Cancer Research UK honors cell signalling expert with Lifetime Achievement Prize

Cancer Research UKJul 29 2011

Professor Chris Marshall has been named as the recipient of this year's Cancer Research UK Lifetime Achievement Prize.

Professor Marshall, from The Institute of Cancer Research, is a world-leading expert on cell signalling and the mechanisms that lead to cancer. His findings have transformed our understanding of the disease and paved the way for a new range of treatments.

Commenting on the award of the prize, Professor Marshall said: "It's a great honour to receive this award. It would not have happened without the contributions of the people in my laboratory and the support of The Institute of Cancer Research and Cancer Research UK."

His early work, in collaboration with others, identified the N-Ras gene, which has been shown to play a critical role in a range of cancers. He followed this by studying how N-Ras and other related genes transmit signals in the cell to the nucleus - the control centre of the cell. In recent years Professor Marshall's work has focussed on the signals that control how cancer cells spread around the body.

As a result of this work there are a number of anti-cancer treatments in development which target signalling in cancer cells and are already showing great potential in treating skin cancers.

Professor Marshall is currently Professor of Cell Biology at the ICR and a Cancer Research UK Gibb Fellow.

Harpal Kumar, chief executive of Cancer Research UK, said: "We're delighted to award Professor Marshall this year's Cancer Research UK Lifetime Achievement Prize. The prize recognises his pivotal work in understanding how the behaviour of cancer cells is controlled by a range of communication pathways. We're now beginning to see the benefits of this research that will hopefully one day have a real impact in helping cancer patients."