NSW Big Ideas Oncology Seminar Series

A protein-centric view of cancer biology. This presentation, from Professor Roger Reddel, will argue the case for the utility of a protein-centric view of cancer biology. Professor Roger Reddel AO, is the Executive Director of Children’s Medical Research Institute and the Sir Lorimer Dods Professor of The University of Sydney. In 2016 he cofounded ProCan®, an internationally collaborative program that aims to enable the routine use of cancer tissue proteomic data in adult and paediatric clinical oncology. A protein-centric view of cancer biology Inherited cancer risk is deduced primarily from genomic information enhanced by an understanding of the functional consequences of genomic changes. In contrast, to understand cancer biology there is great value in considering cancers primarily as protein ecosystems. A cancer’s behaviour, including its aggressiveness and its response to treatments, is mostly determined by its proteome, which may be regarded as using DNA as its spare parts manufacturing information repository for the replacement of worn-out proteins and to enable adjustment of protein levels in response to changes in its external environment.