Image: Professor Nicholas Turner in the lab. Credits: the ICR
Professor Nicholas Turner, Professor of Molecular Oncology at The Institute of Cancer Research, London, and Consultant Medical Oncologist at The Royal Marsden NHS Foundation Trust, where he is also Head of the Ralph Lauren Centre for Breast Cancer Research, has received the Translational Research Award by the European Society for Medical Oncology (ESMO).
The ESMO Award for Translational Research is given annually to an oncology professional who has made an impact in cancer research throughout their career and is internationally recognised for their outstanding contribution to translational medicine, which has led to successful application in the clinic.
Professor Turner’s award recognises his expertise in translational breast cancer research. He is a Group Leader in the ICR’s Breast Cancer Now Toby Robins Research Centre and Chief Investigator of a number of national and international clinical trials on personalised therapies for breast cancer.
His research involves analysing and validating new breast cancer therapies for different molecular subtypes of the disease. He helped pioneer and develop an innovative type of personalised blood test called a liquid biopsy that can predict when a patient's breast cancer will return and spread, to deliver more precise treatments for breast cancer – work which was done by his team in the Breast Cancer Now Toby Robins Research Centre at the ICR.
Outstanding achievements
In announcing Professor Turner’s award, ESMO praised his impressive translational research work, in particular “his seminal contributions in fostering research on liquid biopsy in breast cancer”.
Professor Turner has led, as Chief Investigator, major clinical trials of liquid biopsies, such as plasmaMATCH, c-TRAK TN, and TRAK-ER. plasmaMATCH identified advanced breast cancer patients who were most likely to have genetic changes in their tumours that could be targeted with precision treatment and how likely they were to respond to treatment. The c-TRAK TN trial looked into detecting minimal residual disease and trigger intervention in patients with moderate and high-risk early stage triple negative breast cancer. These two trials were designed with and managed by the Clinical Trials and Statistics Unit at the ICR (ICR-CTSU). Also, the TRAK-ER trial, sponsored by The Royal Marsden, is the first of its kind surveillance programme for oestrogen receptor positive breast cancer patients receiving hormone therapy to reduce their risk of relapse.
The award will be presented at the opening ceremony of the ESMO 2023 Congress in October.
Professor Turner said: “I’m honoured to win the ESMO Award for Translational Research and hugely grateful to The Institute of Cancer Research and The Royal Marsden for how they’ve supported my career.
“I feel the award recognises many advances in translation research and breast cancer treatment that have been made possible by the uniquely close collaborations we have between different teams at the ICR and The Royal Marsden, and I am especially grateful to everyone in my team. I hope our research will continue to lead to improvements in how breast cancer is treated so that patients can live longer, and with an even better quality of life.”
An ideal environment for translating discoveries into the clinic
Professor Kristian Helin, Chief Executive of the ICR, said:
“This prestigious ESMO award recognises scientists with outstanding achievements in translational research that are internationally recognised. We are extremely proud to see Nick win it. It’s an extraordinary achievement for him, the ICR and our partners, and a recognition of the high quality of our breast cancer research.
“Thanks to our close partnership with The Royal Marsden, our research teams work in an ideal environment for translating their discoveries into the clinic, where they can transform the lives of people with cancer and bring new hope.”
Professor Andrew Tutt, Head of the Division of Breast Cancer Research and Director of the Breast Cancer Now Toby Robins Research Centre at the ICR, said:
“We’re really proud of Nick, the work he has led and this award to him from ESMO. It is a recognition of the strong collaboration between breast cancer researchers from complementary disciplines at the ICR and The Royal Marsden, working in the context of our Breast Cancer Now Toby Robins Research Centre. Nick’s work shows how important this is to the making of scientific discoveries that are translated into improving patient outcomes. We are hoping to build on this work to benefit more patients with cancer in the future.’’