The world’s brightest minds going head-to-head to take on cancer's toughest challenges
Judy Garber introduces the Cancer Grand Challenges shortlisted teams
Today, Cancer Grand Challenges is pleased to announce the 12 global interdisciplinary teams shortlisted to receive £30k in seed funding and develop full applications in the hopes of being awarded up to £20m to take on one of cancer’s most complex challenges and ultimately transform outcomes for people affected.
Here, Judy Garber, Vice Chair of the Cancer Grand Challenges Scientific Committee, discusses how we got here, the 12 shortlisted teams and her hopes for what the final funded teams could achieve.
Truly global teams
At the end of July, I came together with my colleagues on the Cancer Grand Challenges Scientific Committee, a mix of eminent discovery and clinical scientists with diverse expertise, to discuss the 227 expressions of interest from international teams hoping to take on one of seven new Cancer Grand Challenges.
There were so many interesting applications, so the challenge for us, of course, was to identify the most promising and innovative responses to the challenges, but also the teams that will be able to effectively collaborate across continents and borders. The Cancer Grand Challenges approach is not just about having multiple labs focus on the same problem. It's about the whole being greater than the sum of the parts.
The toughest questions in cancer research
I’m pleased to announce the 12 global interdisciplinary teams shortlisted against six challenges, our most ambitious yet. Competition was tough, and we’re always sorry that we can't shortlist more! Cancer Grand Challenges’ impact is enabled by Cancer Research UK’s global network of funding partners – we’re always seeking to grow this coalition of like-minded organisations and individuals to enable us to fund more world-class teams to answer the toughest questions in cancer research.
AI-human collaborations in cancer
Planning to push the boundaries of what is currently possible are Biologia Ex Machina and SENTINEL, the two teams shortlisted against the AI-human collaborations in cancer challenge. Both teams propose to develop AI agents to bring cancer science to a whole new level. Biologia Ex Machina to increase dramatically cancer research productivity and SENTINEL to change the way we think about cancer development and early interception. With pioneering tech companies and leaders in the biotech and pharmaceutical industries as commercial partners, these shortlisted teams bring diversity of thought, creativity and energy, to drive the next era of scientific discovery.
Cancer avoidance
Two teams were shortlisted to answer the fascinating question of cancer avoidance: FORTESSA and Cancer Antibody Atlas. These teams have very different conceptual approaches to ultimately answer why some people don’t get cancer when their genetics or lifestyle indicate they should. What protects these individuals? Imagine if we could ultimately bottle it and distribute it! FORTESSA will invert the ‘follow the tumour’ paradigm and study the cells that don’t get cancer, while the Cancer Antibody Atlas team will explore the role of immune-modulating autoantibodies in cancer resistance. Both teams plan to study diverse and unique international cohorts and hope to take advantage of the natural diversity and mechanisms already present in the human body to transform prevention and early detection.
The dark proteome
The two teams shortlisted against the dark proteome challenge, DARK-MATTERS and ILLUMINE, both suggested technologically fascinating approaches to comprehensively map the dark proteome, uncovering fundamental biology and unlocking its therapeutic potential. By revealing the origins, prevalence, function, immunogenicity and clinical relevance of these cryptic proteins, the teams hope to uncover novel and potentially universal dark proteome derived therapeutic targets and neoantigens. This could realise the true potential of immunotherapy, allowing the development of next generation approaches.
Mutational signatures
The CAUSE team was shortlisted to take on the mutational signatures challenge. The team aims to uncover the molecular origins and mechanisms of unexplained mutational signatures in cancer by systematically identifying and characterising the DNA adducts they arise from. To do this the team would pioneer approaches to detect diverse DNA adducts and uncover the full DNA damage landscape, to understand the process by which environmental or endogenous factors leave a mutational signature on DNA. The team hopes to shift mutational epidemiology from observational to actionable, opening up cancer prevention opportunities and changing our understanding of cancer aetiology in the process.
The nervous system and cancer
Proposing highly creative responses to the nervous system and cancer challenge, the three teams shortlisted - CoNNECTED, InteroCANCEption and NEUROIMPACT - have each brought neuroscientists into the cancer realm in a completely different way. While all three teams plan to comprehensively decode the nervous-system cancer interface by harnessing the tools of modern neuroscience, each team also brings truly original aspects. From studying the concept of interoception; understanding the high incidence of depression, anxiety and cognitive symptoms in cancer patients; how the brain could prepare distant organs for metastasis; to pioneering neuroprosthetic approaches; all three teams are poised to revolutionise this frontier in cancer research, truly realising cancer as a systemic disease.
Rewiring cancer cells
Two teams were shortlisted against the rewiring cancer cells challenge: NeoCircuit and REWIRE-CAN. These teams both bring the power of chemistry to open new extremely powerful ways to treat cancer. The NeoCircuit team plan to go beyond inhibiting or even eliminating proteins, resulting in catastrophic switches in function. The team will establish novel protein functions by pioneering chemical proximity induction to bring proteins together. REWIRE-CAN plan to tackle the challenge by developing precise signalling modulators to reprogramme cancer cells into vulnerable states by disrupting their finely tuned ‘Goldilocks’ state. These are not standard drug development approaches, but by allowing the teams to think differently outside of the constraints of industry, they have the potential to change patient outcomes.
A shared vision
The seed funding Cancer Grand Challenges provides allows these shortlisted teams to dedicate time to building their applications, detailing their scientific approaches and building the team itself. We encourage the teams to really think about how they are going to effectively communicate with each other, to truly take on the challenge as a team. How do all the pieces of the puzzle come together to uncover the whole picture? Beyond the lead investigators, how do the junior researchers, PhD students and postdocs contribute to drive the team forward. The seed funding should prepare teams to hit the ground running if they get funded.
When I read the full applications and hear the teams present at the interviews, I want to be wowed. It's not that we’re not critical - we have to be critical. It's a lot of money and a big responsibility. We must assess whether the teams can deliver on what they promise. We’re also interested to see how they’ve responded to the committee’s feedback. And, we have to open ourselves up to the fact that this is a very different kind of application. We're all used to reviewing grants that are individual investigators, labs or even groups of labs, but they're not in the same league as this. We always come back to whether the application rises to the ambition of Cancer Grand Challenges and whether the team has a shared vision with a dedicated leader, so they can make true breakthroughs.
Funding at scale
All 12 of the shortlisted teams are thinking outside-of-the-box. Receiving Cancer Grand Challenges funding would allow these diverse teams to push the boundaries of what’s currently possible, to be creative and bold, and to uncover novel biology and figure out new ways to exploit it. By funding teams at scale, across borders and disciplines, we believe we can catalyse true innovation and have a greater chance of bringing real change for patients and for generations to come.
Meet the finalists looking to take on cancer's toughest challenges
Footnotes
Through Cancer Research UK, Cancer Grand Challenges* is also building a network of like-minded partners and individual donors around the world, all of whom share our aspiration to create change.
Our work wouldn’t be possible without their collective support. If you're interested in joining them and partnering with Cancer Grand Challenges through Cancer Research UK, please get in touch today.
*As a federal agency of the United States, the National Cancer Institute does not solicit funds or take part in fundraising activities.