Professor Mark Lawler:

It is critical that we work together. As I said in the video, cancer knows no borders. The other thing is that we do not want to be competing against each other; we want to be competing against cancer, which is our common enemy. This is a huge opportunity and I am very excited about it. I moved to Belfast in 2014 and have been working with the team there. It has been brilliant to be working right across the island of Ireland. It is no mean achievement to bring together ten different academic institutions, given it is difficult to do that at the best of times. We have found something common that we can work on together. The other thing is that we can be world beaters in this area; we are not just following the crowd and we can be leaders. Bringing the best minds on the island of Ireland together to address one of human health's greatest challenges is something we can deliver on.