Science Talk

Research carried out by The Institute of Cancer Research, London, into cancer susceptibility genes has transformed our understanding of the inheritance of cancer risk. Genetic information can be used to help people with cancer and their families by informing them about their risk and guiding decisions over personalised cancer treatment. Cara Hoofe was diagnosed with bowel cancer in 2016. She has the inherited condition Lynch syndrome which means she had an 80% chance of developing bowel cancer and has a higher risk of developing womb and ovarian cancer. Here she explains how living with Lynch syndrome has changed her life.

Hundreds of thousands of men with prostate cancer across the world are now able to live longer and with a better quality of life, thanks to abiraterone. Discovered and developed by The Institute of Cancer Research, the drug was the first treatment shown to be effective in patients with advanced prostate cancer. Rob Lester is one of those patients, and has been on abiraterone for around 8 years.

Obesity is known to be linked to cancer risk, but new research shows that weight gain is linked to a *lower* risk of breast cancer among women before the menopause. In this blog post, Joanne Duffy takes a closer look at the findings and explains how this contributes to our understanding of breast cancer risk factors.

New results from an ICR-led clinical trial are set to change the outlook for patients with a rare form of kidney cancer. Sarah Wells takes a look at some of the main challenges in studying rare cancers, and how the ICR’s researchers are going about making discoveries to improve the outlook for the one in five cancer patients with a rare cancer.

Scientists from The Institute of Cancer Research, London, gathered recently at this year’s Festival of Genomics. Diana Cano Bordajandi, Media Officer at The Institute of Cancer Research, reports on the themes that ran through the conference.

To celebrate Darwin Day, The Institute of Cancer Research invited world-leading expert on the biology of ageing, Professor Dame Linda Partridge, to talk about how ageing stems from evolutionary processes, and what it means for diseases like cancer.

To celebrate International Day of Women and Girls in Science this year, we're sharing some advice from our scientists about pursuing a career in research.

ICR alumnus Professor Tim Eisen is now Head of Oncology Early Clinical Development at AstraZeneca. We caught up with him at a recent event where he shared his career advice and thoughts about working in industry.

Our researchers have been working with oncologists in Nepal since 2017 to share their expertise, and improve research and cancer care in the country.

We’ve learned a lot about cancer in the last decade, with survival rates better now than ever before. Our Policy Adviser, Roya Ziaie, takes a look at what might be in store over the next ten years in an ever-changing field.

Dr Max Douglas recently joined the ICR as leader of the Telomere Biology Team. By rebuilding telomeres in the lab, he aims to unpick how they work to understand their link to cancer. Diana Cano Bordajandi met him to find out more.

Scientists at The Institute of Cancer Research have already been involved in the discovery and development of many targeted treatments that are helping cancer patients live longer and with a better quality of life. Now we’re taking our research a step further with the world’s first drug discovery programme to tackle the challenge of drug resistance. Christine O’Connell, who is living with advanced breast cancer, explains why it’s so important.

Regulation of new cancer therapies, whilst crucially important, can become a barrier to innovation. Our Policy Adviser, Roya Ziaie, takes a look at the current regulatory landscape and what is needed in the future to ensure innovative treatments find their way to patients as quickly as possible.

Our former Digital Communications Intern, Bethany Nichols, takes a look at the work scientists at the ICR are leading on to help researchers choose their chemical probes more wisely.

November is Men’s Health Awareness Month, an important time to raise awareness of male cancers. Our Web Editor, Dave Morgan, looks into six advances made by our researchers into prostate, testicular and urological cancers in the last year.

In our closing blog from the 2019 NCRI Cancer Conference, Rose Wu looks back over the Glasgow event, and picks out some highlights.

New treatments and an ageing population are giving rise to a new group of patients who have cancers which are treatable but not curable. Joanne Duffy considers the research and patient perspectives on this growing issue, which were discussed at the 2019 NCRI Cancer Conference.

Screening and testing for cancer is a huge challenge, and doesn’t always result in fewer people dying of cancer. ICR Science Communications Officer Joanne Duffy discusses an NCRI conference talk on how we can think outside the box when it comes to cancer screening and prevention.

Ben Kolbington reflects on the first day of the 15th NCRI conference in Glasgow, in which a key theme was turning research advances into practical and affordable solutions for improving patients’ lives.

October is Black History Month. Rose Wu, Deputy Chair of the Black, Asian and minority ethnic forum at the ICR and The Royal Marsden, shares some thoughts from the month and the work the forum has been leading on.