John Brognard, leader of the Signalling Networks in Cancer group, was awarded a prestigious Cancer Research UK ‘Future Leaders in Cancer Research’ prize at the annual National Cancer Research Institute (NCRI) Cancer Conference, held in Liverpool this November. He has been a Junior Group Leader at the Institute since September 2010 and has focused on identifying novel driver mutations in kinases that have led to the publication of several ground-breaking research articles in leading journals. The prize recognises the important discoveries John has made concerning oncogenic and tumour suppressing cell signalling and commends him for achieving international recognition at an early stage in his career.