Jo Milner is an academic of international repute and was Director of the Yorkshire Cancer Research Unit at the University of York from 1991 to 2010. Jo raised millions of pounds for and led research
forging world class advances into the treatment of cancer. She continues to promote scientific research at both an academic and public level and has been instrumental in the development of novel
anti-cancer therapies.
Cancer touches so many people's lives. Did you know that few animals are immune from cancer? Seventy million years ago dinosaurs had cancer and, in the present day, the incidence of cancer in dogs is
higher than in humans. Cancer is a disease that can arise from normal healthy tissue, and the close relationship between normal and cancerous cells makes it difficult to develop drugs that selectively
target cancer without adverse side-effects for the patient. This talk will outline one approach to the problem and describe how the colour of petunias has led to the development of new tools to understand
and to combat cancer.
