Professor Steve Pollard is a world leader in stem cell and cancer biology and serves as Professor of Stem Cell and Cancer Biology at the University of Edinburgh’s Institute for Regeneration and Repair.

In 2024, Steve co-founded Trogenix, where he serves as Chief Scientific Officer. The company integrates his team’s extensive research in cancer models, gene therapy, and synthetic biology to develop revolutionary therapeutic approaches combining genomics, oncology, immunotherapy, and gene therapy to address significant unmet medical needs.

As a Wellcome Beit Fellow, Steve made significant breakthroughs in understanding the core transcriptional and epigenetic programmes in neural stem cells, revealing how these mechanisms are often hijacked by aggressive brain cancers, particularly glioblastoma.

In 2010, he established his independent laboratory at the UCL Cancer Institute in London before relocating to Edinburgh in 2013, where he joined the MRC Centre for Regenerative Medicine and Edinburgh Cancer Research Centre. His excellence in research was recognised with a prestigious Cancer Research UK (CRUK) Senior Fellowship, leading to his promotion to full Professor in 2017. His laboratory continues to advance our understanding of the molecular and cellular mechanisms governing stem cell identity and differentiation, with a particular focus on their role in human cancer.

Currently, Steve serves as the Director of the CRUK Brain Cancer Centre of Excellence and Associate Director of the CRUK Scotland Centre. He is also a key member of the senior leadership team for the Mammalian UK Synthetic Biology Research Centre in Edinburgh, which in 2024 transitioned into one of the new UK Engineering Biology Hubs.