CMM Annual 'Sir Anthony Epstein' Lecture

The Sir Anthony Epstein lecture was inaugurated at the University of Bristol in 2009 to recognise the achievements of outstanding scientists in the fields of cancer biology, infection and immunology. It celebrates the achievements of Professor Sir Anthony Epstein CBE FRS (1921-2024) who was Professor of Pathology at Bristol University (1968-85) and one of the discoverers of the Epstein-Barr virus.

We are busy planning our next talk for later in 2026.  Further details about the our eminent speaker, the lecture and how to book on will be available on EventBrite and on the University events page in due course.

The Sir Anthony Epstein Lecture is held annually and is open to all staff, students and members of the public to attend.  It is an evening lecture held in a key lecture theatre on the Bristol campus, and will be followed by a drinks reception for all guests attending. 

The lecture is an in-person event and is free to attend, but we do ask you to book your place in advance, we will provide booking details via EventBrite.

Further information about the lecture series:

The Sir Anthony Epstein lecture was inaugurated at the University of Bristol in 2009 to recognise the achievements of outstanding scientists in the fields of cancer biology, infection and immunology. It celebrates the achievements of Sir Anthony Epstein who was Professor of Pathology at Bristol University (1968-85) and one of the discoverers of the Epstein-Barr virus.  In 2024 Professor Sir Anthony Epstein CBE FRS passed away aged 102, you can read a remembrance on the university news page.

Find below all our previous speakers from the past few years.

Previous speakers:

    2025: Sir David Lane FRS FRSE FRCSE FMedSci
    "How does the p53 tumour suppressor gene protect us from cancer?": Sir David Lane is currently a Professor at the Karolinska Institute and Chairman of Chugai Pharmabody Research in Singapore. He is a world-renowned immunologist, molecular biologist and cancer researcher. He is recognised as one of the scientists responsible for the pivotal discovery of the cancer gene p53 in 1979. Referred to as the "Guardian of the genome" p53 is the most commonly mutated gene in human cancers, with alterations present in more than half of all tumours.
    2024: Professor Ralf Bartenschlager, Heidelberg University & German Cancer Research Centre
    "The cell biology of viral replication factories": Professor Bartenschlager is currently based in the Department of Infectious Diseases, Molecular Virology, Center for Integrative Infectious Diseases Research, Heidelberg University, Heidelberg and Division Virus-Associated Carcinogenesis, German Cancer Research Center (DKFZ), Heidelberg, Germany.
    2023: Sir Paul Nurse OM CH FRS FMedSci HonFREng HonFBA MAE
    "Controlling the cell cycle": Sir Paul Nurse is the Director of the Francis Crick Institute in London, Chancellor of the University of Bristol and has served as President of the Royal Society, Chief Executive of Cancer Research UK and President of Rockefeller University. He shared the 2001 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine and has received the Albert Lasker Award, the Gairdner Award, the Louis Jeantet Prize and the Royal Society's Royal and Copley Medals.
    2022: Professor Karen Vousden CBE FRS
    “Metabolic control of cancer progression”: Professor Karen Vousden from The Francis Crick Institute. Karen received her PhD from the University of London and following postdoctoral fellowships at the ICR and NCI, she returned to London to establish a research group at the Ludwig Institute. Returning to the US, she was Chief of the Regulation of Cell Growth Laboratory at the NCI before coming back to the UK to take on the role of Director of the CRUK Beatson Institute in Glasgow. In 2017, she moved her research group to the Francis Crick Institute in London and served as Chief Scientist for Cancer Research UK from 2016-2022.
    2019: Professor Sharon Peacock CBE FMedSci
    "Journey with an Outbreak Detective: Destination - the genomics revolution" Professor Sharon Peacock is Director of the National Infection Service at Public Health England, Professor of Public Health and Microbiology at the University of Cambridge, and an honorary consultant microbiologist at the Cambridge clinical and public health laboratory based at Addenbrookes Hospital. She has been a Non-Executive Director at the Cambridge University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust since 2015, where she is chair of the Quality Committee and a member of the Board and Audit Committees. Sharon has worked as an academic microbiology in the United Kingdom and South East Asia for the last 25 years, during which she has trained 22 PhD students, published more than 400 scientific articles and book chapters, and currently manages >£9M of funding as PI.
    2018: Sir John Gurdon FRS FMedSci
    "Nuclear transfer and its contribution and understanding of cell differentiation". Sir John Gurdon did his undergraduate work in Zoology in the University of Oxford and later a one-year postdoctoral position at CalTech in USA. He returned to Oxford and became a university lecturer in Embryology. In 1971 he moved to the MRC Molecular Biology Laboratory in Cambridge, continuing his work on Amphibian developmental biology. In 1983 he moved to the University of Cambridge as John Humphrey Plummer Professor of Cell Biology. He co-founded a research Institute of Developmental and Cancer biology with Professor Laskey as co-chairman and was Chairman of this Institute until 2002.
    2017: Professor Steve Jackson FRS FMedSci
    "Cellular responses to DNA damage: Translating mechanistic insights into precision cancer medicines". Professor Jackson is from The Gurdon Institute, University of Cambridge. Professor Steve Jackson FRS, FMedSci is the University of Cambridge Frederick James Quick and Cancer Research UK Professor of Biology. He is also Head of Cancer Research UK Laboratories at the Wellcome Trust/Cancer Research UK Gurdon Institute, and an Associate Faculty member of the Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute.
    2016: Professor Wendy Bickmore FRS FMedSci FRSE
    "The remote control of gene expression". Professor Bickmore is the Director of the MRC Human Genetics Unit, University of Edinburgh. Wendy is an EMBO member, a Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh and of the Academy of Medical Sciences and is the president of the Genetics Society of Great Britain. She is an editor on many journals including PLoS Genetics and Cell.
    2015: Professor Frances Balkwill OBE FMedSci
    "Cancer - the other half of the story?". Professor Balkwill is Professor of Cancer Biology at Barts Cancer Institute, Queen Mary University of London. One of the country's leading cancer researchers, she is heavily involved in science public engagement and in 2008 was awarded the OBE for services to science communication.
    2014: Professor Adrian Hayday FMedSci FRS
    "How T cells sense tissue normality & tissue stress". Professor Adrian Hayday is Kay Glendinning Professor of Immunobiology at King’s College London; co-lead of the Clinical Academic Grouping in Genetics Rheumatology, Immunology, Infection, and Dermatology at Kings’ affiliated hospitals; a Senior Group Leader at the London Research Institute, Cancer Research UK and fellow of the Academy of Medical Sciences.
    2012: Sir Paul Nurse FRS FMedSci
    "Great Ideas of Biology". Sir Paul Nurse, President of the Royal Society and winner of the Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine in 2001. In 2016 he was elected to be the Chancellor of the University of Bristol.
    2011: Prof. Dr. Harald zur Hausen
    "A brief history and perspective of tumour virus rese". Prof. Dr. Harald zur Hausen, German Cancer Research Center, Heidelberg and winner of the Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine in 2008 (for the discovery of the role of papilloma viruses in cervical cancer).