Multidisciplinary Cancer Treatment Team Celebrate 2019 Translation Prize

The 2019 Sir David Cooksey Prize in Translation was presented to lead researchers Dinis Calado from the Crick’s Immunity and Cancer Laboratory and Ed Tate, a chemist from Imperial College London with a satellite group at the Crick, for their work on developing drugs to target currently untreatable cancers. 

Along with PhD student Gregor Lueg and research associate Monica Faronato the team has been studying pathways discovered in the Tate lab which support B cell lymphoma growth, as well as developing a novel method to block the pathways. 

Together with support from the platforms and facilities at the Crick, the team found that blocking this pathway can kill cancerous cells driven by the gene MYC. MYC plays a role in a number of untreatable cancers and there are currently no MYC-targeting drugs available. The team have progressed their discovery, developing a spin-out and gaining private investment.

"The research that ultimately led to this award originated with researchers at one of the Crick's legacy institutes and it is very satisfying to see the research come back full circle to the Crick over 15 years later," said Ed Tate on receiving the award. "It's a tribute to open collaboration between the Crick and the partner universities, and to the many people who helped us to reach this important turning point in our work."

"Our results are the consequence of multiple factors: a superb multidisciplinary collaboration, a brilliant team and amazing academic, science technology platform and translation support," agreed Dinis Calado. "Everything has been firmly embedded in the Crick ethos to pursue discovery without boundaries."

The winning team received £10,000 for their research in addition to a £2,000 cash prize.