Fiona Behan, Molecular biologist at the Wellcome Sanger Institute, describing how they have used the CRISPR gene-editing technique to disable every genetic instruction inside 30 types of cancer. The aim is to build the cancer dependency map providing a detailed rulebook of precision cancer treatments for patients. On the Humans Stage, at New Scientist Live 2019
Join Fiona as she describes how to dismantle cancer, piece-by-piece, to reveal its weaknesses. Finding cancer’s weak spots provides pharmaceutical companies with a hit-list of drug targets to help develop new medicines that kill the cancer without harming the rest of the body. In a huge study, Fiona's team used the CRISPR gene-editing technique to disable every genetic instruction inside 30 types of cancer. Of the thousands of genes she found were essential for cancer, 600 show the most promise for new medicines. The ultimate aim is to build the cancer dependency map a detailed rulebook of precision cancer treatments for patients. Fiona has a strong and personal motivation to improve treatments for cancer patients, having lost her mother to a second battle with cancer. The first course of chemotherapy damaged her mother’s heart so she was not physically strong enough for many treatments the second time around. Fiona’s aim is to move from treating cancer by treating the whole body, to targeting the cancer cells specifically, giving the patient the best chance of fighting the disease. Fiona works alongside pharmaceutical companies within Open Targets, a pre-competitive partnership that bolsters the translation of research results into new treatments. Fiona uses cutting edge genome editing CRISPR technology to carry out genome-wide synthetic lethal screens in order to identify potential novel oncogenic therapeutic targets. Using her background in molecular biology and high throughput screening, Fiona aims to leverage large scale, genome wide screens to develop effective anti-cancer strategies. Funded through the Centre for Therapeutic Target Validation (CTTV), our current research uses CRISPR-Cas9 technology to define synthetic-lethal dependences in cancer cell lines. This work aims to find new oncology drug targets. My research interests lie in bridging the gap between basic molecular biology and genome wide screens in a cancer research setting.
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Location: ExCel London, One Western Gateway, Royal Victoria Dock,
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