Mixing Flies and Chemputers: A Strange Brew for Cancer
Pioneering personalized cancer therapeutics through the convergence of *Drosophila* patient-specific avatars and automated robotic chemistry.
Prof. Ross Cagan
Regius Professor of Precision Medicine
Founder & Director of the McNab Centre for Cancer Innovation • University of Glasgow
Dr. Cagan is an internationally recognized cancer biologist specializing in translational cancer science, personalized disease modeling, and therapeutics discovery. Co-founder of Medros Inc. and Raer Therapeutics, board member of Vivan, and CSO of the P4 Precision Medicine Accelerator, he also serves as Academic Lead of the UKRI Living Laboratory.
His laboratory pioneered the use of “personalized fly avatars” to explore disease mechanisms and guide patient-specific drug combinations in clinical trials. Similar models from his lab helped validate the first FDA-approved chemotherapeutic for medullary thyroid carcinoma.
Working with collaborators Kevan Shokat, Arvin Dar, and Lee Cronin, the Cagan laboratory is developing a chemical evolution / chemputer platform that merges genetics with automated chemistry to synthesize and optimize novel therapeutic leads at accelerated pace.
Key Thematic Focus Areas
What this landmark 3rd Anniversary Special Edition addresses.
Personalized Fly Avatars
Engineering multi-gene Drosophila cancer models to match patient-specific tumor profiles for clinically predictive screening.
The Chemputer Engine
Automating chemical synthesis via digital robotics, dramatically compressing molecule design cycles.
Capacity for Africa
Establishing sustainable, accessible Drosophila platforms to empower homegrown drug discovery across African centers.
Polypharmacology
Identifying synergistic therapeutic cocktails to overcome tumor resistance in complex oncogenic signaling.
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