Cancer Research Matters

Cancer Research Matters, a new Podcast from Cancer Research UK featuring some of the incredible researchers behind cancer research. The idea is to drive and provoke conversation around cancer science, how it shapes our understanding of the disease and the challenges we face as we develop therapies.The first series focusses on the 20th anniversary of CRUK – we’ll be winding back the clock on some of the great discoveries and breakthroughs made in the past two decades and asking some leading names where they think we’ll be in another 20 years.This episode features Dr Simon Boulton. Simon is a leader in the field of DNA damage sensing, repair and telomere maintenance. He is Principal Group Leader and Assistant Research Director of translation at the Francis Crick Institute, and Director of RadNet, City of London – a CRUK initiative focused on improving radiation treatment for cancer patients. Simon is also co-founder and Vice President of Science Strategy of the spin-out Artios Pharma and Chair of CRUK’s Discovery Research Committee.He talks about the dawn of the field of DNA damage repair, why an entrepreneurial approach to your research is so valuable and the importance of venture capital in the innovation landscape. Useful linksExplore the formation of Artios Pharma and the role of Cancer Research Horizons in translationhttps://news.cancerresearchuk.org/2021/11/05/taking-on-dna-repair-to-tackle-cancer/Explore RadNet. Whether you’re a cancer biologist, health professional, engineer or physical scientist, RadNet is an exciting and rewarding opportunity to apply your expertise and knowledgehttps://www.cancerresearchuk.org/funding-for-researchers/our-research-infrastructure/radnet-our-radiation-research-networkRegister your interest for the CRUK-ARR Radiation Research Conference https://forms.office.com/Pages/ResponsePage.aspx?id=L4lzROBx_EaN7Cc5ArUTSeNZ7IzS7O9ItRV1smdjkd1UMDBYRUI1SzRPSThYNTZEUDhSSzZSSUJKVi4u Find out how Cancer Research Horizons can help you translate your workhttps://www.cancerresearchhorizons.com/collaborate-us/researchersListen to Professor Steve Jackson on a previous episodehttps://shows.acast.com/cancer-research-matters/episodes/translation-tales-20-years-of-forming-spinout

This episode features Professor Charles Swanton. Charlie is Cancer Research UK's Chief Clinician and his lab at the Francis Crick Institute studies lung cancer tumour heterogeneity and maps the evolutionary pathways at work as cancers evolve and change.He talks about the profound changes in the way the research community thinks about lung cancer, the power of the translational mind-set and delves into the flagship project, TRACERx.He also talks briefly about his lab’s growing interest in the mechanistic links between air pollution and lung cancer in never smokers.Useful linksExplore how Cancer Research Horizons can help you translate your workhttps://www.cancerresearchhorizons.com/our-expertise/research-translationRead about Charlie’s work on air pollution and lung cancer  https://news.cancerresearchuk.org/2021/12/13/its-a-fair-cop-why-our-chief-clinician-went-to-a-climate-change-summit/ScottishPower and Cancer Research UK, working together for a greener, healthier futureOur longstanding partner ScottishPower is helping us shine a light on the role air pollution plays in cancer and are covering the cost of a study called TOPICAL. ScottishPower is 100% committed to helping tackle climate change and our partnership reflects our shared interest in a greener, healthier future.

Cancer Research Matters, a new Podcast from Cancer Research UK featuring some of the incredible researchers behind cancer research. The idea is to drive and provoke conversation around cancer science, how it shapes our understanding of the disease and the challenges we face as we develop therapies. The first series focusses on the 20th anniversary of CRUK – we’ll be winding back the clock on some of the great discoveries and breakthroughs made in the past two decades and asking some leading names where they think we’ll be in another 20 years.This episode features Professor Richard Gilbertson. Richard is a paediatric oncology clinician scientist and is the Director of the Cancer Research UK Cambridge Centre. He has dedicated his career to understanding childhood brain tumours and is perhaps known best for his work identifying different types of medulloblastoma and ependymoma – two of the most common kinds of childhood brain tumour. He talks about the challenges and successes of the childhood cancer research community, how he sees the future of the field and some of the incredible breakthroughs his lab has made on childhood brain cancers.  Further reading WNT signalling and brain cancer https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s00401-012-0958-8 https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1535610816300551 Read about CRUK’s data strategy https://news.cancerresearchuk.org/2022/07/07/joining-the-dots-how-our-new-research-data-strategy-will-unlock-the-power-of-big-data/See the data strategy https://www.cancerresearchuk.org/sites/default/files/cancer_research_uk_-_research_data_strategy.pdf

This episode features outgoing CRUK Chief Scientist, Professor Karen Vousden. Known for her work on the tumour suppressor protein, p53, she has also worked on HPV and cancer metabolism. She has been the director of the Cancer Research UK Beatson Institute in Glasgow, UK, and from 2016 she re-located to become a group leader at the Francis Crick Institute as well as taking up the role of Chief Scientist at CRUK.She talks about the success and challenges of work around p53, her joy at being involved in the early work around HPV, the frustrations of coming so close to a huge breakthrough and how life as a researcher has changed.Further reading on Karen’s work on p53:Article Following the discovery of p53p53 is strictly controlled in the normal cell, Karen discovered that a key element in this regulation is the protein Mdm2. https://www.jbc.org/article/S0021-9258(18)30208-4/fulltextKaren’s work on oncogenes and HPV: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC402081/

This episode features CRUK Chairman, Professor Sir Leszek Borysiewicz. Following a distinguished academic and clinical research career, Leszek’s roles have included Chief Executive of the Medical Research Council and Vice Chancellor of the University of Cambridge. He is a founding Fellow of the Academy of Medical Sciences and was awarded a Knighthood in 2001 for his pioneering work on HPV vaccines. Early teenage girls are now routinely vaccinated for HPV, with the UK having among the highest uptake worldwide.He talks about the development of the HPV vaccine, the difficulties of navigating a research career and why we must start to embrace failure… even a negative result, he says, is positive. Further reading on the HPV vaccine:Journal paper: https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(21)02178-4/fulltext Article: https://news.cancerresearchuk.org/2021/11/03/the-power-of-science-hpv-vaccine-proven-to-dramatically-reduce-cervical-cancer/

This episode features Sara Zanivan. Sara is a Professor at the Beatson Institute for Cancer where she uses a number proteomics approaches to explore the tumour microenvironment. Her lab also applies their proteomics expertise and capability to develop cancer early detection approaches. Specifically, she is interested in utilising mass-spectrometry to examine how large proteomic changes could be used in the clinic.           She talks about how understanding the tumour microenvironment has developed over the past 20 years, how the techniques of proteomics have really freed researchers to ask the important questions and why we could even see mass-spec proteomics in the clinic.     Further reading on mass-spectrometry and proteomics:Journal paper:https://www.nature.com/articles/nature01511Article:https://portlandpress.com/biochemist/article/42/5/64/226371/A-beginner-s-guide-to-mass-spectrometry-based