Cancer Interest Group

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Updates and details on how to join seminars are sent out through the interest group mailing list before each seminar. Contact cancer-admin@crick.ac.uk to join the mailing list.

Cancer touches the lives of almost everyone. A key goal of the Francis Crick Institute is to understand why cancer develops and to find new ways to treat, diagnose and prevent it.

Cancer is a highly complex disease that is driven by mutations and complex genomic rearrangements within tumour cells. Typically, these mutations arise during the lifetime of the patient; however, in some cases they may be inherited. A key focus of research at the Crick is to understand how mutations arise and how they perturb the proliferation, metabolism, response to signals, survival, cell migration, and how these cells evade immune surveillance.

The behaviour of cancer cells is further determined by other cells within the body, some of which counteract cancer phenotypes and others that promote cancer spread and therapy failure. The power of these non-cancerous cells is exemplified by the recent success of therapies that re-awaken the immune system to target tumours. Cancer research at the institute spans basic biology to cutting-edge analysis of patient material from clinical trials.

The inclusion of immunology, development biology, and other disciplines under one roof at the Francis Crick Institute enables a multi-faceted approach to further understanding of all aspects of cancer, from its initiation to its response to therapy. To foster collaboration and discussion of cancer-oriented research the Crick Cancer Interest Group organises a range of internal and external seminars, workshops, informal local meetings and international conferences.