According to the Institute for Scientific Information in Philadelphia, Dr. Kinzler is one of the most influential scientists alive today. He has produced classic studies of the genes causing human cancer including the discovery of APC, the gene that initiates virtually all colorectal tumors. His subsequent analyses of the functional properties of the APC gene product have had widespread ramifications for developmental biology as well as cancer biology. He is also internationally renowned for his development of genetic methods for analyzing gene expression and mutations in human cancer leading to his most recent work on defining the cancer genome for more than a dozen human tumor types. His work has spawned over 100 patent applications, most focused on the use of genetic approaches to improve the diagnosis and management of patients with cancers and other serious diseases.