10 top stories of 2021

Cancer Grand Challenges wishes you, your family, friends and colleagues a happy, healthy festive season! Thank you to everyone who has contributed to an exciting year for the community.

To celebrate 2021, we're sharing 10 highlights from the past 12 months. We hope you enjoy reading these stories and we look forward to seeing more progress made against cancer’s toughest challenges in the new year.

Best wishes, keep safe,
The Cancer Grand Challenges team

10 highlights from the past year

1. Escape from the immune system

Challenge: tissue specificity

The SPECIFICANCER team’s latest study in Science identifies a new way that cancers avoid discovery and destruction by the immune system, information which could lead to more effective therapies.

2. Aspirin’s potential in personalised colorectal cancer prevention

Challenge: microbiota

Caitlin Brennan, former OPTIMISTICC team member, discusses aspirin’s antibacterial activity against microbes associated with colorectal cancer.

3. Announcing the shortlist for our next round of funding

More than 1,900 people from across 61 countries submitted applications for our third round of funding with 11 global teams shortlisted to compete for a share of $100m. We’re excited to announce our new winning teams in 2022!

4. Unravelling the mystery of oesophageal cancer incidence

Challenge: unusual mutation patterns

Unexpected findings add a new piece to the complex puzzle surrounding oesophageal cancer risk.

5. Remodelling the matrix

Challenge: cancer causes

A new discovery from the STORMing Cancer team suggests reprogramming the inflamed microenvironment could prevent the cascade from inflammation to cancer.

6. "We can all be agents of change"

In October we held our first ever Future Leaders Conference for early career researchers in the community to share learnings. The event was powered by a steering committee of postdoctoral fellows and PhD students, including STORMing Cancer's Elee Shimshoni.

7. A potential new drug target for colorectal cancer

Challenge: 3D tumour mapping

Using their novel 3D mapping technology, the Rosetta team identifies the antiporter SLC7A5 as a target for KRAS-driven colorectal cancer, opening new avenues for treating the disease.

8. New spatial technology to examine cancer cells in 3D

Challenge: 3D tumour mapping

New expansion sequencing tech from the IMAXT team creates detailed nanoscale-resolution genomic maps to reveal hidden truths in biology.

9. A step closer to avoiding over treatment

Challenge: lethal vs non-lethal cancers

The breast microenvironment could help us identify which people with ductal carcinoma in situ are at high-risk of developing invasive breast cancer, says the PRECISION team.

10. Discover: a year of scientific creativity

We recently launched our annual progress magazine, Discover - showcasing the power of global team science. Discover celebrates how our teams are coming together and driving progress against some of cancer's toughest challenges.

Cancer Grand Challenges

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