Dean’s Seminar Series featuring Mark O’Connor, PhD – “Targeting the DNA Damage Response to generate new treatments for cancer patients”

Dean’s Seminar Series

Mark O’Connor, PhD
Chief Scientist, Oncology R&D and Head of the DNA Damage Response Biology
AstraZeneca

Title & Abstract: 

“Targeting the DNA Damage Response to generate new treatments for cancer patients”

The DNA damage response (DDR) is a broad term for the many different responses to DNA damage that occurs constantly in cells. Loss of DDR capability leading to genomic instability represents a hallmark of cancer and targeting DDR an exciting new approach to cancer therapy. Most, if not all cancers will have lost one or more DDR capability, making them more dependent on the remaining DDR mechanisms. The first approved medicine based on targeting the DDR, was olaparib in 2014, a PARP inhibitor (PARPi), and following on from the success of olaparib and other approved PARPi, there are now a number of different DDR inhibitors in clinical development. This talk will look at the underlying scientific principles of targeting the DDR and give some examples of next generation DDR inhibitors and their line of sight towards the generation of new cancer medicines.