Top row l-r: Doug Fearon, Elaine Fuchs, Ed Harlow, Peter Jones
Bottom row l-r: Johanna Joyce, Scott Lowe, Charles Sherr
We are privileged to receive advice from a stellar group of cancer scientists that form our joint Centre and Institute Scientific Advisory Board (SAB).
Prof Doug Fearon (Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory), Prof Elaine Fuchs (The Rockefeller University), Prof Ed Harlow (Harvard Medical School), Prof Peter Jones (Van Andel Research Institute), Prof Johanna Joyce (University of Lausanne), Dr Scott Lowe (Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Centre) and Dr Charles Sherr (St Jude Children’s Research Hospital) spent three days with us from Wednesday 16 October to advise on all aspects of the Centre's vision and operations. Dr Zena Werb was not able to visit on this occasion.
Left to right: Scott Lowe (Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Centre), Elaine Fuchs (The Rockefeller University), Charles Sherr (St Jude Children’s Research Hospital), Peter Jones (Van Andel Research Institute), Johanna Joyce (University of Lausanne), Doug Fearon (Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory), Ed Harlow (Harvard Medical School), Richard Gilbertson (CRUK Cambridge Centre Director), Greg Hannon (CRUK Cambridge Institute Director), Patrick Maxwell (Regius Professor of Physic and Head of School of Clinical Medicine).
We put together an exciting programme that enabled our SAB members to interact with a diverse group of the Centre membership drawn from our Programmes, including clinical, translational and basic researchers at all stages in their careers.
The SAB also visited the Biomedical Campus, the Wellcome Genome Campus and the West Cambridge Campus to better understand the infrastructure supporting cancer research in Cambridge.
Over 200 Centre and Institute colleagues joined the SAB during the Open Sessions on Thursday 17 October from 9:00–12:00 in the Cancer Research UK Cambridge Institute lecture theatre (programme available here).
During these sessions there was an update on the Centre’s Strategy and Vision by Centre Director, Prof Richard Gilbertson, and talks on recent progress in Integrated Cancer Medicine and Early Detection of Cancer from Dr Jean Abraham (co-lead Intergrated Cancer Medicine) and Dr Sarah Bohndiek (co-lead Early Detection of Cancer Programme).
The Open Sessions concluded with six flash talks from early career researchers across the Centre:
- Karsten Bach (Breast Cancer Programme): Studying the early stages of TNBC development using scRNAseq
- Fiona Behan (Cell and Molecular Biology Programme): Prioritisation of cancer therapeutic targets using CRISPR-Cas9 screens
- Stephen Ducray (Paediatric Cancer Programme): IL10RA Modulates Crizotinib Sensitivity in NPM1-ALK-positive Anaplastic Large Cell Lymphoma
- Gahee Park (Early Detection Programme): Optimization of cell-free DNA methylation analysis for cancer early detection
- Michele Petruzzelli (Pancreatic Cancer Programme): Do immune cells affect the metabolic homeostasis of cancer cachexia?
- Jeroen Verheyen (Urological Malignancies Programme): Using nanomagnets for early detection of kidney cancer
