Professor Xin Lu, Director of the Oxford Branch of the Ludwig Institute for Cancer Research, is the featured guest on Episode 29 of the European Association for Cancer Research (EACR) podcast, The Cancer Researcher. In the episode – titled A Lifelong Quest to Understand Cancer and Cellular Plasticity: Prof Xin Lu’s research journey following P53 – she talks about the scientific questions that have shaped her career.
Speaking with Dr Alexandra Boitor, Xin reflects on how the early discovery of p53 as a tumour suppressor set the direction for her scientific career. From her initial training in China to her research and discoveries in the UK, the discussion traces how fundamental questions about DNA damage, oncogene stress and cell death led to the identification of the ASPP (apoptosis-stimulating proteins of p53) family of regulators.
The conversation also explores her early fascination with studying cancer at the molecular level, including pivotal work demonstrating how wild-type p53 accumulates in response to DNA damage and functions as a transcription factor controlling cell cycle arrest and apoptosis. The episode also highlights her long-standing interest in cellular plasticity – how shifts in cell identity can fuel tumour development, metastasis and treatment resistance – as well as her group’s research on infection-related cancers, including those linked to Helicobacter pylori.
Together, the discussion offers an in‑depth look at the ideas and discoveries that shape her research, and which continue to influence current thinking in cancer biology.