Professor Alan Ashworth, Director of the Breakthrough Breast Cancer Research Centre, becomes a Fellow of the Royal Society

Professor Alan Ashworth, Director of the Breakthrough Breast Cancer Research Centre at The Institute of Cancer Research in London, has today been elected as a Fellow of the Royal Society. This is considered to be one of the highest accolades a scientist can receive, short of a Nobel prize.

Professor Ashworth was appointed Director of the Breakthrough Research Centre, the first dedicated breast cancer research centre in Europe, in 1999 by the UK’s leading breast cancer charity, Breakthrough Breast Cancer.

He has been elected a Fellow of the Royal Society for his major contributions to mammalian genetics, and the identification and study of inherited (breast) cancer susceptibility genes. He has gone on to use this information to develop new cancer therapeutic strategies and uncovered vital insights into how cancers can become resistant to drugs.

Professor Ashworth's achievements include

• Playing a key role in the identification of one of the two major breast cancer susceptibility genes (BRCA2) and progressing this work by illustrating that BRCA2 is involved in DNA repair and susceptibility to breast cancer.



• Leading cutting-edge research that has led to the development of a potential new treatment, called a PARP inhibitor, for women with BRCA-associated breast cancer (currently in Phase II clinical trials). It is believed this treatment might also be a useful therapeutic strategy for breast and ovarian tumours displaying properties of 'BRCAness' or with defects in the homologous recombination DNA repair pathway, and this is a key area of research in Professor Ashworth’s laboratory at the Breakthrough Research Centre.



• Groundbreaking analysis of the molecular basis for resistance to specific anticancer drugs in tumours that have defects in the homologous recombination DNA-damage repair pathway, including the discovery of a previously unknown genetic mechanism that enables BRCA2-deficient cancer cells to become resistant to tailored therapies such as carboplatin and the novel PARP inhibitors.



• Currently leading (with Professor Anthony Swerdlow at The Institute of Cancer Research) the world’s most comprehensive study to investigate the causes of breast cancer – the Breakthrough Generations Study, a 40 year study involving 100,000 women.

Professor Ashworth said;

“I am thrilled to be elected by my peers as a Fellow of the Royal Society. This honour reflects the hard work of many people in my lab. I also want to thank Breakthrough Breast Cancer and Cancer Research UK for funding my work over the past 25 years.”

Professor Ashworth's background

Professor Alan Ashworth was born in Bolton, Lancashire in 1960. He studied for his BSc in Chemistry and Biochemistry at Imperial College, London, before completing his PhD in Biochemistry at University College, London. Since 1986, he has worked in the Chester Beatty Laboratories at The Institute of Cancer Research in London. He was appointed Director of the Breakthrough Research Centre on 1 August 1999.

In addition to his role as Director of the Breakthrough Research Centre, Professor Alan Ashworth is an elected member of EMBO and the Academy of Medical Sciences. Each year, Professor Ashworth is invited to speak at numerous scientific conferences, giving plenary and key-note lectures on his research developments.

Professor Ashworth is also on the Scientific Advisory Board for a variety of other research organisations including Breast Cancer Haven, Cancéropôle Lyon Auvergne Rhône-Alpes, the Centre for Cancer Research and Cell Biology at Queen’s University, Belfast and a number of companies, including Almac Diagnostics and London Genetics.

The Royal Society

44 scientists, including Professor Alan Ashworth have been elected today as new Fellows of the Royal Society. Previous Fellows include famous scientists such as Sir Isaac Newton, Charles Darwin and Albert Einstein.

The Royal Society is the world's oldest scientific academy in continuous existence, and has been at the forefront of enquiry and discovery since its foundation in 1660. The backbone of the Society is its Fellowship of the most eminent scientists of the day. There are currently more than 60 Nobel Laureates amongst the Society's approximately 1400 Fellows and Foreign Members from all areas of science.

For more information visit royalsociety.org.