Award-winning cancer research: from A to TME

With the rapid progress and high volume of cancer research, awards serve as a good way to keep in mind the foundations of the field and to cut through the noise to highlight the most critical developments in contemporary research. This year’s AACR 2025 (Chicago, IL, USA; 25–30 April), the annual meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research, did just this, to celebrate researchers who have been the driving force behind ground-breaking cancer research. From deconstructing the benign-to-malignant transition in colon cancer and exploring the intratumoral microbiome as a novel therapeutic target, to addressing disparities in lymphoma outcomes and unraveling the complexities of the tumor microenvironment through pioneering computational biology, the awards encompassed a host of different topics and included breakthroughs of recent acclaim alongside those that formed the bedrock of cancer research many years ago. AACR Award for Lifetime Achievement in Cancer Research: understanding the tumor microenvironment Rakesh Jain, Harvard Medical School and Massachusetts General Hospital (both MA, USA), was celebrated for his illustrious career, spanning over four decades. Jain has reshaped our understanding of tumors, from simple collections of cancer cells to complex "organs" comprising multiple cell types. His pioneering, and now award winning, work focused on the tumor microenvironment (TME), which supports the tumor and enables it to thrive, but doesn’t contain traditional ‘cancer cells’. “I was among the first to recognize that the TME is abnormal,” Jain explained. To address the TME’s reputation as a ‘black box’, he developed and applied intravital microscopy to image the TME in live mice through implantable glass windows, alongside work with sophisticated animal models. “These novel techniques enabled us to observe tumor growth, regression and relapse in these mouse models, both as the tumor is initially established and in response to the administration of therapeutic candidates,” he concluded. A window to cancer’s soul: the creation of intravital microscopy and the rise of the TME Read our full interview with Rakesh Jain, including his research journey, key techniques and top tips. Award for Outstanding Achievement in Chemistry in Cancer Research: kinase signaling and personalized medicine Shiva Malek, Novartis BioMedical Research (MA, USA), received this award for her contributions to the chemical biology of kinase signaling and their implications for cancer therapy. Her work targets the regulation of the MAP kinase pathway, particularly how small-molecule BRAF inhibitors modulate this pathway in the context of BRAF V600E mutations. "We uncovered how small molecule BRAF inhibitors can modulate the pathway in the context of BRAF V600E and the mechanism of paradoxical activation in the context of KRAS mutant or BRAF wild-type settings” she explained to BioTechniques, concluding, “This had a significant impact on the way we think about drugging this pathway." Malek and her team initially used simple Western blots then high-throughput analysis of phenotypic effects across different tumor lines, and she believes that getting more insight than just an endpoint is essential: "You need to be able to connect the dots to understand what’s happening throughout the signaling cascade." The signals underlying the spatial: key techniques evolving cancer research Read our full interview with Shiva Malek, including her award-winning research, tips for downstream analysis and highlights from AACR 2025. Gertrude B. Elion Cancer Research Award: Deconstructing benign-to-malignant transition at spatiotemporal resolution Pete M. K. Westcott, Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory (NY, USA), was honored for his work elucidating the transition of benign polyp to malignant cancer observed in colon cancer. T cells are typically associated with protecting us from cancer; however, Westcott and his team found that in human colon polyps, this malignant transition was linked to increased infiltration by the T cells. Speaking exclusively to BioTechniques, he commented: "If we get rid of these T cells, fewer colon polyps progress to cancer!" This research applied spatial transcriptomics, specifically 10x Vision HD, to human colon polyp specimens and groundbreaking mouse models to show that even when switching on major oncogenes, there was no growth unless they added activated T cells or their cytokines. “Context is key and this work defines a major mechanism by which factors that disrupt tissue homeostasis can open the door for premalignant tumor cells to progress to cancer,” Westcott explained. “We believe that better understanding this process will greatly inform efforts for the early detection and prevention of cancer.” eBook | Lab essentials: Spatial biology Spatial biology offers unprecedented insights into the complex organization of cells and tissues within their native environments. This eBook explores spatial biology techniques, from spatial transcriptomics to proteomics. Women in Cancer Research Scholar Award: The intratumoral microbiome as a novel therapeutic target Alice Martin, a final-year PhD student at the Francis Crick Institute (London, UK), was awarded the Women in Cancer Research Scholar Award for her work on kidney cancer progression. Her winning poster focused on the intratumoral microbiome as a novel therapeutic target in cancer treatment, applying whole-genome sequencing and bulk RNAseq. She hopes her work may serve as a valuable reference for future work. Speaking to BioTechniques on winning the award, she commented, “Given the novelty of the intratumoural microbiome field, I think the careful methodological design and validation showcased in my poster…made my work stand out. The robustness of the methods gives credibility to these results”. You can read more about Alice’s poster in the article linked below. Pick of the posters: Intratumoral bacteria predict survival in clear cell renal cell carcinoma We picked out our favorite posters from this year’s AACR 2025 and spoke to their presenters to get the inside line on the techniques used and the approaches taken. AACR-Minorities in Cancer Research Jane Cooke Wright Lectureship: Addressing disparities in lymphoma outcomes through research, clinical trials, and mentorship Christopher Flowers, MD Anderson Cancer Center (TX, USA), was recognised for his leadership in addressing disparities in lymphoma outcomes through research, clinical trials, and mentorship. Through large epidemiologic studies, driving clinical trial endpoints, and translational research, his work has improved care delivery and expanded access to effective therapies. Discussing his research with BioTechniques, Flowers explained, “"This research helped illuminate previously underappreciated disparities in lymphoma care and outcomes, informing clinical trial design, promoting approval of new cancer therapies, and motivating targeted research programs and interventions to improve survival for cancer patients across the US." Cancer disparities: shifting the scales on underrepresentation in science Camille Ragin discusses her motivations, approach to research, community engagement and the work of the African-Caribbean Cancer Consortium she founded 20 years ago. Pezcoller Foundation-AACR International Award for Extraordinary Achievement in Cancer Research: Unraveling the tumor microenvironment Douglas Hanahan, Ludwig Institute for Cancer Research (NY, USA), has received this award for his long-term work on the mechanisms of stepwise cancer progression, particularly his discoveries on the role of the tumor microenvironment and angiogenesis. Hanahan has been working on engineered mouse models of tumorigenesis since the early 1980s and has since significantly advanced our knowledge of tumor growth, leading to innovative co-targeting strategies. On the occasion of his award, he commented. "The expression of an oncogene didn't instantly create a tumor; rather it created proliferative lesions that evolved, expanded and progressed, eventually culminating in invasive and metastatic tumors. This begged the question: what else was happening beyond having a driving oncogene?.... After meeting Judah Folkman at a conference, we began a 15-year collaboration studying tumor angiogenesis, during which we went on to find that angiogenesis was switched on during tumor development and persisted as the tumor formed and progressed. This led to investigations of mechanisms triggering angiogenesis and…took me into what we now call the tumor microenvironment. " Essential techniques for his work include genetically engineering mice to create transgenic models that capture multi-step tumorigenesis from normal cells in immunocompetent animals. "The ability to look inside tumors has been tremendously important. In the last decade, the capability to interrogate tumors by single-cell RNA sequencing and analyse cell-cell communications has also been transformative for our research program”, he explained. You can read more about Douglas’s pioneering research in the article linked below. Unmasking angiogenesis and the tumor microenvironment with Douglas Hanahan We caught up with Douglas Hanahan to reveal more of his story, the techniques used along the way and how best to use them. AACR Award for Outstanding Achievement in Basic Cancer Research: Integrating multi-omics data and computational tools to uncover tumor vulnerabilities Han Liang, the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center (TX, USA), was honored for his pioneering contributions to cancer bioinformatics and systems biology. His work spans pan-cancer analyses of multidimensional omics data, the development of tools such as TCPA and TANRIC, and novel insights into A-to-I RNA editing in cancer. He has also uncovered critical tumor-intrinsic and tumor microenvironment vulnerabilities that inform therapeutic strategies, advancing our understanding of cancer biology and facilitating precision medicine. “Our publicly available tools, including TCPA, TANRIC and DrBioRight, have empowered over 200,000 researchers worldwide to analyze cancer omics data without requiring computational expertise”, Liang explained. DrBioRight, an AI-powered chatbot that Liang developed to perform bioinformatics analyses of cancer omics data through natural language interactions, “breaks a major bottleneck in biomedical research: the accessibility and usability of big data.” Advances in single-cell technologies in immunology In this review, the authors discuss the most recent advances in the development of single-cell technologies to investigate cell signaling, cell–cell interactions and cell migration. Each technology’s advantages, limitations and applications in immunology are also reviewed.