Deputy Clinical Director at the Crick, Charlie Swanton, has been awarded this year’s Sjöberg Prize for discoveries concerning clonal evolution of cancer cells and its importance for tumour growth and metastasis.

The Sjöberg Prize is awarded in partnership between the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences and the Sjöberg Foundation and it is awarded to a person or persons who have made decisive contributions to cancer research.

Charlie has been recognised for his contribution to the fundamental understanding of tumour evolution. As part of the Cancer Research UK funded TRACERx and TRACERx EVO studies, his team have traced the development of lung tumours from the point of diagnosis, to interrogate the biology behind disease evolution, drug resistance, cancer spread and immune evasion.

Urban Lendahl, secretary of the Sjöberg Prize Committee at the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences, described Charlie’s discoveries as a treasure trove, which can be explored by other researchers who want to improve cancer treatment and diagnostics. 

Charlie and team have also pushed this work further, tracing cancer evolution back to the very beginning to look at why it occurs in the first place and if there may be ways to intervene before a tumour develops. His team recently revealed how the combination of naturally accumulating cancer-causing mutations and pollution-induced inflammation can trigger cells to grow uncontrollably, forming tumours.

Charlie intends to use the prize to further his lab’s research into the earliest stages of cancer initiation.  

I hope this prize is going to allow us to really understand how that very first step in tumour initiation and evolution occurs. If we can understand that process, I hope we can intercept it and prevent it from happening and therefore prevent cancers from emerging.

– Charlie Swanton

Charlie is Chief Clinician at Cancer Research UK, Chair in Personalised Medicine at UCL and Consultant Oncologist at University College London Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust.