Cambridge Conversations: Technology, tests and treatment: how Cambridge is revolutionising the future of clinical medicine through the early and rapid detection of cancer

Cambridge Conversations: Technology, tests and treatment: how Cambridge is revolutionising the future of clinical medicine through the early and rapid detection of cancer

Cambridge Conversations: Technology, tests and treatment: how Cambridge is revolutionising the future of clinical medicine through the early and rapid detection of cancer

event Wednesday, February 17, 2021 schedule 5.30pm - 6.20pm GMT
Booking closed
Booking closed
event Wednesday, February 17, 2021 schedule 5.30pm - 6.20pm GMT
  • Cambridge Conversations
Cambridge Conversations webinars allow you to listen, connect and engage with current Cambridge thinking, wherever you are.
Open to: 
Alumni and guests
Theme: 
Science and technology

What if a simple test could predict cancer before the onset of any malignancy? What if doctors could target treatment before patients even become ill? Breakthroughs in research and technology made in Cambridge have the immediate potential to transform the way we practise medicine and deliver better clinical outcomes for millions. But will this be affordable and are there downsides to intervening before disease develops?

Join Professor Rebecca Fitzgerald, Professor of Cancer Prevention and Dr Jamie Blundell of the Department of Oncology, in conversation with Professor Patrick Maxwell, Regius Professor of Physic and Head of the School of Clinical Medicine, as they discuss the brave new world of cancer diagnosis and the steps we must take — and the ethical minefields we must avoid — in order to reach it.

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Speakers

Professor Patrick Maxwell

Professor Patrick Maxwell

Professor Patrick Maxwell has been Regius Professor of Physic and Head of the School of Clinical Medicine at the University of Cambridge since 1st October 2012. The Regius Chair was founded in 1540 by Henry VIII and is appointed by Her Majesty the Queen. Professor Maxwell is the 27th holder of the Chair. The School of Clinical Medicine is internationally leading (in the top 3 worldwide in University rankings such as QS, Times Higher). Under Professor Maxwell’s leadership it has grown substantially (more than doubling in size over 7 years) and currently has ∿3,000 staff, and ∿£200m p.a. in research grant and contract income. Professor Maxwell is responsible for strategic and operational leadership of all aspects of the School, and is extensively involved in governance of the University as a whole. He is also responsible for the interface with NHS partner Trusts, and leadership of the Academic Health Science Centre, Cambridge University Health Partners. 

In addition to his leadership roles Professor Maxwell runs a small research group in the Cambridge Institute for Medical Research. The principal thrust of his research is in transcriptional control of genes by oxygen. He has worked on this for over twenty years, initially in Oxford with Professor Peter Ratcliffe (now FRS) before moving to set up a new laboratory at Imperial College in 2002. The research program has received substantial national and international recognition and has considerable potential for translation into new therapies for patients. In 2012 Professor Maxwell was awarded a Senior Investigator Award by the Wellcome Trust, which funds the research program for nine years. 

At a national level, Professor Maxwell was Chair of the Medical Research Council’s Molecular and Cellular Medicine Board until 2017. From 2006 – 2012 he was Registrar of the Academy of Medical Sciences, and was involved through the Academy in aspects of national policy concerning Biomedical Science. He was also closely involved in the new £600m Francis Crick Institute as a member of the Scientific Planning Committee and then as a member of the Executive. 

Professor Rebecca Fitzgerald (Girton 1986)

Professor Rebecca Fitzgerald

Professor Rebecca Fitzgerald is Professor of Cancer Prevention and Interim Director at the MRC Cancer Unit, University of Cambridge. Rebecca co-leads the Early Detection Programme of the CRUK Cambridge Centre which is part of the International Alliance in Early Detection (ACED) and still practices medicine as Hon Consultant in Gastroenterology at Addenbrooke's Hospital. The focus of her research group is to investigate the steps in malignant transformation in the oesophagus and stomach and to use this information to improve clinical early detection strategies. Her work to develop the Cytosponge and related biomarker assays for detection of Barrett's oesophagus and associated dysplasia has been awarded a number of prizes including the Westminster Medal, the BMJ Gastro team of the year, an NHS Innovation prize and the CRUK Jane Wardle Early Detection Prize. In 2013, she was elected as a Fellow of the Academy of Medical Sciences. Rebecca is committed to teaching and is a Fellow of Medical Sciences at Trinity College Cambridge.

Dr Jamie Blundell (Sidney Sussex 2003)

Dr Jamie Blundell

Dr Jamie Blundell trained as a theoretical physicist at the Cavendish Laboratory, University of Cambridge. He then moved to Stanford University in 2012 as a postdoctoral scholar working on the dynamics of clonal evolution. He later returned to Cambridge as a group leader in the Cambridge Cancer Centre Early Detection Programme in July 2017. His lab unites evolutionary modelling and genomic approaches to predict cancer risk from serial blood samples. 

Jamie’s research focuses on quantitatively understanding clonal evolution. To do this he uses a combination of genetic lineage tracing experiments, "big data" analysis of deep sequencing data sets and mathematical/statistical models borrowed from population genetics and statistical physics. Clonal evolution underlies 30% of deaths worldwide including those caused by bacteria, fungi, parasites and cancer. However, treatments of these diseases are often inadequate because they are not based on a quantitative understanding of the evolution that drives them. Currently Jamie’s focus is on using longitudinal deep sequencing studies of blood to understand clonal evolution during the maintenance of healthy human tissue as well as its dysregulation in the earliest stages of cancer. 

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