Oncology: University of Cambridge

The Oncology Department is part of the development of a major cancer centre in Cambridge with funding from Cancer Research UK, the MRC and other sources. Part of the Department shares the Hutchison/MRC building with the MRC Cancer Cell Unit, whose students are members of the Oncology Department.

Key research areas

• Molecular genetics of cancer, genetic epidemiology and inherited cancer susceptibility (B Ponder)
• Molecular biology of normal and neoplastic cells with particular reference to DNA repair (A Venkitaraman), and cell cycle (A Philpott)
• Control of human DNA replication (R Laskey) and its exploitation for cancer diagnosis (N Coleman)
• A robust model for transcription and DNA replication (S Bell)
• Gene-environment interactions in oesophageal carcinogenesis: relevance to cancer surveyance and therapeutics (R Fitzgerald)
• Plasminogen-related growth factor: structure, function and therapeutic targets (E Gherardi)
• Developmental models of cancer and stem cell development (A Philpott, P Jones, S Ohnuma)
• Structure-function in the cell cycle (L Itzhaki)
• Computational biology (S Tavaré)

Research collaborations

They maintain close links with:

• other relevant departments (including Epidemiology and Public Health)
• the CRUK Cambridge Research Institute
• the Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute
• local companies on the Cambridge Science Park
• numerous collaborations both in the UK and overseas.