Professor Ana Domingos, Fellow and Tutor in Medicine at LMH, is part of a major new international research programme supported by Cancer Grand Challenges, which has announced $125 million in funding to tackle some of the most pressing questions in cancer science.
Professor Ana Domingos (third from right) and the InteroCANCEption team
Co-founded by Cancer Research UK and the National Cancer Institute, the programme brings together leading researchers from across disciplines and continents to pursue bold and innovative approaches to cancer research. Professor Domingos is a member of the InteroCANCEption team, one of five global teams selected for awards of up to $25 million each over five years.
The InteroCANCEption team will explore how interoception – the body’s ability to sense and regulate the state of the body through the nervous system – may enable the brain to detect tumours and influence how they develop. By tracing nerve pathways and mapping neuronal activity, the team aims to identify which signals between the nervous system and tumours are associated with cancer progression. The team will also investigate across lung, pancreatic and colorectal tumours whether adapting signalling from neurons to tumours, for example by neuromodulatory drugs or neural implants, could be used as a treatment approach or to manage symptoms.
Professor Domingos said of her research: “We are entering an era where cancer must be understood as a systems-level disease, integrated with the nervous system. By interrogating sympathetic neuron–tumour communication, we aim to uncover vulnerabilities that conventional oncology has overlooked. Targeting neural signalling could open an entirely new therapeutic frontier. It is a privilege to join this extraordinary international team to explore how the nervous system senses and influences cancer.”
Bringing together a global coalition of the world’s leading scientists, funders and philanthropists, Cancer Grand Challenges enables bold, long-term collaboration to pursue disruptive ideas that could open entirely new routes for cancer prevention, detection, and treatment. This latest investment matches the previous record $125m funding round and brings the total support for the initiative to $624m since 2016.
To make this round possible, Cancer Grand Challenges has received funding from the Bowelbabe Fund for Cancer Research UK, Cancer Research Institute, Children Cancer Free Foundation (KiKa), KWF Dutch Cancer Society, Torrey Coast Foundation, and Yosemite (oncology-focused venture firm), which are each co-funding one of the new teams. Some teams are supported by more than one partner, reflecting the collaborative nature of this funding round. Team InteroCANCEption is funded by Cancer Research UK and the National Cancer Institute through Cancer Grand Challenges.
