Professor Stratton has led international efforts to understand the genetic changes that cause cancer. In his early work he discovered BRCA2, one of the two major breast cancer susceptibility genes. Analysis of BRCA2 has been used to help hundreds of thousands of women around the world make informed decisions in managing their inherited risk of breast cancer.
Subsequently, he founded the Cancer Genome Project at the Sanger Institute, leading the team that discovered mutations in the BRAF gene in malignant melanoma, which has already led to new treatments for this disease. His research has revealed the scarred landscape of cancer genomes, providing deep insights into the mutational processes that continually bombard DNA and lead to the development of cancer.
Professor Mike Stratton said: “I am thrilled and surprised to be honoured in this way.
“My area of work, exploring the genomes of cancer cells, is in an extraordinarily exciting phase, and this honour, as is usually the case in medical research, in large part recognises the generous contributions of the many colleagues I have worked with in my career.
“Our research to understand the changes in DNA that drive cancer is a partnership of scientists, clinicians, sponsors and patients. We work in the knowledge that incorporating discoveries from cancer genomes into clinical practice is already improving the diagnosis, prevention and treatment of cancer, with much more to come.”
Mike qualified in medicine in 1982 and obtained postgraduate qualifications in histopathology, working at the Hammersmith and Maudsley Hospitals. Mike then joined the Institute of Cancer Research, first as a PhD student and then as a Group Leader. Here, he assembled a collaborative group of researchers who located BRCA2 on chromosome 13 in 1994 and then identified the gene itself in 1995.
During this research, Mike saw that the emerging sequence from the Human Genome Project would ultimately enable scientists to identify all mutations in cancer genomes and thus all cancer genes. Armed with that vision, Mike joined the Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute in 2000 to begin the Cancer Genome Project, the first of its kind worldwide.
In 2002, the team described mutations in the BRAF gene in around 60 per cent of malignant melanomas: each year, there are around 200,000 cases of malignant melanoma worldwide. Treatments based on this discovery are already in clinical practice.
Built on the knowledge that treatments for each cancer should be influenced by the mutations that drive it, Mike and colleagues have been working since 2008 with researchers from the Massachusetts General Hospital to treat 1000 cancer cell lines derived from essentially all classes of cancer with hundreds of drugs, searching for the most effective combinations.
The results – a foundation for personalised or stratified treatments –have already begun to inform the design of clinical trials by providing early guidance as to which cancer types and which mutated genes might be most responsive to new drugs.
In 2009, Mike and colleagues published the first full catalogues of all mutations in two tumours: a lung cancer and a malignant melanoma. The analyses opened the door to a new era of whole cancer genome sequencing and were the first of many thousands that will be produced as part of the International Cancer Genome Consortium.
His recent work has revealed the bewildering variety of different mutational processes, due to exogenous or endogenous agents, that are operative during the lifetime of the patient and which generate the mutations that ultimately cause cancer.
Sir William Castell, Chairman of the Wellcome Trust, said: “This is deserved recognition of an exceptional individual, a compassionate scientist and clinician who leads a remarkable team who are extending our knowledge of genetics and taking it into medical practice. The Wellcome Trust is proud to support Mike Stratton and the Sanger Institute.”
The ability to interrogate cancer genomes is already being examined as a tool to improve diagnosis, prognosis and treatment. Founded in part on Mike’s work, our treatment of cancer will be based firmly on the changes to genetic code that underlie these diseases.
Professor Mike Stratton
Mike qualified in medicine in 1982 and obtained postgraduate qualifications in histopathology, working at the Hammersmith and Maudsley Hospitals. Mike then joined the Institute of Cancer Research, first as a PhD student and then as a Group Leader. Here, he assembled a collaborative group of researchers who located BRCA2 on chromosome 13 in 1994 and then identified the gene itself in 1995.
During this research, Mike saw that the emerging sequence from the Human Genome Project would ultimately enable scientists to identify all mutations in cancer genomes and thus all cancer genes. Armed with that vision, Mike joined the Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute in 2000 to begin the Cancer Genome Project, the first of its kind worldwide.
In 2002, the team described mutations in the BRAF gene in around 60 per cent of malignant melanomas: each year, there are around 200,000 cases of malignant melanoma worldwide. Treatments based on this discovery are already in clinical practice.
Built on the knowledge that treatments for each cancer should be influenced by the mutations that drive it, Mike and colleagues have been working since 2008 with researchers from the Massachusetts General Hospital to treat 1000 cancer cell lines derived from essentially all classes of cancer with hundreds of drugs, searching for the most effective combinations.
The results – a foundation for personalised or stratified treatments –have already begun to inform the design of clinical trials by providing early guidance as to which cancer types and which mutated genes might be most responsive to new drugs.
In 2009, Mike and colleagues published the first full catalogues of all mutations in two tumours: a lung cancer and a malignant melanoma. The analyses opened the door to a new era of whole cancer genome sequencing and were the first of many thousands that will be produced as part of the International Cancer Genome Consortium.
His recent work has revealed the bewildering variety of different mutational processes, due to exogenous or endogenous agents, that are operative during the lifetime of the patient and which generate the mutations that ultimately cause cancer.
Sir William Castell, Chairman of the Wellcome Trust, said: “This is deserved recognition of an exceptional individual, a compassionate scientist and clinician who leads a remarkable team who are extending our knowledge of genetics and taking it into medical practice. The Wellcome Trust is proud to support Mike Stratton and the Sanger Institute.”
The ability to interrogate cancer genomes is already being examined as a tool to improve diagnosis, prognosis and treatment. Founded in part on Mike’s work, our treatment of cancer will be based firmly on the changes to genetic code that underlie these diseases.
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