Other projects

Award holder: Professor Ian Tomlinson
Named Postdoctoral Fellow: Dr Ana Teixeira
Host Institution: University of Oxford
Start date: 1 November 2005
End date: 31 December 2008

Dr Teixeira is working with one of Cancer Research UK's leading bowel cancer scientists – Professor Ian Tomlinson, whose team is studying how faults in a person's DNA can lead to bowel cancer.

One way that DNA faults can occur is during a process called 'mitotic recombination', which happens when cells multiply. The Bobby Moore Fund is supporting Dr Teixeira to look at the factors that influence how and when mitotic recombination occurs in bowel cells. She is investigating how this process affects one of the most important genes involved in bowel cancer development – a gene called APC.

Through Dr Teixeira's research, we hope to understand more about the genetic processes leading to bowel cancer, and identify factors that can influence a person's risk of the disease.

Award holder: Sir Walter Bodmer
Named Clinical Fellow: Mr Ashraf Shazad
Host Institution: University of Oxford
Start date: 1 June 2006
End date: 31 May 2009

Mr Shazad is a surgeon working on a new type of treatment for bowel cancer. His work is focusing on a protein molecule called CEA that is found on the surface of some bowel cancer cells.

He is using an antibody (a special protein that recognises and sticks to other specific proteins) that can home in on CEA and target and kill the cancer cells. This approach could also provide a way to target other treatments specifically to bowel cancer cells.

During his Bobby Moore Fellowship, Mr Shazad is studying exactly how the CEA antibody sticks to bowel cancer cells and kills them. This research is still at an early stage, but it will help to lay the foundations for potential new bowel cancer treatments in the future that could save many lives.

Award holder: Professor Alan Clarke
Named Clinical Fellow: Dr Paul Shaw (studying towards a PhD)
Host Institution: Biological Sciences, Cardiff University
Start date: 1 December 2005
End date: 30 November 2008

With support from the Bobby Moore Fund, Dr Shaw is studying an exciting new treatment for bowel cancer called anti-EGFR therapy. This experimental treatment is still at an early stage of development.

Unfortunately, anti-EGFR therapy seems to be more effective in some people than others. Dr Shaw is aiming to discover the genes and molecules that are responsible for this difference. He will carry out lab experiments, as well as using data from patients who are having the therapy in a clinical trial.

The knowledge gained from this work could ultimately help doctors to ensure that anti-EGFR treatment is only given to people who will benefit from it. And the methods used to study this therapy could be applied more widely to other types of bowel cancer treatment.

Award holder: Dr James Brenton
Named Clinical Fellow: Dr Ashraf Ibrahim (studying towards a PhD)
Host Institution: Cancer Research UK Cambridge Research Institute
Start date: 1 April 2004
End date: 31 March 2009

More than eight out of ten cases of bowel cancer could be successfully treated if caught early enough, yet relatively few cases are currently detected at this stage.

The government is currently rolling out a new national screening programme for bowel cancer, which will help to pick up many more cases of the disease at an earlier stage. But it is vital that we continue to develop new and better screening tests. Dr Ibrahim is working to develop a test based on genetic changes found in bowel cancer cells.

As well as being damaged, genes can be switched on or off by being 'tagged' through a process known as methylation. Dr Ibrahim is looking for differences in gene methylation patterns in bowel cancer.

He is comparing these patterns in tumour samples from people with different stages of the disease, and in healthy people. Using this information, he hopes to develop a DNA test that can further improve the screening and early detection of bowel cancer.

Award holder: Dr Inke Nathke
Named Clinical Fellow: Mr Aaron Quyn (studying towards a PhD)
Host Institution: Cell and Developmental Biology, University of Dundee
Start date: 1 August 2006
End date: 31 July 2009

Mr Quyn is studying a protein known as APC, which is often faulty in bowel cancer. He is investigating the role that APC normally plays in the body, helping to control cell multiplication in the bowel. And he is also looking at what happens when APC is faulty in bowel cancer cells, which are multiplying out of control.

During the course of his Bobby Moore Fellowship, Mr Quyn, who is a surgeon, will be using a range of lab techniques to study bowel cancer cells in great detail. Through his research, we hope to understand more about APC's role in bowel cancer, which may pave the way for future treatments.

A new £425,000 facility, which was paid for entirely by the Bobby Moore Fund for Cancer Research UK, was opened by Bobby's wife Stephanie Moore MBE, alongside former England goalkeeper David Seaman MBE, Bobby's 1966 team mate George Cohen MBE, Presenter Matthew Wright and Professor John Northover MS FRCS, former Director of the Cancer Research UK Bowel cancer Unit at St Mark's Hospital.

Status: Finished in 2003

The Bobby Moore Fund also funded nurses based in Manchester and Birmingham that were involved in the CORGI study.

The Bobby Moore Fund has also funded vitally needed equipment for the Family Cancer Clinic at the Bowel cancer Unit, St. Mark's Hospital, Northwick Park.

This equipment includes a specialised computer database system for storing information on individuals attending the Family Cancer Clinic, including details of their family history and results of colonoscopic screening. This information will help doctors to predict a patient's risk of developing the disease – allowing them to keep that one vital step ahead.