The CRUK Convergence Science Centre is a partnership between Imperial College London and The Institute of Cancer Research. In collaboration with our international partners we arrange a regular international seminar ‘Converging on Cancer’ on the topic of interdisciplinary cancer research. Our partners are:
- Technical University of Munich (TUM)
- Nanyang Technological University (NTU)
- Biotech Research and Innovation Centre (BRIC – University of Copenhagen)
- École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL).
In this series, we bring together speakers from across these institutions to present their research and how they use convergence science to answer cancer-related questions.
Thursday 5th March, 10-11am BST, 11-12pm CEST, 6-7pm SGT
Speakers
Prof Pascal Meier (ICR)
The Power of Death: Harnessing Cell Death to Drive Anti-tumour Immunity
For the effective treatment of cancer, it is necessary that the therapy not only kills the cancer cell but also mobilises the immune system against the tumour. While dying cells play an active role in inducing anti-tumour immunity, cells can die through very different modalities, with apoptosis being more immunologically silent while necroptosis and pyroptosis act as beacons, second messengers that alert both the immune system and the micro-environment to danger. Here, I will discuss the concept of immunogenic cell death and how we can exploit viral mimicry approaches to drive long-lasting anti-tumour immune responses.
Prof Kristijan Ramadan (Lee Kong Chain School of Medicine, NTU)
Exploring nucleophagy of DNA lesions as a novel biological pathway and its potential for translational applications in cancer
Autophagy and the proteasome are essential cellular degradation pathways that are crucial in maintaining homeostasis. Autophagy specifically facilitates the breakdown of macromolecules and damaged organelles during stress conditions such as starvation or hypoxia, ensuring the availability of cellular building blocks and energy. Additionally, autophagy helps prevent the accumulation of insoluble or aggregated toxic proteins, thereby mitigating the effects of neurodegenerative diseases. However, the role of autophagy in genome stability and cancer remains poorly defined. Our recent findings indicate that selective autophagy of nuclear DNA lesions, termed nucleophagy, is directly involved in DNA repair and correlates with clinical outcomes, including colorectal cancer patient responses to chemotherapy and overall survival in patients with triple-negative breast cancer. I will summarise our recent results on nucleophagy and discuss its potential applications in cancer therapy.
Who can attend?
Researchers, students and anyone with an interest in convergence science relating to cancer research across our partnered institutions are welcome to register:
- CRUK Convergence Science Centre
- Imperial College London
- The Institute of Cancer Research (ICR)
- Technical University of Munich (TUM)
- Nanyang Technological University (NTU)
- Biotech Research and Innovation Centre (BRIC – University of Copenhagen)
- École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL)
- CRUK Cambridge Centre
- CRUK City of London Centre (Kings college, UCL, Barts Cancer Institute/Queen Mary University, Francis Crick)
- CRUK Manchester Centre
- CRUK Newcastle Centre
- CRUK Oxford Centre
- CRUK Scotland Centre (University of Edinburgh and University of Glasgow)
Email icr-imperial-convergence.centre@imperial.ac.uk to receive the registration link and joining details.