PHILADELPHIA – The American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) today announced the appointment of Daniel K. Nomura, PhD, as editor-in-chief of Molecular Cancer Therapeutics, one of the 10 highly esteemed journals published by the AACR.
Molecular Cancer Therapeutics publishes translational research studies focused on the discovery and preclinical development of therapeutic agents for oncology. Reflecting the evolving field of therapeutics, the journal’s scope extends to all selective treatment modalities, including small molecule inhibitors, antibody-drug conjugates, antibody cytokine fusions, bispecific antibodies, cell therapies, gene therapies, radio-immunotherapeutics, vaccines, viral therapies, and other experimental approaches in oncology.
“Dr. Nomura is an innovative scientist who is extremely well versed in emerging cancer therapeutics, including small molecules, biologics, vaccines, and cell therapies,” said Margaret Foti, PhD, MD (hc), chief executive officer of the AACR. “His expertise makes him an excellent choice for editor-in-chief of Molecular Cancer Therapeutics. The AACR is thrilled to work with him in this important role.”
Nomura is a professor of chemical biology and molecular therapeutics in the Department of Chemistry and the Department of Molecular and Cell Biology in the Division of Molecular Therapeutics at the University of California, Berkeley. He is also codirector of the Molecular Therapeutics Initiative at UC Berkeley and an investigator at the Innovative Genomics Institute.
Nomura’s research is focused on reimagining druggability using chemoproteomic platforms to develop transformative medicines. Most proteins are considered “undruggable” because they do not possess known binding pockets—or “ligandable hotspots”—to which small molecules can bind to modulate protein function. To address this challenge, Nomura and colleagues have focused on advancing and applying chemoproteomic platforms to discover and pharmacologically target unique and novel ligandable hotspots for disease therapy.
“I am extremely honored to serve as the next editor-in-chief of Molecular Cancer Therapeutics,” saidNomura. “In this position, I look forward to establishing this publication as a leading high-impact journal for cutting-edge and emerging cancer therapies across all current and novel therapeutic modalities.”
An AACR member, Nomura serves on the AACR Chemistry in Cancer Research Working Group Steering Committee and was a cochair of the AACR Annual Meeting 2024 Program Committee. He has received numerous awards over the course of his career, including most recently the UC Berkeley Bakar Fellows Spark Award (2024), the National Cancer Institute Outstanding Investigator Award (2022), and the Mark Foundation for Cancer Research ASPIRE Award (2019).
Nomura earned his undergraduate and doctorate degrees from UC Berkeley and completed a postdoctoral fellowship at Scripps Research with Benjamin F. Cravatt, PhD. He has published more than 180 scientific articles and founded several companies.