M'sian scientist wins prestigious award for research into cancer

PETALING JAYA: A Malaysian scientist has been awarded the Francis Crick Medal and Lecture 2022 for her contributions to the understanding of the causes of cancer.

Dr Serena Nik-Zainal, who is based in the United Kingdom, will receive a bronze medal and £2,000 (RM11,500) at the associated prize lecture in 2022.

“The Francis Crick Medal and Lecture 2022 is awarded to Dr Serena Nik-Zainal for enormous contributions to understanding the aetiology of cancers by her analyses of mutation signatures in cancer genomes, which is now being applied to cancer therapy,” said a statement on the Royal Society website.

In a tweet, Dr Serena, who is attached to the University of Cambridge, said she was thrilled and grateful for the immense honour.

Wow!

Thrilled & hugely grateful for this immense honour

Francis Crick Medal & Lecture !

Thank you @royalsociety⁩ !

Thank you to all that have taught, supported, pushed & mentored me.

So appreciative!

My wonderful TEAM - this is for us!!

1/ https://t.co/rRVqqZRDbG — Serena Nik-Zainal (@SerenaNikZainal) August 24, 2021

“Thank you to all that have taught, supported, pushed and mentored me. So appreciative!” she said, adding that the honour was also for her wonderful team.

According to her biography on the Cambridge website, Dr Serena is an advanced clinician scientist and an honorary consultant in Clinical Genetics.

She qualified in medicine from the University of Cambridge in 2000 on a scholarship from Petronas.

After undertaking her PHD and several other fellowships, she was awarded a CRUK Advanced Clinician Scientist Fellowship in 2017 and moved to the University of Cambridge in order to accelerate the translation of her genomics expertise towards clinical applications and to further her work into the physiological mechanisms underpinning mutagenesis.

The Francis Crick Medal and Lecture is awarded annually in any field in the biological sciences.

It said that the preference is given to genetics, molecular biology and neurobiology, the general areas in which Francis Crick worked, and to fundamental theoretical work, which was the hallmark of Crick’s science.

Crick was a British molecular biologist, biophysicist, and neuroscientist who is best known as the co-discoverer of the structure of the DNA molecule in 1953.

The Francis Crick Medal and Lecture 2022 is awarded to @SerenaNikZainal for her enormous contributions to understanding the aetiology of cancers by her analyses of mutation signatures in cancer genomes, now being applied to cancer therapy. #RSMedals https://t.co/0NzxwgtYhz pic.twitter.com/zVwspGgjaF — The Royal Society (@royalsociety) August 24, 2021