Professor Ed Tate's research group, ran a series of ten packed lab tours over the two days of the recent Imperial College Festival

Dr Monica Faronato, Dr Julia Morales Sanfrutos, Dr Charlotte Sutherell, and Mr Mostafa Jamshidiha, staff in Professor Ed Tate’s research group, ran a series of ten packed lab tours over the two days of the recent Imperial College Festival, as part of the Cancer Research UK Centre at Imperial College

The tours wee a great success, and highlighted a cross-section of CRUK-funded research in the Department of Chemistry. Visitors loaded and ran their own protein gels, created multi-colour fluorescence images, and observed cancer cells under the microscope, whilst learning about the Tate Group’s work identifying and validating new drug targets in cancer.

This was a great opportunity to engage with members of the public, some of whom are actively raising funds to help Cancer Research UK beat cancer sooner”, said Prof Tate. “Our visitors got a unique opportunity to work hands-on in a busy chemical biology and cancer research lab, and by chatting with four brilliant young scientists in my group they discovered how research at Imperial has the potential to impact cancer patients in the future.”

Prof. Tate’s group undertakes research at the interface between chemistry, medicine and the life sciences, in the emerging field of chemical biology. In parallel CRUK-funded projects scientists in his lab are working on identification of potential drug targets in pathways that cancer cells use to overcome the body’s natural defences, in collaboration with CRUK-funded scientists in Life Sciences, Medicine and at the Institute for Cancer Research.