Drug discovery and development
Cancer Research UK is committed to developing better, more targeted cancer treatments with fewer side effects.
In recent years, scientists have learnt a great deal about how faulty genes and proteins contribute to cancer development. This has opened up new opportunities for converting key lab discoveries into exciting new approaches to cancer treatment.
Cancer Research UK is at the forefront of this ‘bench-to-bedside’ medicine or ‘translational research’. Many of our researchers are internationally renowned for their expertise in discovering new cancer drugs and taking these forward into early-stage clinical trials.
Below are some of the highlights of our drug development work.
All cancer types
Prof Richard Begent
Cancer Research UK Targeting and Imaging Group, Department of Oncology
UCL Cancer Institute, London
Developing and testing new treatments for cancer
Professor Richard Begent heads the Cancer Research UK Targeting and Imaging Group at the UCL Cancer Institute. He is currently working on new cancer treatments that are designed to specifically attack and kill the cancer cells while leaving healthy cells unharmed. Using this approach, Professor Begent hopes to develop effective new treatments with fewer side effects than existing drugs.
Prof Hilary Calvert
Northern Institute for Cancer Research
Newcastle University, Newcastle Upon Tyne
Taking new cancer treatments from bench to bedside
Hilary Calvert is Professor of Medical Oncology at the Northern Institute for Cancer Research in Newcastle upon Tyne. He is one of the UK's leading cancer researchers working in drug development. Professor Calvert's team carry out clinical trials to test new anti-cancer drugs and to improve the use of existing treatments.
Prof Caroline Dive
Clinical and Experimental Pharmacology Group
Paterson Institute for Cancer Research, Manchester
Developing new cancer treatments
Professor Caroline Dive leads the Clinical and Experimental Pharmacology Group at the Cancer Research UK Paterson Institute for Cancer Research in Manchester. Her team carry out lab studies and early clinical research into new cancer drugs. Professor Dive also carries out important research into drug resistance in bowel cancer.
Prof Gavin Halbert
Cancer Research UK Formulation Unit
University of Strathclyde, Glasgow
Turning lab discoveries into cancer drugs
Professor Gavin Halbert heads up Cancer Research UK's cutting-edge Strathclyde Formulation Unit in Glasgow. At this facility, the scientists package up promising new candidate drugs into safe forms that patients can take as tablets, capsules or injections.
Prof Bass Hassan
Department of Medical Oncology
Weatherall Institute of Molecular Medicine, Oxford
Blocking growth signals to beat cancer
Professor Bass Hassan at The Weatherall Institute of Molecular Medicine is investigating the faulty signals that drive cancer cell growth. He is also developing new cancer treatments that aim to block the action of these key growth signals.
Prof Steve Jackson
The Wellcome Trust/Cancer Research UK Gurdon Institute of Cancer and Developmental Biology
University of Cambridge, Cambridge
Understanding DNA repair
Professor Steve Jackson is an award-winning scientist, who has been funded by Cancer Research UK for over 15 years. He is Head of Cancer Research UK Laboratories at the Wellcome Trust/Cancer Research UK Gurdon Institute, where he leads a research team making incredible progress in understanding the important role of DNA repair and its link with cancer. Some of Professor Jackson's discoveries have already been developed into new treatments for cancer, and others are being tested in clinical trials.
Prof Nicol Keith
Telomerase Therapeutics
Beatson Laboratories, Glasgow
Developing new anti-cancer therapies
Professor Nicol Keith is based at the Beatson Laboratories in Glasgow. He and his team are investigating how cancer cells become immortal and are using this information to develop new anticancer treatments. In particular, Professor Keith is investigating ways to target telomerase, an "immortality gene" that is switched on in eight out of ten cancers.
Prof Herbie Newell
Northern Institute for Cancer Research
University of Newcastle, Newcastle Upon Tyne
Developing new cancer treatments
Herbie Newell is Professor of Cancer Therapeutics at the Northern Institute for Cancer Research in Newcastle upon Tyne. His expertise is in cancer pharmacology - understanding how cancer drugs work inside the body. His research focuses on developing new cancer drugs and he has over 30 years experience in this area.
Prof Paul Workman
Cancer Research UK Centre for Cancer Therapeutics
The Institute of Cancer Research, Sutton
Developing targeted cancer treatments
Professor Paul Workman is one of the UK's leading experts in the discovery and development of new cancer drugs. He coordinates teams of chemists, biologists and pharmacologists to take new drugs through into clinical trials. He is Director of the Cancer Research UK Centre for Cancer Therapeutics at The Institute of Cancer Research, which provides researchers with the very latest technologies for drug discovery.
Bowel cancer
Prof Chris Paraskeva
Colorectal Tumour Biology Research Group
University of Bristol, Bristol
Preventing and treating bowel cancer
Professor Chris Paraskeva is an international expert in bowel cancer. He leads the Cancer Research UK Colorectal Tumour Biology Research Group at the University of Bristol. His team is looking into many different aspects of bowel cancer including new ways to both prevent and treat the disease.
Kidney cancer
Prof Peter Selby
Section of Oncology and Clinical Research
Leeds Institute of Molecular Medicine, Leeds
Developing and testing new ways to treat cancer
Professor Peter Selby is head of the Section of Oncology and Clinical Research at the University of Leeds. Teams in this department are carrying out lab studies into treatments for many types of cancer, including breast, ovarian, and melanoma skin cancer. Professor Selby also directs the Cancer Research UK Clinical Centre in Leeds, which brings cancer scientists and doctors together to develop new approaches to cancer care and test these in clinical trials.
Ovarian cancer
Prof Gordon Jayson
Translational Angiogenesis Laboratory
Christie Hospital NHS Trust, Manchester
New cancer treatments that block blood vessel growth
Gordon Jayson is Professor of Medical Oncology at the Christie Hospital in Manchester. His research focuses on new cancer treatments that block blood vessel growth and starve tumour cells of essential nutrients and oxygen. He is particularly interested in the use of these treatments for people with ovarian cancer.
Prof Stan Kaye
Section of Medicine
The Institute of Cancer Research and the Royal Marsden Hospital, Sutton
Developing new cancer treatments
Professor Stan Kaye is Chairman of the Section of Medicine at The Institute of Cancer Research (ICR). He also leads the Drug Development Unit at the Royal Marsden Hospital. These two roles allow Professor Kaye to take new drugs discovered in the lab and test them in clinical trials in patients. In particular, his research focuses on ovarian cancer.
Prostate cancer
Prof Gareth Williams
Cancer Research UK Chromosomal Replication Research Group
Wolfson Institute for Biomedical Research, University College London, London
Understanding how cells divide, and improving cancer treatment and detection
Based at the Wolfson Institute for Biomedical Research in London, Professor Gareth Williams and his team are investigating how a group of proteins work together to allow DNA to be copied, a process called DNA replication. His research could also help to find new ways to diagnose cancers such as prostate and bladder cancer.
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