BICGP Mission Statement
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The Brunel Institute of Cancer Genetics and Pharmacogenomics (BICGP) was opened in 2000 to facilitate and expand the work of the existing Human Cancer Genetics Unit (established at Brunel in 1992).
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The primary aim of the BICGP is to identify and characterize new genes and molecular pathways, involved in human cancer development that can be exploited as targets for novel therapeutic intervention.
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BICGP scientists have recently identified 5 new genes (whose function is to prevent cancerous growth of cells in normal tissues) critically altered in breast and prostate cancer. In each case replacement of the defective gene in tumour cells with a normal copy reinstates normal cell growth control.
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A major theme within the Institute is to establish the precise role of the cellular immortality enzyme, telomerase, in human cancer progression. (The immortalization of human cells as a critical event in cancerous transformation was described for the first time by the group in the 1980s.)
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The BICGP works closely with the pharmaceutical industry and small biotech companies to translate fundamental scientific information about cancer into new therapies and diagnostics.
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Funding for the Institute’s activities comes from Programme grants from Cancer Research UK and other cancer charities, from the European Commission Framework Programmes (FP3-FP7) the Medical Research Council, Department of Health, Wellcome Trust, BBSRC, and from Industry.
