Mina Bissell facts for kids

Mina J. Bissell is a famous Iranian-American biologist. She is well-known for her important work on breast cancer. Dr. Bissell has studied how the area around a cell, called its microenvironment, affects how tissues work. This includes the extracellular matrix, which is like a scaffold for cells.

Early Life and Education

Mina Bissell was born in Tehran, Iran. She grew up in a family that valued education. When she finished high school, she was the top student in her entire year in Iran.

A family friend helped her come to the United States. She first went to Bryn Mawr College. Later, she moved to Radcliffe College and earned a bachelor's degree in chemistry. She then went to Harvard Medical School. In 1969, she earned her PhD in bacteriology. After that, she received a special fellowship from the American Cancer Society. This allowed her to do more research at the University of California, Berkeley.

A Career in Science

Dr. Bissell joined the Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory in 1972. She started as a staff biochemist. Over the years, she became a Senior Scientist and even a Director. She led the Cell & Molecular Biology and Life Sciences divisions.

In 1996, she received a very high honor. It was the Ernest Orlando Lawrence Award and medal. This is the top science award given by the United States Department of Energy.

Dr. Bissell is a member of many important science groups. These include the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and the National Academy of Sciences. She has also received many awards. Some of these are the Guggenheim Fellowship and the Medal of Honor from the American Cancer Society.

In 2016, she received the E.B. Wilson Medal. This is the highest science award from the American Society for Cell Biology. It honored her work showing that a cell's surroundings matter. She proved that the extracellular matrix is key to how breast tissue changes. It also affects how breast cancer grows. In 2020, she received the Canada Gairdner International Award.

New Ideas in Cancer Research

Dr. Bissell used to be the head of life sciences at Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory. For over 30 years, she has studied how the structure of tissues affects cancer. She also looked at the role of the cell's microenvironment. Her ideas have become very important in understanding cancer.

She is known for a new idea: that a cell's phenotype (how it looks and acts) can be more important than its genotype (its genetic makeup) in health and disease.

Dr. Bissell and her colleague, William Ole Peterson, created a new way to study cancer. They developed 3D cell cultures. They showed that normal breast cells grow into hollow, round shapes. But cancer cells grow into filled, irregular shapes. She has written about 300 articles and book chapters on her research.

Sharing Her Discoveries

In June 2012, Dr. Bissell gave a talk at the TED conference. On Cancer Day 2013, her talk was chosen as the first in a series of ten TED talks about cancer. She shared her amazing discoveries with a wide audience.

See also

• In Spanish: Mina Bissell para niños