Science Talk

With our Science Talk blog, we hope to lift the lid on the black box that is the ICR: to show you inside our labs, to introduce you to a few of the people here who make the discoveries, and to allow them to tell some of the stories behind the science. We try to put our discoveries in a wider scientific context, and give an idea of how our science is actually done. We also give you the view from the ICR of important developments in the wider world of cancer research.

27/09/13 - by

Over the weekend, many of Europe’s cancer researchers will be descending on Amsterdam for one of the most important international conferences of the year. The European Cancer Congress, or ECCO, last held in 2011, begins with an opening ceremony this evening, and by tomorrow morning a four day-long programme of presentations, talks and lectures will be underway.

One of the themes of the conference will be the importance of collaboration. In their written introduction to this year’s event, the Chairs – including The Institute of Cancer Research, London’s Professor John Yarnold – say, “multidisciplinarity represents optimum professional efficiency in practice. However, as the management of cancer research, treatment and care becomes more complex, it is crucial that all key professional groups are able to contribute effectively to ensuring that professional decisions are evidence-based, patient-centred and reached by consensus.”

The ICR is well represented at ECCO, with several researchers delivering talks or giving presentations. Here are a few that might be of interest:

  • Professor Sue Eccles is chairing a scientific symposium on “Targeting the Microenvironment”

  • Professor Kevin Harrington is delivering a teaching lecture titled “From Novel Insights in Molecular B to Targeted Treatment Approaches in Head and Neck Cancer”

  • Professor Nazneen Rahman is delivering a presentation called “Integrating germline cancer gene testing into routine cancer care” at the Young Oncologist scientific symposium on integrating genetic information into daily clinical practice

  • Professor Paul Workman is speaking on targeting the PI3K pathway in cancer as part of a scientific symposium on Metabolism and Cancer

  • Professor Mitch Dowsett is speaking on the role of micro-environment in resistance to endocrine therapies as part of a scientific symposium chaired by Professor Johann de Bono.
We’ve also been working with the media office at ECCO on one or two things to be announced next week, so it could also be a busy week for cancer research stories in the news.