Rate My Professor Craig Robson

Professor Craig Robson is Professor of Molecular Urology in the Translational and Clinical Research Institute, Newcastle University Centre for Cancer, Faculty of Medical Sciences, Newcastle University. He earned his BSc (Hons) from Sheffield University and PhD from Newcastle University in 1987. After his PhD, he was Research Fellow at the Imperial Cancer Research Fund Institute of Molecular Medicine, Oxford University (1988-1993), studying DNA repair and drug resistance mechanisms in cancer. He joined Newcastle University in 1993 as Lecturer in Surgery (1993-2000), progressed to Senior Lecturer in Surgical Sciences (2000-2002), Reader in Prostate Cancer at the Northern Institute for Cancer Research (2002-2005), and was appointed Professor of Molecular Urology.

A molecular and cell biologist by training, Professor Robson's research centres on understanding the molecular mechanisms that drive progression to therapy-resistant, metastatic prostate cancer, with a focus on the androgen receptor signalling cascade. He has identified key epigenetic alterations that influence receptor function and developed relevant cell models, including those from induced pluripotent stem cells. His work includes biotech collaborations to identify and develop assays for biomarkers that distinguish indolent from aggressive prostate cancer. Key publications include 'CD133, a novel marker for human prostatic epithelial stem cells' (2004), 'Upregulation and nuclear recruitment of HDAC1 in hormone refractory prostate cancer' (2004), 'Tip60 and histone deacetylase 1 regulate androgen receptor activity through changes to the acetylation status of the receptor' (2002), 'The RNA helicase p68 is a novel androgen receptor coactivator involved in splicing and is overexpressed in prostate cancer' (2008), 'Propagation of human prostate tissue from induced pluripotent stem cells' (2020), and 'ST3 beta-galactoside alpha-2,3-sialyltransferase 1 (ST3Gal1) synthesis of Siglec ligands mediates anti-tumour immunity in prostate cancer' (2024). As a member of the leadership team at Newcastle University Centre for Cancer, his contributions advance prostate cancer research and therapeutic development.