Maike de la Roche promoted to Research Professor

Congratulations to Prof Maike de la Roche, following her promotion to Research Professor at the Cancer Research UK Cambridge Institute. 

This important milestone is part of the University of Cambridge’s Senior Researcher Promotions scheme and coincides with the de la Roche Group’s eleventh anniversary at Cancer Research UK Cambridge Institute (CRUK CI). 

Prof de la Roche joined CRUK CI in late 2015 as a Sir Henry Dale Fellow and Junior Group Leader. She was promoted to Senior Group Leader in 2024 and serves as an Associate Director on the Institute’s Executive Committee. 

The de la Roche Group focuses on Hedgehog signalling in the immune system. By characterising the distinctive features of this immune pathway, her group seeks to develop new ways to harness the immune system to fight cancer and other pathologies. 

Over the last decade, Prof de la Roche has focused on translating her Group’s discoveries into tangible progress for patients.

In 2024, she won the Entrepreneurial Group Leader of the Year category at the Cancer Research Horizons Innovation and Entrepreneurship Awards. The prize recognised her Group’s development of novel immunotherapies to target solid cancers, including a potent new “superkiller” CAR-T cell therapy effective against colorectal and liver cancers.

To progress this groundbreaking treatment to the clinic, Maike co-founded the University of Cambridge spinout company AdcoTx in 2026.

Prof de la Roche’s commitment to translate her research has also led to other successful clinical collaborations. The Group are currently running a clinical study at Addenbrooke’s Hospital to understand the effect of altered cell signalling activity on immune cell function in people with mutations in the Hedgehog pathway and in cancer patients.

Her considerable impact extends to the wider cancer research community through her role as the Institute’s Associate Director of Research Culture and Innovation. She has also worked dedicatedly to build effective links between the Uganda Cancer Institute (UCI) and the CRUK CI in partnership with Cambridge-Africa. This includes founding and leading the UCI/Makerere–CRUK CI summer school as part of the CRUK CI’s annual Undergraduate Summer Research Programme in 2019, as well as an annual Cancer Biology Summer School in collaboration with UCI in Kampala since 2022.