Stewart McKay is swapping his cycle commute from Balerno for the golf course at Harburn in West Calder and fly fishing at Threipmuir Reservoir after more than 40 years at the IGC. Over the years, he has seen the Institute move through many phases of development and remembers staff playing volleyball on a field which […]

By Daniel Thédié My one-week visit to the Institute of Genetics and Cancer was a great week filled with new experiences and interesting discussions. I am a postdoc at the School of Biological Sciences, working on DNA repair and bacteria. I use a lot of microscopy and image analysis, and I have been wanting to […]

Dr Olga Oikonomidou is one of the UK’s leading breast cancer academic oncologists based in the Edinburgh hub of the Cancer Research UK Scotland Centre at the Institute of Genetics and Cancer. As part of Breast Cancer Awareness Month, we talk to Olga about why she chose her career path and what her role involves. […]

By Dr Robb Hollis Ovarian cancer ‘Ovarian cancer’ is really an umbrella term for a collection of different cancers that we detect at or around the ovary. While we used to think these all represented the same disease, we now know  that there are multiple different types of ovarian cancer that each display unique clinical […]

Doors Open Day 2023 marked the first outing of our new public engagement activity at the Institute of Genetics and Cancer – the Dark Genome Fish.    This project has been a fantastic collaboration between our research scientists, zebrafish facility staff and workshop and graphics teams. The result is a 4-foot model zebrafish (somewhat larger that […]

Above: Comfy sofas for scientific discussions   In September 2023, I began my 4-year MRC Human Genetics Unit (HGU) PhD journey at the Institute of Genetics and Cancer (IGC) in Edinburgh. Despite consistently nearly being blown away by the wind, I shall still head to the IGC for my experiments and PhD training. I am […]

By Andrew Papanastasiou and Liusaidh Owen   Andrew Papanastasiou and Liusaidh Owen take us on a deep dive into their study at the MRC Human Genetics Unit.   The eye field, its development and challenges in understanding   The establishment or `specification’ of the eye field marks the first known stage of vertebrate eye development. […]

By Cherry Ferrier Communications Manager, Institute of Genetics and Cancer   I recently spoke with the Institute’s Director of Teaching and Learning, Professor Lesley Stark (above), to reflect upon the first year of a new part-time online MSc programme in cancer biology and precision oncology at the University of Edinburgh. Lesley’s passion for the programme […]