Cancer resistance in the naked mole-rat: a tale of transformation

Monday Lunch Livestream

With Dr Ewan St John Smith

9 May 2022

International guest and Professor of nociception, Dr Ewan St John Smith (University of Cambridge), presents a fascinating insight into the cancer-resistant naked mole-rat.

The naked mole-rat (heterocephalus glaber) is a burrowing rodent native to East Africa. It has a bizarre appearance, looking like an elongated cocktail sausage with large protruding teeth. It can live for over 30 years and is highly cancer-resistant, with only a few cases ever observed in captive animals. Researchers have been intrigued by naked mole-rat as a model organism across a range of research fields due to its cancer resistance, healthy ageing and unusual pain phenotype.

Learn more about this fascinating creature and the insights it may offer to our exploration and understanding of cancer.