Christopher M. Counter, Ph.D.  is the George Barth Geller Distinguished Professor of Pharmacology at Duke University, as well as the Associate Director of Basic Research for the Duke Cancer Institute.  Dr. Counter has a long history of defining the events that convert a normal cell into a tumor, beginning with identifying one of the original hallmarks of cancer, immortalization through activation of telomerase, as a steppingstone to recreate tumors from normal cells using defined genetic alterations.  This work led to a focus on the earliest events, namely how initiation mutations in RAS genes begin the process of tumorigenesis.  Dr. Counter thus brings a wealth of experience in culture and mouse models of early tumorigenesis as well as technologies for capturing and manipulating these events in an effort to understand how cells with initiating mutations are promoted towards more tumorigenic fates.