t so different, says J. Michael Ruppert, M.D., Ph.D. Success in both arenas means staying ahead of the competition—and for researchers that competition continues to intensify. There are thousands of cancer researchers out there, says Dr. Ruppert, himself a UAB Comprehensive Cancer Center associate scientist, and many of them are pursuing the same sources of limited federal dollars.
So how do researchers gain an edge on their competitors? They must prove themselves by conducting innovative research that produces promising results. Fortunately for the Cancer Center, Dr. Ruppert has done exactly that since joining the UAB faculty in 1993. Today he is one of the Cancer Center’s most successful and respected scientists, the co-leader of the Cancer Cell Biology Program and a national expert in the area of molecular biology of cancer.
A Career in Research
Growing up in West Virginia, Dr. Ruppert was drawn to science at a young age. “I was always specifically interested in research,” he says. “When I went to college, my intent was to pursue a research career.” After receiving his undergraduate degree in chemistry from West Virginia University, Dr. Ruppert began postgraduate work at Johns Hopkins University. He would go on to receive both his M.D. and Ph.D. from Johns Hopkins, concentrating on molecular biology and human genetics for the latter degree.
From 1990 to 1993, Dr. Ruppert completed a postdoctoral fellowship at Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory in New York, examining the interaction between proteins and DNA replication factors. While at Cold Spring, he met his future wife, the former Susan Lobo, herself a biochemist. After they married in 1993, he returned to Johns Hopkins as an assistant professor in the School of Medicine.
UAB Comes Calling
Dr. Ruppert had not been back at Johns Hopkins for long when he got a call from Albert LoBuglio, M.D., then director of the UAB Cancer Center, offering him a faculty position. “Coming to UAB was a great opportunity for me,” Dr. Ruppert says. “I’d be able to start my own lab, with my wife, and I would be able to resurrect one of my graduate research projects, which was very exciting to me.”
Much of Dr. Ruppert’s work involves studying proteins to control the expression of genes in a cell. “We know that in a cancer cell, there is a specific oncogene that causes the cell to start dividing and become cancerous,” he says. “We have developed a model that will help us discover the shortcut to that mechanism. In other words, we are learning how to identify and block certain oncogenes before they become cancerous.”
Dr. Ruppert has primarily focused on breast and skin cancers. One of his most notable projects is part of the Cancer Center’s recently funded $11.5-million Specialized Program of Research Excellence (SPORE) grant in breast cancer. As one of the SPORE’s investigators, he and his team are targeting KLF4—a gene that was discovered to be an oncogene at UAB—with drugs to help treat certain aggressive forms of breast cancer. “We are also testing for KLF4 genes in breast tumor tissue to see if they are a worthwhile predictor of a woman developing recurrent breast cancer,” he says. “The bottom line is that if we can stop a cancer-causing gene before it acts, we can provide more possibilities for treating patients.”
Though he spends many hours in the laboratory, Dr. Ruppert enjoys playing basketball and jogging in his spare time. He and his wife also stay busy with their four children, who range in age from eight to 13.
Dr. Ruppert acknowledges that his work requires a great deal of effort and dedication. In order to compete for and receive the grants that sustain his investigations, his research must consistently meet high standards, he says. “To stay in business, you have to keep moving up, and doing that is challenging,” he says. “But a big part of success is enjoying the job. It would be impossible if I didn’t enjoy the work.”
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