Richard Marais - Profile
Richard Marais is a Professor of Molecular Oncology at The Institute of Cancer Research and is leading the search to understand the underlying causes of skin cancer and develop new treatments for this disease.
Professor Marais was instrumental in explaining how a genetic mutation that occurs in about half of melanomas triggers the disease. Ultraviolet radiation from excessive sun exposure is known to cause skin cancer and Professor Marais has revealed the role that a gene called BRAF plays in this process.
He is now helping lead the search for new drugs that will block this mutated gene, which could potentially be used to treat a large number of these cancers.
Professor Marais was born in South Africa and completed all his science training in London, which included graduating from University College with a science degree in 1985, and a PhD from the Ludwig Institute for Cancer Research in 1989. He then worked at Imperial Cancer Research Fund as a Postdoctoral Research Fellow for three years.
He joined the ICR in 1992 to establish himself as an Independent Postdoctoral Research Fellow and since 1998 has been Leader of the Signal Transduction Team within the Section of Cell and Molecular Biology, based at the ICR’s Fulham laboratories.
Professor Marais’ main area of expertise is in the field of cell communication, examining the biological pathways in the body that lead from genetic and molecular changes to abnormal cell behaviour and then cancer. He initially focussed on the RAF group of genes, which includes BRAF. Professor Marais’ early studies contributed to our understanding of how these proteins regulate cell growth, and this knowledge was crucial for understanding how the errors that occur in these proteins drive cancer progression. “Once we realised that BRAF was critical in such a large proportion of melanomas, I decided to specialise in this disease,” Professor Marais says.
In collaboration with ICR Professor of Molecular Biology David Barford, he then mapped the structure of the BRAF protein and established that acquiring the BRAF mutation locks the protein in an active state that then drives uncontrollable cell growth and tumour formation. This work revealed that BRAF is a tractable therapeutic target.
Professor Marais also has a long-standing collaboration to develop new anti-cancer drugs with ICR Professor of Biological Chemistry Caroline Springer. Together they showed that 17AAG, a heat shock protein 90 inhibitor, targets BRAF, demonstrating its potential as a treatment for melanoma. This drug is currently being tested in a range of patient trials. They have also developed a range of novel drug candidates that are designed to target BRAF directly.
Professors Marais and Springer are also working on gene therapy approaches for treating cancer, including a promising two-step technique called Gene Directed Enzyme Prodrug Therapy (GDEPT). In this method, tumour cells are infected with a harmless virus carrying DNA that makes them produce a bacterial enzyme. In the second step, a prodrug is administered and the bacterial enzyme, carboxypeptidase G2, converts it into a substance toxic to the tumour cells. Their hope is that these drugs will selectively kill the cancer cells but leave healthy cells unscathed, and therefore have fewer side effects than existing drugs.
Professor Marais is a member of the British, American and European Associations for Cancer Research as well as many other professional societies for research into cancer. He is a Fellow of the Academy of Medical Science, and an EMBO member. His awards include the 2001 British Association for Cancer Research/Zeneca Young Scientist of the Year and the 2003 Anniversary Prize for the Society of Biochemistry Molecular Biology. He has been the editor and assistant editor of various manuscripts and journals and steers a number of committees.
“I hope to continue to contribute to our understanding of the biology of cancer, especially melanoma,” Professor Marais says. “In particular, I want to keep investigating the genetics of this disease and use this knowledge to contribute to new treatment strategies and drug development.”
