We believe the more we collaborate the more we create.

Our platforms and facilities have training available for researchers outside the Crick.

Through our vibrant public programme of free events, you can explore what goes on behind the scenes at the Crick.

We are a biomedical discovery institute researching the biology underlying human health.

The Francis Crick Institute

Crick Lectures are delivered by leading internationally-renowned scientists from the Francis Crick Institute and elsewhere and cover the full spectrum of biomedical research. They aim to be relatively accessible to scientists in all biomedical disciplines, whilst also offering something for the specialist.

The talks are open to scientists from other institutes and universities from across London and beyond. You should have a minimum of graduate-level biological knowledge to attend and fully engage with these talks. Please pre-register if you would like to attend. Find out more. 

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For more information about Crick events and exhibitions for the general public please visit our What’s On pages. 

Senior Group Leader Dimitrios Anastasiou gives this week's Crick lecture.

Dimitrios leads the Cancer Metabolism Lab at the Crick which studies how cancer cells generate energy and use nutrients so that they can figure out how to treat the disease more effectively.

Metabolism is what makes life tick. It allows organisms to convert nutrients into energy and building blocks required for their survival and function. Cancer cells also need metabolism but use it in different ways.

The lab is carrying out a detailed analysis of the ways in which cancer cells generate energy, use nutrients, and create the chemical ‘building blocks’ that they need in order survive, grow and multiply (known as metabolic pathways). The aim is to understand the molecular components of these pathways, to find out how cancer cells manage to ‘re-wire’ their metabolism to cope with the demands of rapid growth and fend off our body’s defenses.

Biography

Dimitrios obtained a B.Sc. in Molecular Biology from the Department of Biochemistry & Molecular Biology at UCL  in 2001. His studies included an Industrial Placement year at SmithKline Beecham Pharmaceuticals (now GlaxoSmithKline) in Harlow, where he developed mass spectrometry-based methods for the study of protein post-translational modifications.

He then moved to Switzerland to pursue doctoral studies with Wilhelm Krek, first at the Friedrich Miescher Institute in Basel, and then at the ETH-Zürich, where he investigated molecular mechanisms that underlie the regulation of sirtuins, a class of NAD-dependent deacetylases with roles in metabolic regulation and ageing. For this work, he obtained his PhD in Biochemistry from the University of Basel in 2006.

In 2007, Dimitrios joined the lab of Lewis Cantley, as a Postdoctoral Fellow and, later, as an Instructor at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center and the Department of Systems Biology, Harvard Medical School in Boston, USA. His work in Boston focused on understanding metabolic reprogramming in cancer. He also contributed to the development of small molecule activators that target the glycolytic enzyme pyruvate kinase M2 (PKM2) as potential therapeutics.

Dimitrios started as a Programme Leader at the NIMR in October 2012 and moved his group to the Francis Crick Institute in 2015.

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