Francis Crick Prize Lecture
By Professor Dario Alessi, University of Dundee
The human body may seem to be no more than a bundle of tissues and organs, yet the cells these are made from are capable of interacting, communicating and performing complex tasks. Our cells' capacity to interact in this way enables humans to adapt to their environment and is the key to our survival.
Biologists have long sought to comprehend how cells accomplish this high level of communication, and in recent years research has taken on an added urgency, as it has become clear that defects in cell signalling networks are a principal cause of major diseases such as cancer and diabetes.
This lecture will shed light on the area of cell signalling and unravel the molecular processes by which these pathways operate. The aim of this research is to develop drugs that repair these vital channels of communication when things go wrong. This could result in the development of better treatments or even cures for diseases such as cancer and diabetes.