Source: Sun Yat-sen University Cancer Center
Written by: Florence Sand
Edited by: Wang Dongmei

On August 10, 2015, Prof. Adrian Harris, professor of medical oncology at the University of Oxford, Senior Fellow at the National Institutes of Health and Academician of the Academy of Medical Sciences, accompanied by Dr. Cai Shijie, also from the University of Oxford, visited Sun Yat-sen University Cancer Center (SYSUCC) to deliver a lecture on “Hypoxic metabolism in cancer”.

In the morning of August 10, Prof. Harris and Dr. Cai were received by the Vice-President of SYSUCC Prof. Chao-Nan Qian, the Deputy Director of Experimental Research Prof. Zhu Xiaofeng, Prof. Tang Jun and Prof. Wei Weidong from the Breast Cancer Department, and staff from the International Office including the Deputy Director Ms. Liao Shuang, Ms. Florence Sand and Ms. Zhai Huiwen. Both parties introduced their cancer center, inducing remarkable exchanges and questions on both sides. For his presentation, Prof. Harris introduced the work achieved in the University of Oxford in the recent years in terms of breast cancer treatments, explaining how the whole genome sequencing could bring in-depth perspective and benefit the targeted therapy of breast cancer patients.

In the afternoon of August 10, Prof. Harris gave his lecture on “Hypoxic metabolism in cancer”. The room was packed with interested students, doctors and researchers, while the professor explained how his team found that the transcription level of 133 metabolism related genes were elevated in breast cancer, correlated to different cancer types, understanding that the changes of these tumors in transcription level will contribute to the molecular classification and breast cancer targeted intervention.

On the following day, Prof. Harris and Dr. Cai visited the Laboratory Animal Center situated on the North Campus of Sun Yat-sen University, accompanied by Mr. Peng Yongjian. They then visited the Breast Cancer Department under the supervision and guidance of its Director, Prof. Xie Xiaoming.

Prof. Adrian Harris currently serves as Chairman of the British Cancer Research Fund Cancer Center of the University of Oxford, and he is in charge of translational research projects in medical oncology. He is the Editor-in-Chief of the British Journal of Cancer, as well as a member of the editorial board of Cancer Cell. He published numerous papers with high impact in the field of oncology in the past decade, naming him as one of the world's top researchers with the highest impact.