Current fellowships and projects

Dr Richard Turkington, Queen's University Belfast
Project Duration: Initial period of 36 months.
Start date: 1st August 2008.

Many patients with bowel cancer are given the chemotherapy drugs oxaliplatin and 5-FU, but not everybody responds to the treatment. Dr Turkington is hunting for genes that affect whether a person's cancer will respond to the drugs or not.

Through this work, he hopes to help doctors tailor treatment more effectively to a patient's cancer and discover new inroads into treating the disease.

Professor Chris Paraskeva, Department of Cellular and Molecular Medicine, University of Bristol
Project Duration: 5 years
Start date: January 2006

We usually think of cancer as a disease caused by cells multiplying out of control, but it is also due to cells not dying when they should. Cancer cells often evade death and carry on multiplying when they shouldn't.

Professor Chris Paraskeva is investigating how normal bowel cells die, and what goes wrong with this process during the development of cancer. In particular, Professor Paraskeva is focusing his attention on the molecules within our cells which are involved in death and survival, and how these might interact with drugs or components of our diet.

Through his research we hope to understand more about potential ways to prevent bowel cancer, particularly in individuals at high risk of the disease.

Professor David Bates, University of Bristol
Project duration: 3 years, 8 months
Start date: June 2007

Researchers have recently developed a new drug to treat bowel cancer, called bevacizumab. The drug targets a molecule called VEGF, which is produced by many cancers.

Large scale clinical trials have shown that the drug bevacizumab can bring benefits to some bowel cancer patients, but sadly not all. This could be due to the different forms of VEGF found in the body.

Professor David Bates and his team are studying which forms of VEGF are most responsive to this new drug. Ultimately, we hope that the results from his work will help doctors to predict which patients are most likely to benefit the most from the treatment, and which aren't.

Professor Malcolm Dunlop, University of Edinburgh
Project duration: 3 years
Start date: January 2006

Professor Malcolm is world-renowned for his pioneering research into discovering the genes and environmental factors that can affect a person's risk of bowel cancer. Through his research he hopes to identify those who are at high risk of developing the disease and to develop new ways of preventing, diagnosing and treating it in the future.

During the study, Professor Dunlop and his team will look at DNA samples from both bowel cancer patients and healthy people in great detail. Through this they hope to pinpoint subtle genetic differences that occur more often in patients with bowel cancer. So far the team have managed to collect samples from over 10,000 Scottish people and over 30,000 people in the UK.

Identifying the genes that increase a patient's risk of bowel cancer will open many new research avenues for cancer biology and could ultimately lead to the design of new anti-cancer drugs. This work has already led to the identification of new regions of our DNA linked to bowel cancer.

Professor John Primrose, University of Southampton
Project duration: 5 years
Start date: August 2006

Professor Primrose has started a major large-scale clinical trial called New EPOC, which is looking at improving the treatment of people with bowel cancer that has spread to the liver. The trial is designed to investigate the potential benefits of adding a new drug called cetuximab (Erbitux) to the treatment process.

Cetuximab is known to target the growth and survival of some cancer cells and could possibly reduce side-effects in patients. Professor Primrose and his team hope to find out what effect treating his patients with cetuximab will have on their quality of life and chance of survival.

Dr Rachel Midgley, University of Oxford
Project duration: 5 years
Start date: November 2007

Many people with bowel cancer are treated using a combination of surgery and chemotherapy. While surgery is commonly effective, it is difficult for doctors to tell which patients will benefit from chemotherapy and which type of chemotherapy will be most helpful. Occasionally this means that some people end up receiving chemotherapy treatment - and suffering the side effects - when it may not help them.

Dr Midgley and her team are using cutting-edge technology to study the patterns of gene activity in samples taken from between 800 and 1,200 bowel tumours. By comparing the data with information on the patient's treatment, the researchers hope to uncover patterns that can be linked to how an individual's cancer will progress, and which treatment might be most suitable for them. In the future, this information could be used to help doctors decide which treatments are most suitable for which patients.

Dr Jeremy Cheadle, Cardiff University
Project duration: 3 years
Start date: May 2006

Cancer Research UK is funding a large-scale clinical trial called COIN, which is investigating the best way to treat advanced bowel cancer. Some of the drugs used within the COIN trial cause damage to DNA, which helps kill cancer cells. Unfortunately, since our cells can repair DNA damage, treatment is not always as effective as it could be.

Dr Cheadle and his team plan to analyse DNA samples from 1,600 patients and specifically study the genes involved in repairing our DNA, looking for any faults or changes in these genes. The trial will help the researchers work out if having certain gene faults or variations in DNA repair genes affects how well patients respond to treatment, or the side effects they experience.

In the future, the results of this significant study could help doctors tailor treatment more precisely to a patient's genetic makeup, increasing its effectiveness and causing fewer side effects.

Professor Bharat Jasani, Cardiff University
Project duration: 3 years
Start date: January 2007

Professor Jasani is working alongside researchers running two clinical trials, testing new treatments for bowel cancer. These trials are testing a new type of drug for bowel cancer, called cetuximab.

Through his work he will study levels of molecules or gene activity within bowel cancer samples and see whether they relate to how well a patient responds to the treatment. He hopes to develop a test which will be able to tell which patients will benefit from cetuximab, and which will not. This may help to ensure that expensive treatments like cetuximab are used as effectively as possible in the future.

Dr Eva Morris, University of Leeds
Project duration: 6 years
Start date: June 2008

Across the UK, there are differences in the way that people with bowel cancer are treated, and this may affect their survival. Making sure that everyone has access to the best possible treatment is a top priority for the NHS, but we currently know little about the exact links between inequalities in treatment and survival.

Dr Morris and her team will be analysing large amounts of data collected by the NHS about cancer patients and their treatment, to monitor how well they do. This important research will help to reveal the best way to treat people with bowel cancer and improve services across the whole NHS in the future.

Dr Richard Houlston, Institute of Cancer Research
Project duration: 2 years
Start date: May 2008

We know that variations in our genes can affect our risk of cancer, either by increasing or decreasing it. Dr Houlston will be carrying out a large-scale study in the Han Chinese population, including healthy people and those with bowel cancer.

This large-scale research will help us to find genes that subtly increase or decrease the risk of bowel cancer that are common within the general population.

Dr Lesley Tannahill, University of Birmingham
Project duration: 12 months
Start date: March 2008

More than eight out of ten cases of bowel cancer could be cured if caught early enough, yet relatively few cases are currently detected at this stage. Dr Lesley Tannahill is developing a test for bowel cancer that will pick up molecular changes in DNA from cancer cells found in stool samples. The test will pick up crucial changes that affect genes involved in the early development of bowel cancer.

The scientists hope that this technique will pick up bowel cancers at an earlier stage than the current screening test, and detect a wider range of bowel cancer types.

Dr Jim Hill, Manchester Royal Infirmary
Project duration: 5 years
Start date: September 2007

If a person has a tumour that blocks their bowel, they will often be given emergency surgery to remove the cancer. This can cause a lot of damage. Dr Jim Hill is investigating an alternative technique, using a flexible tube to hold the bowel open, followed by more controlled surgery at a later date. Dr Hill is running a trial called CReST, to find out if the benefits of the new technique outweigh the potential risks.

Dr Ricky Sharma, University of Oxford
Project duration: 6 years
Start date: July 2007

Despite the major improvements in bowel cancer treatment over the past decade, the disease still claims thousands of lives every year. In many cases, this is because the cancer has spread to the liver.

Dr Sharma is testing a technique called radioembolisation, which involves giving large doses of radioactive drugs directly to the liver. This new trial, called FOXFIRE, could help to make a significant improvement to survival rates for people whose bowel cancer has spread.

Dr Simon Gollins, North Wales Cancer Treatment Centre
Project duration: 2 years
Start date: July 2007

Many people with cancer of the rectum (back passage) are given surgery to remove the tumour. But it can be difficult to make sure that all of the cancer cells are removed, so sometimes the cancer can come back. Dr Simon Gollins is running a clinical trial called EXCITE. This will test whether a combination of three drugs, alongside radiotherapy, can shrink tumours before surgery, and help to prevent the cancer from returning.

Dr Gollins and his colleagues aim to recruit 40 patients onto the trial. They will all be given the drugs capecitabine, irinotecan and cetuximab, alongside radiotherapy. The researchers will investigate if there are any side effects from the treatment, and if this new combination of drugs improves survival.

EXCITE is a relatively small but vital study, as the results will feed into a much larger trial called ARISTOTLE, which is testing a number of different drugs and radiotherapy combinations. It is hoped that the results of these trials will help to improve the outlook for people with rectal cancer in the future.

Mr Dion Morton, Birmingham University
Project duration: 6 years
Start date: July 2007

Depending on the stage of their disease, people with bowel cancer may be given surgery to remove the tumour, followed by chemotherapy. Mr Dion Morton is a surgeon who has recently been awarded funding to run a trial called FOxTROT. The trial will test whether giving chemotherapy before and after surgery, instead of just afterwards, can help to improve the effectiveness of the treatment.

Mr Morton will also investigate whether a new bowel cancer drug called panitumumab can improve survival. Panitumumab is currently only used as part of research trials. He plans to recruit around 1,000 patients for this large-scale trial.

Mr Robin Kennedy, St Mark's Hospital, Harrow
Project duration: 3 years
Start date: January 2007

People with bowel cancer are often given surgery to remove the tumour. Usually, this is a relatively major operation, and people need, on average, 10 days in hospital to recover.

Some surgeons think that keyhole surgery might be just as effective and may also reduce complications and help to cut recovery time. Patients given keyhole surgery can also start chemotherapy sooner than those given major surgery. But this technique has not been fully tested in large-scale clinical trials.

Mr Robin Kennedy is a surgeon at St Mark's Hospital. He is running a trial called EnROL, to test whether keyhole surgery, along with an enhanced recovery programme, is better than conventional surgery within the same programme. Mr Kennedy will recruit patients from several centres around the UK for EnROL, and the results could help to shape the way that bowel cancer is treated in the future.

Dr Anusha Preethi Ganesan, University of Southampton
Duration: 3 years
Start date: September 2007

Dr Ganesan is working with Dr Christian Ottensmeier, one of the world's leading experts in cancer immunotherapy – using the power of the immune system to beat cancer.

Researchers have found that some people with bowel cancer have immune cells, called lymphocytes, mixed in among the cancer cells. This has also been found for other types of cancer, including melanoma and ovarian cancer. The presence of these immune cells is associated with better survival, but it is not yet understood why they are found in some tumours and not in others.

Based at the University of Southampton, Dr Ganesan is studying these immune cells in great detail. She wants to discover why some patients seem to have a strong immune response to their tumour, while others don¿t. She will analyse the location of the immune cells within samples from bowel cancers using state-of-the-art laser microscope techniques.

Through this research, the team will understand more about the role of immune cells in bowel cancer, and how they may affect the outcome of the disease. This will inform the design of new immunotherapy approaches for treating bowel cancer, which could save many lives in the future.