Uncovering novel risk factors and molecular markers to improve the prevention and treatment of cancer (360G-Wellcome-224982_Z_22_Z)

Cancer is one of the major causes of illness and death in the world1. Its burden is expected to increase due to population ageing and growth, and because people are leading increasingly unhealthy lifestyles by smoking, drinking alcohol, gaining excess weight, eating unhealthy diets and being physically inactive2. Although evidence regarding the aetiology of cancer is growing and several causes of cancer have already been identified, evidence for some risk factors is still weak and the underlying biological mechanisms driving many of the observed associations remain unclear2,3. I will explore associations between several lifestyle/biological risk factors and cancer, as well as potential metabolic pathways mediating these associations using novel causal inference methods, such as Mendelian randomization. A better understanding of the causes of cancer and the mechanisms involved in cancer development could contribute to the targeted prevention and treatment of the disease.