This is a chance for researchers across all disciplines at The Institute of Cancer Research – from PhD student to division heads – to come together in a huge melting pot of knowledge, expertise and enthusiasm. They’ll be discussing some of the hottest topics in cancer research.
The two-day conference kicks off with a welcome presentation from our Academic Dean,
Professor Clare Isacke. She has an infectious enthusiasm for science and the ICR’s role as an academic institution, and I’m sure our researchers will be inspired by her aspirations for the conference.
Over the next couple of days our researchers will share their latest research which explores some of the most topical scientific subjects at the ICR, including cancer evolution, the role of cell signalling networks, cancer imaging and the challenges faced by targeted therapy. The conference is closed, to give our researchers the chance to talk openly about very early data, but the results presented will be the big scientific papers of tomorrow.
We are making significant headway in genetics-based cancer research, but I am also looking forward to hearing about our cell-based research which focuses on the differences in behaviour between cancer cells and normal cells. These differences can be important targets for cancer therapies, as structural differences alone are sometimes too minor to be easily druggable.
Nothing at the ICR ever seems to stay still. So many new people, centres and buildings have sprung up in the last year and these will be an important focus for the conference. For example, our new
Centre for Cancer Imaging, which brings together all our imaging capabilities into a new state-of-the-art building, is set to speed up the development of new imaging techniques for patients, and to use imaging to accelerate our drug discovery work. Researchers relocating to the new centre will discuss how they are combining different imaging techniques, such as MRI and ultrasound, to provide greater depth and breadth of information than use of a single imaging technique alone.
Another pioneering initiative is our
Centre for Evolution and Cancer. Our researchers within the centre are exploring the evolutionary principles underpinning the development of cancer. They are trying to answer three of the biggest questions in cancer research: why are humans so vulnerable to cancer, what determines the protracted and unpredictable development of cancers in the body over years or decades, and why are we seeing drug resistance so frequently? Some of the centre’s researchers will be discussing their research to discover new approaches to cancer treatment that can avoid or combat drug resistance, by influencing the evolutionary trajectories of cancer, or reducing its ability to evolve adaptively.
The conference also provides an opportunity to hear from our up-and-coming researchers – our PhD students and clinical research fellows. Five have been selected to present their work, which covers a diverse range of topics including cell diversity in acute lymphoblastic leukaemia, cell signalling in pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma, and cancer-causing mutations in childhood brain cancer. These bright minds will be the future of cancer research and I’m sure their presentations will be hugely insightful.
Finally, the conference will recognise the best scientific posters – those that demonstrate the quality of the science and presented with clarity to a professional audience, as well as the winner of our science writer competition. Our researchers need to be well versed in not only presenting their work to a technical audience, but also to the wider non-scientific community. The ICR’s Mel Greaves Science Writing Prize seeks to reward that ability. The winning piece will be posted on our website.
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