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A roadmap for the next decade in cancer research

Nature Cancer volume 1, pages 12–17 (2020)Cite this article

Cancer research in recent years has been marked by significant developments in understanding disease biology and foundational discoveries that have changed clinical practice. Ten cancer researchers take stock of the field, the advances that excite them, key outstanding questions and breakthroughs they anticipate looking forward.

The turn of the decade marks a period of remarkable progress for cancer research. Advances in sequencing technologies and model systems have yielded unprecedented resolution of the molecular, cellular and genomic complexity of cancer. The era of big data has changed how researchers operate in the lab and has accelerated collaboration between basic research and clinical practice, and the field has embraced new connections between diverse research areas.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Division of Molecular Carcinogenesis, Oncode Institute, The Netherlands Cancer Institute, Amsterdam, The Netherlands

    René Bernards

  2. Sidney Kimmel Comprehensive Cancer Center at Johns Hopkins, Baltimore, MD, USA

    Elizabeth Jaffee

  3. Ludwig Institute for Cancer Research and University of Lausanne, Lausanne, Switzerland

    Johanna A. Joyce

  4. Howard Hughes Medical Institute and Cancer Biology and Genetics Program, Sloan Kettering Institute, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, New York, NY, USA

    Scott W. Lowe

  5. Institute for Genomic Medicine at Nationwide Children’s Hospital, Ohio State University College of Medicine, Columbus, OH, USA

    Elaine R. Mardis

  6. Howard Hughes Medical Institute and University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, Dallas, TX, USA

    Sean J. Morrison

  7. Department of Medical Oncology, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Boston, MA, USA

    Kornelia Polyak

  8. Bloomberg-Kimmel Institute for Cancer Immunotherapy and Department of Medicine, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD, USA

    Cynthia L. Sears

  9. Francis Crick Institute, London, UK

    Karen H. Vousden

  10. BIOPIC, Beijing Advanced Innovation Center for Genomics, School of Life Sciences, Peking University, Beijing, China

    Zemin Zhang

  11. Peking-Tsinghua Center for Life Sciences, Academy for Advanced Interdisciplinary Studies, Peking University, Beijing, China

    Zemin Zhang

Authors
  1. René Bernards
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  2. Elizabeth Jaffee
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  3. Johanna A. Joyce
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  4. Scott W. Lowe
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  5. Elaine R. Mardis
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  6. Sean J. Morrison
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  7. Kornelia Polyak
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  8. Cynthia L. Sears
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  9. Karen H. Vousden
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  10. Zemin Zhang
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The authors declare no competing interests.

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Bernards, R., Jaffee, E., Joyce, J.A. et al. A roadmap for the next decade in cancer research. Nat Cancer 1, 12–17 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1038/s43018-019-0015-9

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s43018-019-0015-9

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