Meet our Scientific Advisory Committee

We receive around 400 ideas from scientists all over the world every year and we want to make sure only the most innovative, creative and exciting research is funded. That’s where our external team of cancer experts, also known as our Scientific Advisory Committee, come in.  

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How do we ensure we use your donations to fund the best research?

Made up of eminent cancer specialists who volunteer their time to assess, review, and judge the ideas we receive each year, our Committee select projects based on the quality of the science and the novelty of the idea.  
The breadth of knowledge and depth of experience of our members ensures we only fund research of the highest calibre. 

The members of our Scientific Advisory Committee all have different areas of expertise across a range of different cancer types, branches of biology, chemistry, medicine, and drug development. 

These differences in perspective are crucial when it comes to deciding the best projects to support. Since we fund research involving lots of different scientific techniques and all cancer types, we need a broad and varied committee to help spot the ideas with the best chance of having real impact. 

We are proud to have our Committee's expertise on board to help us evaluate and select the projects we fund with our Curestarters' generous donations. 

Being the Chair of the Scientific Advisory Committee is a chance to work with all of these great scientists to identify the bold ideas - the scientists that are on the cutting-edge of how we are understanding cancer - and make sure that we are funding those that are going to make a difference.

Dr Olivia Rossanese Headshot
Dr Olivia Rossanese Chair of our Scientific Advisory Committee

Meet our members:

Dr Olivia Rossanese Headshot
Expert in drug discovery and Chair of the Committee
Dr Olivia Rossanese

Institute of Cancer Research, United Kingdom

Renata Basto in the lab
Expert in cell cycle/cell division
Dr Renata Basto

Institut Curie, France

Expert in epidemiology
Professor Amy Berrington

The Institute of Cancer Research, United Kingdom

Aura Carreira Headshot
Expert in DNA repair/genome stability
Dr Aura Carreira

CSIC, Madrid, Spain

Expert in DNA repair/genome stability
Dr Petr Cejka

Institute for Research in Biomedicine, Switzerland  

Expert in genomics/proteomics
Dr Pim French

Erasmus University Medical Center, Netherlands

Vincenzo Giambra Headshot
Expert in leukaemia/signalling
Dr Vincenzo Giambra

Fondazione IRCCS Casa Sollievo della Sofferenza, Italy

Expert in stem cells/epigenetics
Dr Denes Hnisz

Max Planck Institute of Molecular Genetics, Germany

Clinician scientist
Dr Daniel Hodson

University of Cambridge, United Kingdom

Maite Huarte Headshot
Expert in epigenetics
Dr Maite Huarte

Centro de Investigación Médica Aplicada (CIMA), Spain

Clinician scientist
Dr Sheeba Irshad

King's College London, United Kingdom

Marcos Malumbres Headshot
Expert in p53/cell cycle regulators
Professor Marcos Malumbres

Vall D'Hebron Institute of Oncology (VHIO), Barcelona

Miriam Martini Headshot
Expert in signalling
Dr Miriam Martini

University of Turin, Italy

Ruth Palmer Headshot
Expert in signalling
Professor Ruth Palmer

University of Gothenburg, Sweden

Expert in signalling
Professor Krishnaraj Rajalingam

University of Mainz, Germany

Expert in drug development (biology)
Dr Laura Rosenberg

Astra Zeneca United Kingdom

Expert in drug discovery
Dr Sharon Rossiter

University of Hertfordshire, United Kingdom

Pipsa Saharinen Headshot
Expert in angiogenesis
Professor Pipsa Saharinen

University of Helsinki, Finland

Expert in leukaemia
Professor Jan-Jacob Schuringa

University of Groningen, Netherlands 

Expert in ubiquitin/proteomics/protein trafficking
Dr Sara Sigismund

University of Milan, Italy

Expert in immunology
Professor Bruno Silva-Santos

University of Lisbon, Portugal

Expert in stem cells
Professor Louis Vermeulen

Genetech, USA and Academic Medical Center, Netherlands

Expert in Metastasis
Dr Danijela Vignjevic

Institut Curie, France

David Withers
Expert in immunology
Professor David Withers

University of Birmingham, United Kingdom

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