How do we cure cancer? It is an age-old question in the world of medicine. It is estimated that 27 per cent of all deaths in Malta are due to cancer.

Researchers at the University of Malta led by professor Pierre Schembri Wismayer were inspired to test a cancer treatment that uses the body’s own immune response to fight tumours more effectively when a friend’s pet rats developed breast cancer. It led them to ask: what if we could weaponise the immune system to kill tumours from the inside?

Analisse Cassar of the University of Malta’s Faculty of Medicine and Surgery will discuss if this cancer vaccine could potentially be the key to making treatment cheaper and more accessible to cancer patients everywhere, and what the hurdles to conducting trials on animals and humans are.

The talk When a Rat Got Cancer is being held on Wednesday at 7.30pm at Studio B, Spazju Kreattiv, Valletta. Attendance is for free. The presentation is organised by Malta Café Scientifique, part of the Malta Chamber of Scientists, with the support of the STEAM project, Spazju Kreattiv and the University of Malta.