How Does Immunotherapy Help Us Treat Cancer? – with Samra Turajlić

Join oncologist and researcher Samra Turajlić as she explores why immunotherapy can be so effective for some people with cancer, but cause severe side effects or fail to work in others. *In this video* 00:00 Why do we need immunotherapy? 6:58 The immune system and cancer 15:38 Retraining the immune system 27:00 Immunotherapy and melanoma 30:10 How do you study immunotherapy? 35:01 What does this mean for patients? 40:54 Cancer vaccines and cell therapies 44:35 What we know so far Immunotherapy has transformed the treatment of some cancers by helping the body’s own immune system recognise and attack tumour cells. In this talk, Samra Turajlić explains how these treatments work, why they have been so successful for certain cancers such as melanoma, and why many patients still do not benefit and experience severe side effects. She also describes her team’s ongoing research at the Crick and the Cancer Research UK Manchester Institute to understand why immunotherapy sometimes fails, and how more personalised approaches – including cancer vaccines – could improve outcomes for more patients in the future. #CancerResearch #Immunotherapy #ScienceTalks *About Samra Turajlić* Samra is a clinician scientist, dividing her time between the lab and the clinic. She is director of the Cancer Research UK Manchester Institute, a visiting group leader in the Cancer Dyanamics Lab at the Francis Crick Institute, and a Consultant Medical Oncologist at The Christie NHS Foundation Trust. *The Francis Crick Institute* Based in the heart of London, the Crick is one of Europe’s largest labs, home to more than 2,000 scientists and a free public exhibition space. We’re an independent charity and biomedical research institute bringing together people with different expertise to answer some of the biggest questions about life and health. At the Crick, we believe that everyone should have the chance to explore and shape science. That’s why we’re a place for engaging people with research and why it matters. Keep up to date with everything going on at the Crick: • https://www.instagram.com/thefranciscrickinstitute • https://www.tiktok.com/@thecrick • https://www.facebook.com/TheFrancisCrickInstitute/ • https://bsky.app/profile/crick.ac.uk • https://www.crick.ac.uk