Long-term achievements

The breadth and excellence of the ICR’s work is demonstrated by its exceptional record of successes. These include:

• The dramatic discovery that the basic cause of cancer is damage to DNA.
• The identification of the potential link between smoking and lung cancer which was subsequently confirmed.
• The elucidation of the mechanism by which RAS, one of the most commonly activated genes in cancer, turns normal cells into tumour cells.
• The isolation of the breast cancer gene, BRCA2, which enabled families with a history of the disease to be assessed for future risk, and laid the groundwork for the development of novel forms of therapy for BRCA-associated cancers.
• The characterisation of the cancer gene, BRAF, leading to an accelerated drug discovery programme for the treatment of malignant melanoma and other tumours.
• The synthesis of busulfan, chlorambucil and melphalan and the development of carboplatin, important anti-cancer drugs that are used worldwide.
• Discovery of on average two drug development candidates per year over the last five years; an achievement unmatched anywhere in the world.
• Making major contributions to modern high precision radiotherapy techniques, improving cancer control and reducing risk of toxicity.
• The licencing of three novel series of anti cancer drugs to major pharmaceutical companies in the last three years; HSP90 inhibitor to Novartis, PKB inhibitor to AstraZeneca and Pl3Kinase inhibitors to Genentech.
• Consistently being the most effective Higher Education Institution (HEI) in the UK in terms of the impact on our scientific peers of our published work in biomedical sciences.

•