The Dream Factory of China

The co-discoverer of the structure of DNA, James Watson, said there’s hope that human beings will find a cheaper way to cure cancer, when he gave a speech during the 2017 Shenzhen International Precision Medicine Summit held at Wuzhou Guest House on Thursday, which also was Watson’s 89th birthday.

Watson won a Nobel Prize in 1962 following his discovery of the structure of DNA with Francis Crick in 1953, which led to a revolution in molecular biology. After decades of efforts to find a cure for cancer, Watson said that his ambition does “not die until cancer is cured.”

According to Watson, immunotherapy for cancer treatment is too expensive for most families in the United States, and he hopes to find a cheaper and newer way to cure cancer.

Watson supports a controversial theory that cancer spreads when antioxidants spare it from damage, so suppressing antioxidants in cancer cells can destroy the cancer.

Watson said that the interiors of recurrent cancer cells are filled with antioxidants and that these cells are better able to survive the oxidative stress induced by chemotherapy.

In his opinion, the obvious solution is to find a way to turn off the cancer’s antioxidant machinery, which might be a replacement for chemotherapy and a cheaper way to cure cancer. “I’m optimistic that cancer will be largely cured by inexpensive drugs, and these drugs will work on most people,” he said.

Watson was greeted by Shenzhen Party chief Wang Weizhong during a meeting Wednesday. The visitor also toured the National Gene Bank and Shenzhen International Bio Valley in Dapeng New Area and attended the opening ceremony of SUSTech-Cheerland Institute of Precision Medicine on the same day.

“As part of his 10-day trip in China, Shenzhen was the destination where Dr. Watson chose to entrust a grand vision of establishing in China the Watson Research Center of Life Science, a world-class interdisciplinary institute in the footprint of Cavendish Laboratory, Salk Institute and Cold Spring Harbor Lab,” said Chen Shiyi, president of the Southern University of Science and Technology, during the summit.

Wu Yihuan, vice mayor of Shenzhen, said that Watson was welcome to settle his research center in Shenzhen.

“If Dr. Watson is interested in setting up Watson Research Center of Life Science in Shenzhen, the city government will spare no effort to support the establishment and development of the center,” Wu said.