The Cancer Researcher Podcast

What does it take to bridge the gap between researchers and patients? This episode features a panel of scientists, researcher-oncologists, and patient advocates from several European countries (France, Belgium, Switzerland, and Slovenia) as well as Canada and the United States. They discuss how collaboration between patients and researchers can be promoted in order to strengthen research outcomes.

Our guests address the importance of sharing medical data, biomarkers, and collective learning, while also considering related issues like the right to be forgotten or diagnosis- related discrimination, before focusing on the development of meaningful research advocate partnerships. Different existing models of incorporating patient opinions are discussed alongside some practical advice and calls for action for both patients and researchers to help move these efforts forward.

This episode has been adapted, with permission from the panellists, from the open forum discussion at the EACR-OECI Conference on Patient Involvement in Cancer Research, a virtual event held on 28 October 2025.

🔗 Access transcripts for all our episodes at magazine.eacr.org/podcast

What happens when clinical care directly informs scientific discovery? This episode sees EACR award winners Charlie Swanton, Ayelet Erez and Daniel Kirschenbaum reflect on what drew them to pursuing cancer research alongside patient care, how bedside experiences guide lab investigations, and what it takes to turn a promising finding into real clinical progress. We also touch on recent breakthroughs in their work, and the biggest changes they’ve witnessed in the field.

🔗 Access transcripts for all our episodes at magazine.eacr.org/podcast

Professor Xin Lu, Director of the Ludwig Institute for Cancer Research, Oxford Branch, and keynote speaker at EACR 2026, talks about her scientific journey shaped by the early, influential studies of P53 and its role as a central tumour suppressor.

Tracing her journey from early training in China to landmark work in the UK, the conversation explores how fundamental questions about DNA damage, cell death, and oncogene stress led to the discovery of the ASPP family of P53 regulators.

The discussion further expands into the concept of cellular plasticity as a driving force in cancer initiation, progression, and therapy resistance, with insights into how tumour suppressors, infection, and environmental stress shape cellular identity. Together, these reflections highlight how decades of curiosity-driven research have helped define modern cancer biology.

🔗 Access transcripts for all our episodes at magazine.eacr.org/podcast

Professor Bernhard Küster, keynote speaker at EACR 2026, talks about his scientific journey from chemistry to chemical proteomics and precision medicine. He reflects on how an interdisciplinary mindset - combining chemistry, biology, and computational science - has shaped his approach to understanding how drugs act on proteins and how this knowledge can inform personalised cancer treatments. He also shares practical advice for early-career researchers on how to embrace interdisciplinarity in their work.

Bernhard discusses his team’s pioneering work developing technologies such as Prosit, Decrypt-E and Decrypt-M, and highlights how artificial intelligence is accelerating discoveries in proteomics. He also underscores the vital role of the clinical community in providing well-annotated tumour samples - an essential foundation for meaningful AI-driven cancer research.

🔗 Access transcripts for all our episodes at magazine.eacr.org/podcast

What you eat – specifically the type of fat – might matter for how well your immune system can fight cancer under conditions of obesity. Dr. Hannah Prendeville and Dr. Britta Kunkemoeller, two key researchers behind this work, will discuss the key mechanisms they uncovered that involve weakened immune systems’ “killer” cells.

🔗 Read more about the publication: https://magazine.eacr.org/highlights-in-cancer-research-december-2025/6 

🔗 Access transcripts for all our episodes at magazine.eacr.org/podcast