Fellow

Doug Winton, Senior Group Leader at the CRUK Cambridge Institute, is an expert in the epithelial cell biology of normal and transformed intestinal stem cells using novel in vivo approaches. He investigated routes of cancer risk by showing that potential carcinogens found in the human diet are potent stem cell mutagens. He further demonstrated that in the intestinal epithelium, quiescent cells were committed secretory precursors capable of regaining stem cell function. This has potential significance for cancer therapies. Further achievements have been in determining the factors influencing the susceptibility and response of epithelial cells to mutation and how the large burden of mutations in intestinal cancers may collectively drive tumour development.