Brain Tumour Conference 2024: Speakers

Richard is the Li Ka Shing Chair of Oncology and Head of Department of Oncology at the University of Cambridge, Director of the Cancer Research UK Cambridge Centre and Senior Group Leader at the Cancer Research UK Cambridge Institute. Richard’s laboratory research is focused on understanding the link between normal development and the origins of cancer, particularly brain tumours.

Nada is a Professor of Paediatrics at McGill University and a paediatric neuro-oncologist at the Montreal Children’s Hospital. Nada has pioneered a research program in paediatric brain tumours, and having found a new mechanism driving paediatric high-grade astrocytomas – histone mutations in human disease – she has created a paradigm shift in our understanding of cancer. 

Steven is a Professor of Stem Cell and Cancer Biology, and leads the Cancer Research UK-funded Glioma Cellular Genetics Resource. His research group focuses on transcriptional and epigenetic mechanisms of neural stem cell self-renewal and differentiation, and how these are deregulated in cancer. His team also explores novel strategies to target new pathways with innovative therapeutics. 

Adrienne is the Geoffrey Beene Junior Faculty Chair at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center and a neuro-oncologist who cares for patients with metastasis to the central nervous system. Adrienne’s research program is focused on leptomeningeal metastasis and her team employs multi-omic analysis of human samples to identify cancer cell adaptations to the microenvironment of the leptomeninges.

Arnold is a Professor in Stem Cell and Tissue Biology and the Founding Director of the Eli and Edythe Broad Center of Regeneration Medicine and Stem Cell Research at the University of California, San Francisco. Arnold's research focuses on the way in which neural stem and progenitor cells in the embryonic brain produce neurons and the ways in which this information can be used for cell-based therapies to treat diseases of the nervous system.

Karen was the Director of the Cancer Research UK Scotland Institute (formerly the Beatson Institute) and Chief Scientist of Cancer Research UK. Karen is currently a Group Leader at the Francis Crick Institute. Karen’s research has contributed to our understanding of the regulation and function of the tumour suppressor p53, including its role in tumour metabolism, cancer cell survival and metastasis.  

Craig is the former President and Chief Executive Officer of Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center and leads a research laboratory at the Sloan Kettering Institute. Craig's current research focuses on the regulation of cellular metabolism during cell growth/differentiation and on the role that metabolic changes play in the origin and progression of cancer.

Steven is Chair of Biomedical Engineering at the National Heart and Lung Institute at Imperial College London and Co-Director of the Turing Research and Innovation Cluster for Digital Twins, leading on health, at the Alan Turing Institute. Steven’s research group focuses on developing image processing, modelling and simulation and data science approaches for guiding procedures and developing drugs and devices.

After postdoctoral fellowships in Josef Kittler’s lab at UCL and Paolo Salomoni’s lab at the UCL Cancer Institute, Manav started his independent research group at the University of Cambridge. His team focuses on identifying novel targeted therapy approaches for paediatric gliomas and interrogating the role of the tumour microenvironment.

Manuel is the Head of the Brain Metastasis Group at the Spanish National Cancer Research Center and co-founder of the first National Network of Brain Metastasis in Spain. Manuel’s research investigates the biology of brain metastasis and the role of a range of characteristics of the brain environment to drive cancer progression.

Claudia is an Associate Professor in the Department of Human Genetics at McGill University, an Investigator at the Lady Davis Institute for Medical Research, an Associate Member of the McGill Centre for Translational Research in Cancer, and a researcher at the Ludmer Centre for Neuroinformatics and Mental Health. Her research focuses on defining epigenetic and transcriptional mechanisms underlying disease, in particular cancer and brain development, exploiting genome-wide technologies and data science.

Simona is a Professor of neuro-oncology and Head of the research department of Cancer Biology at the UCL Cancer Institute. She also leads the Samantha Dickson Brain Cancer unit and co-leads the Cancer Research UK Brain Tumour Centre of Excellence. Simona’s research focuses on adult neurogenesis and brain cancer, studying the cellular and molecular mechanisms that control neural stem cell behaviour and how these mechanisms become deregulated to drive tumourogenesis and recurrence in glioblastoma.

Omer is a Group Leader at the Wellcome Sanger Institute. Omer’s team uses single cell and spatial transcriptomics technologies to characterize human brain cellular diversity in health and disease. He has developed the cell2location computational tool to map fine cell types in spatial transcriptomics. Omer steers the spatial genomic strategy at the Sanger Institute.

Erica leads the Cancer Neural Immune laboratory at Monash Institute of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Monash University. Her research program investigates how the sympathetic nervous system impacts cancer progression. Using advanced imaging technologies in preclinical models of cancer, she defined how chronic stress acts through neural signalling to control the behaviour of cancer cells, immune cells, and vasculature to accelerate cancer metastasis.

Darren is a Clinical Professor in Paediatric Neuro-Oncology at Great Ormond Street Hospital Children’s Charity. His work specialises in paediatric neuro-oncology, neurofibromatosis-related tumours, and the development of new anti-cancer treatments for children and adolescents. Darren’s research interests include the biology of childhood brain tumours, the use of innovative imaging techniques in childhood cancer and the development of targeted therapies in paediatric oncology. 

Leanne leads the Cancer Neuroscience Lab at the Francis Crick Institute. Her laboratory seeks to illuminate the complex interaction between cancer and the nervous system using genetically engineered mouse models.

Anne leads a team and is the Head of the imaging center at the Princess Máxima Center for paediatric oncology, as well as a Principal Investigator of the Oncode Cancer Institute of Excellence. Her research focuses on understanding the immune system and improving cancer immunotherapies. Anne leads an interdisciplinary team with an emphasis on technological advancements, combining human organoid technology, tissue imaging and vision-based multi-omics to identify new therapeutic targets and factors that influence treatment outcomes for paediatric brain tumours and breast cancer. 

Bing is Director of the Center for Epigenomics and Professor of Cellular and Molecular Medicine at the University of California, San Diego. Bing’s research is focused on the discovery and characterisation of the transcriptional regulatory sequences in the human genome to understand how these DNA elements direct spatiotemporal patterns of gene expression and how DNA variants in these sequences contribute to human diseases. 

Sriram is a neuropathologist and physician-scientist whose work focuses on understanding the biology of brain tumours. He is the Al and Robert Glick Family Research Professor of Paediatrics and the Scientific Director of the Chad Tough Paediatric Brain Center at the University of Michigan. Sriram’s laboratory explores the intersection of epigenetics and cancer metabolism in paediatric brain tumours. His work has led to the establishment of biomarkers to enable the diagnosis and prognostication of childhood brain cancers.

Christiane heads the division of Metabolic Crosstalk in Cancer at the German Cancer Research Center and, as a resident, has been working at the departments of Neurooncology and Neurology at the University Hospital Heidelberg. Christiane’s research focuses on tryptophan catabolism and metabolic signalling through the aryl hydrocarbon receptor. Her lab investigates how these pathways regulate tumour cell intrinsic malignant properties as well as anti-tumour immunity.

Itay is a Senior Scientist at the Weizmann Institute of Science. The Tirosh lab is combining computational approaches and experimental single cell methods to understand the diversity of cells within human tumours, with a focus on glioma and head and neck cancers.

Juanita is a consultant medical oncologist at the Phase I Drug Development Unit at The Royal Marsden and The Institute of Cancer research, specialising in early phase translational drug development. Juanita is lead for the 5G first-in-brain molecular hypotheses testing platform for the treatment of malignant brain tumours,and has a particular interest in understanding the interplay between inflammation, immune-responses and cancer, and developing novel treatments and combinations.

Wendy is the Director of the MRC Human Genetics Unit, Institute of Genetics and Cancer, at the University of Edinburgh. She is fascinated by the three-dimensional organisation of the human genome in cells and how that influences genome function in health and disease. Wendy’s research explores how the non-coding genome regulates gene expression, including how enhancers communicate with their target gene promoters.

Nader is a Professor of Neurological Surgery at the Barrow Neurological Institute. Nader specialises in brain mapping techniques to identify and preserve areas of motor, sensory, and language function during surgery.

Dieter is a Professor of Translational Neurosurgery at Friedrich-Alexander University, Erlangen, and an Attending Neurosurgeon at the University Hospital Erlangen. As a physician-scientist with expertise in neurosurgery, Dieter’s work bridges multi-omic and high-dimensional biological data with clinical applications through artificial intelligence.

Petra is a Principal Scientist in Early Oncology at AstraZeneca and leads the DDRi drug discovery programs for brain tumours. Previously, Petra has worked as a Group Leader at the Danish Cancer Society and an Associate Professor at the University of Copenhagen. Petra’s research focuses on identifying novel treatments for glioblastoma and early detection of brain cancer. 

Tony is the Chief Business Officer for Cancer Research UK and Cancer Research Horizons. He oversees the Commercial Partnerships team, which handles the commercialization of intellectual property from Cancer Research UK-funded projects, creates new start-ups, manages licenses, and forms corporate alliances. Previously, Tony served as Managing Director of Imperial Innovations Ltd and as an executive director on the board of Touchstone Innovations PLC. He brings over 15 years of experience in commercial and business development roles within bioscience companies, including Wellcome Group R&D, Murex Biotech, Abbott Laboratories, and Kalibrant Limited.

Catherine is a research evaluation and impact manager at Cancer Research UK, where she works to understand the outcomes of the charity’s funded projects and demonstrate how these efforts are contributing to a future where people can live longer, better lives, free from the fear of cancer. Her connection to cancer research is deeply personal, having been diagnosed with a brain tumour herself. Today, she shares her insights on the impact of scientific advancements on her own cancer experience.