Current research into preventing cancer

At Queen Mary University of London, Professor Jack Cuzick is leading an international project to understand how aspirin might help to prevent certain cancers. By looking at large populations of people, the research group hope to work out who is most likely to benefit from the drug and who is at greater risk of bleeding side-effects. They also intend to unravel the mechanism behind aspirin's cancer prevention properties, which could help lead to a new drug with the same benefits but fewer side effects.

Professor Sir Mike Stratton and his team of scientists from around the world are building a deeper understanding of what causes DNA damage and how it leads to cancer. Their work could help prevent more cancers and reduce the global burden of this disease.

 At University College London, Professor Jamie Brown is using new scientific approaches to target multiple levels of the smoking cessation system. The project aims to increase the rate of smoking cessation in the population using data from surveys, computational models, and new digital interventions to generate more effective interventions and reduce deaths caused by tobacco.