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Cancer Research Centre hosts Ideas Cafe

CRC

Members of the public and Warwick researchers came together this week to discuss key questions related to cancer research.

The Warwick Cancer Research Centre organises regular events inviting members of the public on to campus to learn more about the great research happening here, see our labs and speak to our researchers. This latest event on 30 January took the slightly different format of an 'Ideas Cafe', where guests were put into small groups to discuss research directly with the researchers and to share their thoughts.

As well as several members of the research centre and PhD students working in relevant areas, we were joined by Christopher Poole, Professor of Medical Oncology; Janet Dunn, Professor of Clinical Trials; Maria De Santis, Associate Clinical Professor; and Peter Sadler, Professorial Fellow in thecrc2.jpg Department of Chemistry.

During the evening these researchers rotated around each table to discuss a dfferent question related to cancer research treatment. Questions included:

  • Would you be happy to take part in a trial knowing that there would be a 50% chance that you'd be giving up your time and going through the treatment only to find you had been given a placebo?
  • In general, cancer treatments take 10-15 years and billions of pounds to develop. What can we do to speed up the process and reduce costs?
  • If you had been diagnosed with terminal cancer, would you be happy to take part in early
    phase trials for the benefit of future research and treatment development?
  • How would you feel if the cancer treatment you received was based on testing, rather than a standard recommendation for all?
  • Should we use gene editing technology to study cancer and develop new treatments?

We had some fascinating, thought-provoking discussions during the evening which will be of great help to our researchers moving forwards.

Thanks to everyone who came along - we hope you found the evening interesting. Keep an eye out for more cancer research events at Warwick coming soon.