Neurons (magenta) innervate a small cell lung cancer tumour. Credit: Rachel Davis, Venkatesh Lab

At first, Filippo Beleggia had no interest in neurons. A cancer biologist studying small-cell lung cancer (SCLC), he deployed a sophisticated screening technique to search for genes that drive tumour progression in a mouse model of the disease. Although it accounts for only around 15% of lung cancers, SCLC is the most aggressive and metastatic form of the disease and has limited options for treatment. Beleggia was hoping to identify genes involved in processes such as cell division or responses to DNA damage, and says his aim was to discover genes “that we could then build therapies on”.

What this first screen delivered, however, was a list of genes implicated in neurobiology.…