Simak Ali received his B.Sc. degree in biochemistry from Imperial College London, London, UK, in 1985. He is currently a Professor of Molecular Endocrine Oncology with the Division of Cancer, Imperial College London. For his Ph.D. degree, he investigated mechanisms of gene regulation in the developing, pregnancy, and lactating mammary gland, and received his Ph.D. degree in genetics from the Roslin Institute and University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, UK, in 1989. An EMBO long-term fellowship allowed him to undertake postdoctoral training with the Laboratory of Prof. Pierre Chambon, LGME, Strasbourg, France, from 1989 to 1992. In 1992, he joined Charing Cross Medical School, London, UK, where he started his own group, investigating the mechanisms of estrogen receptor action in breast cancer, resistance to endocrine therapies, and new therapeutics for the treatment of endocrine-resistant breast cancer.
Raoul Charles Coombes is a Professor of Medical Oncology at Imperial College London. He is also an Hon Consultant Medical Oncologist at Imperial College Healthcare Trust. Since October 2010, he has been Director of the Imperial CRUK Cancer Centre. He is also Chair of the Imperial Cancer Research (UK) Centre Steering Committee and Theme Leader for Cancer, Imperial College London. He is engaged in developing novel methods for the prediction of response to endocrine therapy in breast cancer and also carrying out research aimed at understanding the mechanisms of resistance to endocrine therapy and the development of novel anticancer drugs. In his capacity as Head of the Division of Cancer until 30 September 2012, he was responsible for the running of the division, as well as the recruitment and retention of staff. He is personally responsible for running the section of Cancer Cell Biology and has three CRUK Programme Grants and many other projects and smaller grants. He has an h-index of 96, and his papers have been cited more than 45,800 times (Scopus, 19 October 2023).
Christofer Toumazou is Regius Professor of Engineering, Chair in Biomedical Circuit Design, Director of the Centre for Bio-Inspired Technology, and Founder and Chief Scientist of the Institute of Biomedical Engineering at Imperial College London. His coinvention of semiconductor DNA sequencing revolutionized genetic testing, and in recognition of this and several other healthcare innovations, he has been honored with the prestigious European Patent Office European Inventor Award, the Royal Society Gabor Medal, and the IET Faraday Medal, and named Laureate of the UNESCO-Equatorial Guinea International Prize for Research in the Life Sciences. He is the cofounder of the Medtech Company DNA Electronics (DNAe) and his latest venture DnaNudge. His pioneering lab-in-cartridge genetic testing platform and wearable device ‘nudge’ consumers with predispositions to nutrition and skin-related conditions to shop more healthily. In 2021, DnaNudge won the Royal Academy of Engineering’s MacRobert Award. In response to COVID-19, he and his team successfully adapted this lab-in-cartridge technology to deliver a rapid, lab-free COVID-19 RT-PCR test. He is a Trustee at the Royal Institution and a Fellow of the Royal Society, the Royal Academy of Engineering, and the Academy of Medical Sciences. He is also an elected International Member of the National Academy of Engineering (NAE) in the US. He has an h-index of 70, and his papers have been cited more than 9400 times (Scopus, 19 October 2023).
Jacqueline A. Shaw is Head of the Department of Genetics and Genome Biology, Codirector of the Institute for Precision Health, and Professor of Translational Cancer Genetics at the University of Leicester. Her extensive expertise in innovative blood-based tests for monitoring breast and lung cancers, known as liquid biopsies, is highly sought after through national and international collaborations in clinical studies and trials. Her research has found that breast cancer recurrence can be detected by a blood test up to 2 years ahead of when traditional screening techniques would be able to detect it. This highly impactful work enabled the US-based genetic testing company Natera to achieve the prestigious “Breakthrough Device” designation from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in 2019 for their Signatera™ test, which offers patients personalized cancer testing. She has an h-index of 50, and her papers have been cited more than 11,300 times (Scopus, 19 October 2023).
