Lost in translation

You are a Translation Scholar at the Crick – tell us about that…

The TS role came about from a need at the Crick for space, time, and funding to derisk a technology conceived during a PhD or postdoctoral research project – to ensure it makes both scientific and commercial sense.

It was designed to equip PhD and postdoc researchers with three key things: the funding needed for derisking experiments, the space and time at the Crick to focus on the technology full-time with access to the Crick’s infrastructure and network, and the business skills required to bring the technology to market.

I was lucky to be the catalyst for this role and became the very first TS, but now there are three of us, and more to come!

As someone with a background as a lab-based researcher, what first piqued your interest in translational work?

I was born an inventor. From building the most elaborate castles and labyrinths out of anything I could find lying around the house in my early years, to sketching an automatic flood-detection mechanism to protect cars from water damage (I grew up in Florida) during my undergrad – and now, to my current projects. I am an inventor, and I’m constantly thinking about the potential of one thing or another.

But I’m also a scientist. I’ve had to focus on delivering solid basic research when that’s the task at hand, as it was during my PhD and postdoc.

What do you see as the biggest challenges facing those looking to turn promising cancer research into real-world patient benefits?

The challenges are many and varied across each stage of the process. At the beginning, the biggest challenge is convincing yourself that this is an idea worth spending your precious lab time and resources on. A close second is convincing your group leader, whose resources you’ll be spending.

But once you get going with experiments and the technology starts taking shape, you might be in a good position to apply for translational funding through your institute, a charity, or even an accelerator.

The next big hurdle is spinning out the technology from your institute and setting it on a path to becoming a real-life solution for cancer patients. This requires business acumen – which you must acquire quickly – a strong network of collaborators and advisors to support your journey and, of course, funding.

Finally, one of the biggest challenges in the startup ecosystem is the “valley of death,” the critical gap between early-stage research and a commercially viable product. It’s where many companies struggle to survive financially while still needing to prove their concept, generate data, and hit technical milestones to attract further investment. Without bridging this gap, promising treatments and diagnostics may never reach the clinic.

What inspired you to launch your This Is for Me – This Is for Science campaign, and what do you hope it can achieve?

This is a nationwide campaign in collaboration with CRUK, aimed at raising £250,000 to fund translational cancer research, bringing life-saving innovations from the lab to patients faster. Our aim Is to fund 25 to 50 proof-of-concept projects across the nation.

Our ethos is three-fold:

• Transparency: Every pound raised directly funds translational research awards, distributed through an open-call process in collaboration with Cancer Research Horizons.
• Inclusivity: We’re closing the funding gap across the UK, not just in big hubs, but everywhere innovation happens.
• Education: We’re raising awareness about why funding translational research matters, bringing discoveries from the lab to patients.

I wear a lot of hats: I’m a scientist, an entrepreneur, an advisor for the Crick Science Entrepreneur Network, an observer for OBN – a membership organisation supporting UK SMEs—a partner, and most importantly, a mother. With all these roles, it’s easy to let “myself” slip to the bottom of the priority list. So last year, I decided to set a big personal goal: to run 100 miles in one go. There’s something powerful about setting a challenge for yourself – goals keep you accountable, and no matter the circumstances, you keep showing up every day for yourself.

Another exciting frontier and one I’m working on is in functional diagnostics – tools that go beyond genetic sequencing to actually test in real-time how a patient’s cancer cells respond to different therapies. We already use functional assays to accelerate drug discovery, predict treatment responses, and identify new therapeutic targets. The same technology can be used to stratify patients, ensuring they get the most effective treatment from the start. This could massively improve treatment precision and reduce trial-and-error prescribing.

Over the next decade, I see faster feedback loops between discovery and application, more dynamic clinical trial designs, and deeper collaboration between academia, industry, and healthcare systems. The goal is clear: to get the right treatment to the right patient, faster.

This is where our campaign comes in. This Is For Me – This Is For Science is about getting more research out of labs and into the translational journey, so that more discoveries can turn into breakthroughs for our loved ones.