Christopher Marshall (doctor)

Christopher John Marshall FRS FMedSci is a British scientist who works as director of the Division for Cancer Biology at the Institute of Cancer Research.^[1] Marshall is distinguished for research in the field of tumour cell signalling. His track record includes the discovery of the N-Ras oncogene, the identification of farnesylation of Ras proteins, and the discovery that Ras signals through the ERK/MAP kinase cascade. These findings have led to therapeutic development of inhibitors of Ras farnesylation, MEK and B-Raf .

Marshall studied Natural Sciences at Cambridge University followed by a D.Phil. in cell biology at Oxford. His graduate studies were followed by post-doctoral work at the Imperial Cancer Research Fund (now Cancer Research UK) Lincoln’s Inn Fields laboratories in London and the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute in Boston. In 1980, he moved to The Institute of Cancer Research in London and began studies to identify human cancer genes. This work, in collaboration with his colleague Alan Hall, resulted in the identification of NRAS, a new human oncogene. Subsequent work from his laboratory showed that NRAS has important roles in leukaemia and others demonstrated the role of NRAS in melanoma. Following the identification of NRAS, Marshall has concentrated on studying how NRAS and the two other RAS genes, HRAS and KRAS, act in cancer. His work in the field of cell signalling showed how RAS proteins are involved in transmitting signals from the outside of the cell all the way to the cell nucleus. This work laid the foundation for studies that showed the importance of the BRAF cancer gene in melanoma.^[2]

Several post-doctoral fellows and graduate students who trained in Professor Marshall’s laboratory have gone on to prestigious positions, for example, Professor Karen Vousden FRS, Director of Beatson Cancer Research Institute, Glasgow; Professor Mike Olson Beatson Cancer Research Institute, Glasgow; Professor John Hancock, IBP Chair and Professor, University of Texas Medical School, USA; Dr Erik Sahai, Group Leader CR-UK London Research Institute, Professor Alison Lloyd, Professor of Cell Biology, University College London; Dr Victoria Sanz-Moreno, Group Leader, Randall Division of Cell & Molecular Biophysics, King's College London; Professor Richard Marais, Head of Patterson Institute for Cancer Research, Manchester, UK. Marshall has received a number of honours and awards. He is a member of the European Molecular Biology Organisation (EMBO) and a fellow of the Royal Society (the UK national science academy), the Academy of Medical Sciences and the European Academy of Cancer Sciences. He has given prestigious lectures such as the Sterling Lecture (University of Pennsylvania), the Walter Huppert lecture (British Association for Cancer Research), the CH Li Memorial Lecture (University of California, Berkeley). He was awarded the 1999 Novartis Medal of the Biochemical Society, the 2008 Buchanan Medal of the Royal Society, and the 2011 Cancer Research UK Lifetime Achievement in Cancer Research Award.^[3][4] Marshall's laboratory currently studies the cell signalling mechanisms that allow cancer cells to disseminate through the body. In particular, these studies are focused on signal transduction pathways regulated by Ras and Rho family of small GTPases.^[5]

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