Inaugural lecture Noel de Miranda | A new perspective on cancer: the power of the immune system

What is the key message of your inaugural lecture, and why did you choose this topic? 

“I don’t think I emphasised one clear key message in my inaugural lecture, but the somewhat hidden message is that curiosity and fascination with how things work are powerful driving forces behind the advancement of knowledge, including knowledge that is ultimately translated into more effective treatments for patients with cancer. I also make the point that we risk losing this kind of curiosity-driven science if we do not develop and protect the conditions that allow this research to flourish. 

My inaugural lecture takes the audience on a journey: from the moment I first became fascinated by biology, through the way that understanding the biology of cancer, and specifically its interaction with the immune system, has led to new and effective treatments and will lead to more treatments in the future. I end with a reflection on how we should shape and defend the academic system so that it remains a place where this kind of knowledge can continue to be generated.” 

What are some of the key research areas that you and your team are currently working on? 

“The Cancer Immunogenomics research group studies tumours as complex tissues and ecosystems that consist not only of cancer cells, but also immune cells, blood vessels and other supporting cell types. The composition of this ‘ecosystem’ varies greatly between patients. Whether certain immune cells are present and where they are located within a tumour can make a major difference to how a cancer behaves and how well a patient responds to treatment. 

A large part of our work focuses on understanding how cancer cells manage to hide from the immune system. We are particularly interested in types of immune cells that have received less attention in cancer research to date. We use advanced technologies, including imaging techniques that allow us to see in detail where different cell types are located within a tumour and how they interact with one another. 

Understanding this complexity can help us identify new therapeutic targets and uncover vulnerabilities in cancer cells that may one day be exploited to develop more effective treatments.” 

What role do education and patient care play in your vision for this field? 

“Much of the work we develop is translational, meaning that it sits between fundamental research and patient care. Many of our key collaborators are clinicians who want to understand the biology behind aggressive tumour behaviour, or why some patients respond to a particular type of therapy while others do not. 

For me, that is the most attractive research environment: understanding the biological mechanisms that explain clinical behaviour and how we can use these mechanisms to make an impact in the clinic. 

Education has been a passion of mine for a long time. It is often more rewarding than research because the impact you can have on students becomes visible much more quickly than the results of a research project, which can take years to develop. 

Something interesting also happens when you teach: when you try to translate your research for non-experts, you begin to look at your own work from a different perspective and start asking new questions. I think this makes your brain follow different pathways, leading to different questions and answers. I believe that teaching and mentoring should be among the most important responsibilities of a professor.” 

Is there a particular moment or experience from the past few years that has really stayed with you? 

“I think that meeting patient representatives or families has had a great impact on me. As a researcher, in most cases you make a very small contribution and add one small piece to an enormous, complex puzzle that is being assembled by the research community as a whole. 

Because that contribution can often seem small, even to the researcher themselves, you may be reluctant to claim that your research has a direct impact on patients. There can also be frustration because you cannot tell patients and their families that a solution to the problem is just around the corner. 

My experience with families has been surprising in that respect: I feel a deep sense of gratitude from them for the fact that I have chosen to work on this subject at all, even though I know it can be difficult and that progress can be slow.” 

Looking ahead, where do you hope the field will be in 10 to 15 years? 

“Perhaps 10 to 15 years is a little too soon to make predictions, but I strongly believe that in the near future we will be able to offer most patients with cancer a treatment that makes use of, or is inspired by, our own immune system. 

Over the past decade, we have seen immunotherapies succeed in otherwise very challenging forms of cancer. At the same time, our understanding of how cancers interact with the immune system continues to develop at a very rapid pace. 

The combination of recent clinical successes and a growing mechanistic understanding gives me confidence that this field will deliver even more therapeutic successes for patients with cancer.”