Tak Wah Mak

The native form of this personal name is Mak Tak-wah. This article uses Western name order when mentioning individuals.
In this Chinese name, the family name is Mak.
Tak Wah Mak
Born
麦德华, Mài Déhuá

(1946-10-04) October 4, 1946 (age 78)[1][2]
Guangzhou, China
NationalityCanadian
Alma materWah Yan College, Kowloon
University of Wisconsin
University of Alberta
Known forDiscovery of the T-cell receptor

Discovery of the function of CTLA-4

Founder of Agios Pharmaceuticals
Scientific career
FieldsBiochemistry
Immunology
Biology
InstitutionsPrincess Margaret Cancer Centre
University Health Network
University of Toronto
Academic advisorsHoward Martin Temin
Ernest McCulloch
James Till

Tak Wah Mak, OC OOnt FRS FRSC (simplified Chinese: 麦德华; traditional Chinese: 麥德華; pinyin: Mài Déhuá; born October 4, 1946, in China) is a Canadian medical researcher, geneticist, oncologist, and biochemist. He first became widely known for his discovery of the T-cell receptor in 1983 and pioneering work in the genetics of immunology.[3] In 1995, Mak published a landmark paper on the discovery of the function of the immune checkpoint protein CTLA-4, thus opening the path for immunotherapy/checkpoint inhibitors as a means of cancer treatment.[4] Mak is also the founder of Agios Pharmaceuticals, whose lead compound, IDHIFA®, was approved by the FDA for acute myeloid leukemia in August 2017, becoming the first drug specifically targeting cancer metabolism to be used for cancer treatment.[5] He has worked in a variety of areas including biochemistry, immunology, and cancer genetics.

  1. ^ "Science.ca: Tak Wah Mak".
  2. ^ "Tak Wah Mak | Living History". Archived from the original on 2016-03-04. Retrieved 2014-02-23.
  3. ^ Viegas, J. (2011). "Profile of Tak Wah Mak". Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. 108 (48): 19124–6. Bibcode:2011PNAS..10819124V. doi:10.1073/pnas.1116912108. PMC 3228474. PMID 22080609.
  4. ^ Waterhouse, Paul; Penninger, Josef M.; Timms, Emma; Wakeham, Andrew; Shahinian, Arda; Lee, Kelvin P.; Thompson, Craig B.; Griesser, Henrik; Mak, Tak W. (1995-11-10). "Lymphoproliferative Disorders with Early Lethality in Mice Deficient in Ctla-4". Science. 270 (5238): 985–988. Bibcode:1995Sci...270..985W. doi:10.1126/science.270.5238.985. ISSN 0036-8075. PMID 7481803. S2CID 45993765.
  5. ^ "FDA Grants Approval of IDHIFA®, the First Oral Targeted Therapy for Adult Patients with Relapsed/Refractory Acute Myeloid Leukemia and an IDH2 Mutation | Agios Pharmaceuticals, Inc. – IR Site". Agios Pharmaceuticals, Inc. – IR Site. Retrieved 2017-08-04.