The latest to join the bandwagon is United Kingdom-based Malaysian scientist Dr Serena Nik-Zainal.
According to a report by Malay Mail, Dr Serena has been honoured with the Dr Josef Steiner Cancer Research Prize 2019 award for her breakthrough research in accelerating the holistic interpretation of the cancer genome.
To make her achievement more prestigious, the award was also known in the industry as the “Nobel Prize for Cancer Research”. Wow!
Dr Selena is reportedly set to receive the award together with her collaborators Dr Paul Calleja and Dr Ignacio Medina from the University of Cambridge at the University of Bern in Switzerland on Friday (18 October).
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Dr Serena will also present her work, “Accelerating holistic cancer genome interpretation towards the clinic”, during the award ceremony.
Based on her research, mutations in cancer tumours can be analysed using new bioinformatic methods, which is crucial as it enabled new approaches to targeted therapies.
Dr Serena graduated with a degree in medicine there in 2000 on a scholarship from Petronas before pursuing her post-graduate studies at the Wellcome Sanger Institute (WSI) in 2009, exploring breast cancer using whole genome sequencing (WGS).
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She was also the recipient of a CRUK Advanced Clinician Scientist Fellowship in 2017 before moving to the University of Cambridge.
We are proud of you, Dr Serena. Keep kicking cancer's ass!