We are proud to announce that two members of the Ludwig Institute for Cancer Research, Professor Xin Lu (Director of the Oxford Branch) and Professor Chi Van Dang (CEO and Scientific Director of the Ludwig Institute for Cancer Research), alongside Professor Ruth Travis from Oxford Population Health, University of Oxford, are co-recipients of a 2026 Cancer Grand Challenges award as members of the ATLAS (Antibody Tracking for Long-term Avoidance and Surveillance) team. Dr Karl Smith-Byrne, also of Oxford Population Health, will be joining the team with expertise in cancer epidemiology and leading the patient advocacy for the project in the UK. Led by Dr. Paul Bastard at Institut Imagine, team ATLAS have been awarded up to $25 million over approximately five years to take on the cancer avoidance challenge, and will investigate why some individuals at high risk of cancer never develop the disease.
Cancer Grand Challenges is a global research initiative, co-founded by Cancer Research UK and the National Cancer Institute in the US, that identifies the toughest challenges in cancer research. With awards of up to $25 million, it empowers a global community of world-class, interdisciplinary research teams to come together and take them on.
Cancer research has traditionally focused on identifying drivers of cancer rather than barriers to its development. Intriguingly, there are sub-sets of individuals with well-established cancer risks who, despite this predisposition, never develop cancer. This challenge seeks to uncover the biological mechanisms underpinning tumour resilience to understand what protects certain individuals from developing cancer.
Team ATLAS plans to explore the role of immune-modulating autoantibodies in cancer resistance by studying unique human cohorts – including centenarians, cancer-free individuals with high-risk exposures, and cancer-discordant twin pairs – building on some of the team’s pioneering work identifying the link between autoantibodies and COVID-19 disease severity. Speaking about the award, Professor Xin Lu said:
Team ATLAS is tackling one of the key challenges in cancer research – understanding how the immune system, in particular cancer-related antibodies, contributes to cancer avoidance. We hope that the discoveries from this project will transform our understanding of cancer immunity and immune surveillance, ultimately enabling new strategies for cancer prevention.”
Dr. Paul Bastard, ATLAS Team Lead said:
Understanding cancer avoidance will bring us important insights into how some people remain cancer-free, which could guide us to the development of groundbreaking preventative and diagnostics strategies.”
The ATLAS team unites clinicians, advocates and scientists with expertise in ageing, early detection, immunology, infectious disease-cancer interplay, multi-omics, paediatrics, prevention and more, across 8 institutions in 6 countries. This team is funded by Cancer Research UK and the Torrey Coast Foundation through Cancer Grand Challenges. It is one of five new teams that was announced today, representing a total investment of $125 million to tackle some of the toughest challenges in cancer research.
“Cancer Grand Challenges research and breakthroughs are made possible through our co-founders and visionary partners. Thanks to their incredible $125 million funding this year, we’re able to unite exceptional research teams from across the globe to tackle the most complex problems in cancer today,” said Dr. David Scott, Director of Cancer Grand Challenges. “Together, we’re creating opportunities for bold team science that could redefine what’s possible for people affected by cancer.”
The funded teams span 9 countries, 34 institutions and unite more than 42 investigators and researchers.
More information at: New Teams Announcement | Cancer Grand Challenges
About Cancer Grand Challenges
Co-founded in 2020 by two of the largest funders of cancer research in the world: Cancer Research UK and the National Cancer Institute, Cancer Grand Challenges supports a global community of diverse, world-class research teams to come together, think differently and take on some of cancer’s toughest challenges. These are the obstacles that continue to impede progress and no one scientist, institution or country will be able to solve them alone. With awards of up to $25 million, Cancer Grand Challenges teams are empowered to rise above the traditional boundaries of geography and discipline to make progress against cancer we urgently need.
Cancer Grand Challenges now brings together 1,800 researchers and 21 teams from across the world to take on 18 challenges.