Dr. Alan Ashworth, Ph.D., Institute of Cancer Research, London, UK

Guest Speaker

Professor Alan Ashworth FRS, is Professor of Molecular Biology and Director of The Breakthrough Breast Cancer Research Centre at The Institute of Cancer Research, London. The Centre contains around 120 scientists and researchers working on aspects of breast cancer ranging from basic molecular and cellular biology through to translational research and clinical trials. Ashworth contributed to the discovery of the BRCA2 gene in 1995 and ten years later, Prof. Ashworth’s team identified the synthetic lethal relationship between BRCA mutations and PARP inhibitors. The exquisite sensitivity of BRCA1 or BRCA2 mutant cells to PARP inhibitors forms the rationale behind clinical trials that are now assessing the potential of these agents. Ashworth’s other research interests are wide ranging and include high-throughput genomic and functional approaches to the study of cancer. Ashworth is an elected member of EMBO and the Academy of Medical Sciences. In 2008, he was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society for his contributions to mammalian genetics and the developments of new therapeutic approaches for cancer.  We are honoured to have Prof. Ashworth as a keynote speaker for Symposium IV:  Targeted Therapies and Current and Emerging Clinical Trials.