Robert Allan Weinberg (born November 11, 1942) is an American biologist,Daniel K. Ludwig Professor for Cancer Research atMassachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), director of theLudwig Center of theMIT, andAmerican Cancer Society Research Professor. His research is in the area ofoncogenes and the genetic basis of human cancer.^[2][3][4]

Robert Weinberg is also affiliated with theBroad Institute and is a founding member of theWhitehead Institute for Biomedical Research.^[5] Weinberg andEric Lander, a colleague at M.I.T., are co-founders ofVerastem, a biopharmaceutical company focused on discovering and developing drugs to treat cancer by targetingcancer stem cells.^[6]

Weinberg earned aB.S. in biology from theMassachusetts Institute of Technology in 1964 and PhD in biology from the same institute in 1969. He was an instructor in biology atStillman College inTuscaloosa, Alabama (1965–1966), and a postdoc in Ernest Winocour's lab at theWeizmann Institute of Science (1969–1970) and inRenato Dulbecco's lab at theSalk Institute for Biological Studies (1970–1972). He joined MIT in 1972.^[7]

He is best known for his discoveries of the first humanoncogeneRas and the firsttumor suppressor geneRb^{[8]p. 371-381}, which is partially documented inNatalie Angier′s book,Natural Obsessions, about her year spent in Weinberg's lab.

In the late 20th century, advances in genetics led to the discovery of over one hundred cancer cell types. Cancer cells were noted for their bewildering diversity. It was hard to identify the principles that cancers had in common.

He andDouglas Hanahan wrote the seminal paper "The Hallmarks of Cancer", published in January 2000,^[9] that gave the six requirements for one renegade cell to cause a deadly cancer:^[8] In 2011, they published an updated review article entitled "Hallmarks of cancer: the next generation".^[10]

Weinberg is well known for both his cancer research^[11] and for his mentorship of many eminent scientists, includingTyler Jacks,William C. Hahn,Clifford Tabin,Sendurai Mani andCornelia Bargmann. He is currently studying cancer cell metastasis.^[12]

He is also the author of the textbookThe Biology of Cancer^[1] published byGarland Science, as well as two important accounts intended for a wider audience:One Renegade Cell: How Cancer Begins (1999) (Science Masters Series); andRacing to the Beginning of the Road: The Search for the Origin of Cancer (1996).

As of 2021^[update], Weinberg has anh-index of 209 according toGoogle Scholar.^[13]

In 1985, Weinberg received theGolden Plate Award of theAmerican Academy of Achievement.^[14] Weinberg won theNational Medal of Science and theKeio Medical Science Prize in 1997. In 1999, he received theAlbert Einstein World Award of Science in recognition of his valuable and pioneering contributions in the field of Biomedical Sciences and for his productive trajectory related to the genetic and molecular basis of neoplastic disease.^[15] He was elected to theAmerican Philosophical Society in 2000.^[16] He obtained theWolf Prize in Medicine in 2004 (shared withRoger Y. Tsien), and he is a member of theU.S. National Academy of Sciences. In 2007 he received an honorary doctorate degree in commemoration ofLinnaeus fromUppsala University. He is a member of theRoyal Swedish Academy of Sciences since 1992.^[17] In 2009 he was presented the Hope Funds Award in Basic Research.^[18] In 2013 he was awarded the $3 millionBreakthrough Prize in Life Sciences for his work^[19] and in 2021 he received theJapan Prize.^[20]

To this day Weinberg has had five research papers retracted where he is listed as a co-author. The retractions include one paper in Cell, one in Cancer Cell, two in Genes & Development and one in Cancer Research.^{[21][22][23][24]} This is out of over 450 publications since 1963.

The reasons given for the retraction of one paper (DOI: 10.1016/j.cell.2009.03.04) include: "Falsification/Fabrication of Data" and "Manipulation of Results".

• Cancer: The Emperor of All Maladies (2015 PBS film)
• History of cancer
• History of cancer chemotherapy
• The Emperor of All Maladies: A Biography of Cancer

• Robert Weinberg publications indexed byGoogle Scholar
• Weinberg's page at the Whitehead InstituteArchived August 19, 2012, at theWayback Machine
• Weinberg's page at MIT
• Weinberg Lab
• Bob Weinberg Playlist Appearance on WMBR'sDinnertime SamplerArchived May 4, 2011, at theWayback Machine radio show March 17, 2004
• Weinberg interviewed inAmerican Scientist

• Massachusetts Institute of Technology School of Science faculty
• Albert Einstein World Award of Science Laureates
• 21st-century American biologists
• National Medal of Science laureates
• Recipients of the Pour le Mérite (civil class)
• Members of the United States National Academy of Sciences
• Members of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences
• Wolf Prize in Medicine laureates
• Living people
• 1942 births
• Jewish American scientists
• Whitehead Institute faculty
• American oncologists
• Scientists from Pittsburgh
• Massachusetts Institute of Technology School of Science alumni
• Members of the American Philosophical Society
• 21st-century American Jews
• Members of the National Academy of Medicine
• Helen Hay Whitney Foundation fellows

• Articles intentionally citing retracted publications
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• Use mdy dates from June 2014
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