Stephan M. Tanner, Ph.D. The Ohio State University

Dr. Tanner studied Zoology, Botany, Geography, and Biochemistry at the University of Berne, Switzerland, where he received his lic. Phil. nat. (equivalent M.S.) in Molecular Biology and Zoology in 1995. After switching to the field of Human Molecular Genetics, he received his Ph.D. with summa cum laude from the Faculty of Science at the University of Berne in 1998. Later that year, Dr. Tanner joined The Ohio State University's Comprehensive Cancer Center (OSUCCC) as a Postdoctoral Fellow supported by two fellowships from the Swiss National Science Foundation and the Swiss Foundation for Medical-Biological Grants.

In 2002, Dr. Tanner became a Research Scientist, and in 2005, he advanced to his first independent position as a Research Assistant Professor in the Human Cancer Genetics Program of the OSUCCC. Since his first publication in 1997, Dr. Tanner has published 30 peer-reviewed papers, with several publications on novel genes in hematopoietic diseases: he cloned and characterized the gene BAALC in acute myeloid leukemia (Tanner et al PNAS 2001). The use of BAALC as a prognostic marker is covered by a patent, which was successfully licensed by a company. Furthermore, Dr. Tanner implicated two genes (AMN and GIF) in hereditary megaloblastic anemia (Tanner et al Nature Genetics 2003 & Tanner et al PNAS 2005). He currently offers research-based diagnostics on Imerslund-Grasbeck Syndrome and Juvenile Pernicious Anemia (www.GeneTests.org). During the past 5 years, Dr. Tanner has been working on the genetic predisposition to CLL in collaboration with Drs. Christoph Plass, John C. Byrd, and Albert de la Chapelle (Raval et al Cell 2007). The recently awarded CLL Global grant permits Dr. Tanner to continue his work on the role of DAPK1 in CLL.