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SUMMARY:Devilish decline: infectious cancer and the Tasmanian devil - Dr E
 lizabeth Murchison
DTSTART:20101130T200000Z
DTEND:20101130T211500Z
UID:TALK26996@talks.cam.ac.uk
CONTACT:18101
DESCRIPTION:Followed by a wine reception!\nentry: 2 pounds\, FREE for memb
 ers!\n\nCancer arises when a single cell of the body acquires mutations th
 at release it from normal cellular constraints and allow it to grow uncont
 rollably. As disease progresses\, the cancerous cells often become\ninvasi
 ve and move to distant parts of the body. My research focuses on two cance
 rs\, one in Tasmanian devils\, and one in dogs\, in which the cancer cells
  have gained the unusual ability not only to spread within an individual\,
  but also to be transferred between individuals. These diseases have provi
 ded an opportunity to study cancers that have outlived the individuals tha
 t gave rise to them and embarked on new\nevolutionary trajectories as free
 -living infectious parasites.\n\nDevil facial tumour disease (DFTD) is a c
 ancer affecting Tasmanian devils\, the world's largest marsupial carnivore
 \, and canine transmissible venereal tumour (CTVT) is a venereal cancer of
  dogs. Both DFTD and CTVT are transferred between individuals by the direc
 t transfer of cancer cells\, but the two diseases have emerged independent
 ly and\nhave strikingly different life histories.  We are sequencing trans
 missible cancer genomes at high resolution in order to gain an\nunderstand
 ing of the evolutionary processes that have characterised the emergence of
  these unusual diseases.
LOCATION:The Plant Science Lecture Theatre on Downing Site (www.scisoc.com
  for directions)
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