Scott William Lowe (born October 4, 1963) is Chair of the Cancer Biology and Genetics Program in the Sloan Kettering Institute at
Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center. He is recognized for his research on the tumor suppressor gene,
p53, which is mutated in nearly half of cancers.
While at MIT, he showed that the tumor suppressor p53 is required for the cell death program that occurs in response to cytotoxic agents such as ionizing radiation and DNA-damaging chemotherapies.[4] He moved from MIT to
Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory, starting his own laboratory as a
Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory Fellow in 1995 and continuing his work on p53. A key outcome of this research was the discovery of a process known as oncogene-induced
senescence, which is now a well-established tumor suppressive program.[2] His laboratory's findings related to the p53 gene mutation status and responsiveness of a tumor to chemotherapy was among the pieces of evidence that ushered in the era of
personalized cancer medicine.[2] He eventually became Deputy Director of the
CSHL Cancer Center. Much of his work has focused on the biological action of tumor suppressor genes, and the consequences of their mutation.[5] In collaboration with
Gregory Hannon and
Stephen Elledge, he has made extensive use of
RNA interference to study the roles of tumor suppressor genes. He is also known for using genome-editing tools such as
CRISPR to create valuable mouse models of different cancers.[6][7] He moved to
Memorial Sloan Kettering in 2011 to lead the Cancer Biology and Genetics Program in the Sloan Kettering Institute, where he discovered mechanisms whereby senescence inducing therapies promote cancer cell immune surveillance.[8][9] In 2015, Lowe continued his use of RNAi to study the tumor suppressor APC in colorectal cancer.[6] He has been an
HHMI Investigator since 2005.[10] In 2017, Dr. Lowe was elected to the United States
National Academy of Sciences.[2] In 2019, Dr. Lowe was elected to the National Academy of Medicine.[11]