Barts Cancer Institute

Establishing Two New Research Groups at the World Leading Barts Cancer Institute: Targeting Tumour Cells and the Tumour Micro-Environment

Professor Nicholas Lemoine, Professor John Marshall, Dr Sarah Martin, and Dr Jane Sosabowski, Professor Kairbaan Hodivala-Dilke, Professor Frances Balkwill

Awarded £5M

Barts Cancer Institute is one of the UK’s leading centres of cancer research, with the overriding objective to ensure that research conducted impacts directly on cancer patients by reducing the burden of disease through prevention; increasing the chances of survival through early detection and diagnosis, and through advancing the discovery and development of new more effective therapies.

This award will enable new discoveries, and the development and delivery of innovative new cancer treatments by developing strategies that can target both the cancer cells and their microenvironment – the tumour stroma.

As part of the prevention strategy, a new Gallium-68-PET advanced imaging service will be established at Barts Health to allow early diagnosis of metastatic prostate cancer, providing immediate impact for patients.

The new Professor of Translational Cancer Metabolism will unify the developing activities identifying new therapeutic targets in deregulated metabolic pathways occurring in cancer cells.

The Professor of Tumour Stroma Biology will enhance and synergise with the existing research in this area, working with current groups to identify novel therapeutic targets at the cellular and molecular level.

These studies will span state-of-the-art discovery science and pre-clinical models using in silico, in vitro and in vivo cancer models.

This significant investment will play an important role in driving future clinical research activity at Barts Health, helping to give patients a chance at recovery through access to the most advanced therapies for the hardest to treat cancers.

Two carcinoma cells completing the process of division