A new type of drug that targets a genetic weakness in an untreatable childhood brain cancer could become the first ever treatment designed to target the disease. The prototype treatment could also offer hope for patients with the rare and devastating ‘stone man syndrome’ – in which muscles and ligaments turn to bone.

Dr Chris Jones tells Henry French about his team's discovery of a genetic flaw driving the deadly childhood brain cancer DIPG, its surprising links to a developmental syndrome in which muscle turns to bone, and how the discovery could lead to new therapies for this hard-to-treat cancer

ICR researchers have found a surprising link between childhood glioma and rare genetic syndrome in which muscle turns to bone.