Mutations to Medicine public lectures

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Three professors from the Institute of Genetics and Cancer showcased their journey, research and achievements to a packed audience on 29 April 2024.

Martin Taylor outlined how his research came to focus on evolutionary genomics, highlighting progress to understanding how and where mutations occur and how these can drive cancer development and progression. He illustrated how the processes of mutation and repair are interlinked and can shape genomes and health. With the help of a comic book provided to audience members he outlined a collaborative discovery that has shed new light on the way that mutations are passed on in cancer tumour cells, and how this might help shape future therapy.

Greg Kudla showed how protein function might be measured by treating to audience to a glow-in-the-dark demonstration involving horseradish and the chemical luminol. He outlined how such approaches can be used in a laboratory setting to measure the effect of different mutations throughout a gene. He was one of the scientists who showed that the chemical composition of mRNA molecules, the template for protein production, can  affect their levels and location in the cell. This discovery is important to research design, but has also been a consideration in design of mRNA vaccines, such as those developed by others against the virus causing Covid19.

Barry Laird led us through his journey from medical school to palliative care clinician and researcher. He challenged the perception of palliative care as being relevant only to end-of-life care. He emphasised the need for palliative care to support living with cancer treatment, whether it is aimed to treat and cure cancer. He explained how his interactions with others in the field led him to a particular interest in cancer cachexia – the wasting and weight loss that can occur with cancer. Inflammation as a possible contributor to this cachexia is one focus of the clinical trials that he and others are conducting to help people with cachexia to maintain lean muscle mass.

The talks were warmly received by an audience comprising friends and family members, researchers, colleagues, high school students and members of the public with an interest in cancer and genetic disease.

Comic Book

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