Past fellowships and projects

Award holder: Dr Val Macaulay
Named Pre-doctoral Fellow: Ms Megumi Takiguchi (MPhil Student)
Host Institution: Weatherall Institute of Molecular Medicine, University of Oxford
Start date: 1 October 2004
Finished: 30 September 2008

Megumi Takiguchi studied an important protein called IGF1R, which is believed to be involved in the growth and spread of several types of cancer.

With support from the Bobby Moore Fund, Ms Takiguchi investigated the role of IGF1R in bowel cancer. Understanding more about this protein will hopefully shed light on the biology of bowel cancer and could provide new leads for tackling this disease.

Award holder: Professor Paddy Johnston
Named Clinical Fellow: Dr Victoria Coyle (studying towards a PhD)
Host institution: Queen's University Belfast
Start date: 1 August 2005
Finished: 31 July 2008

Dr Coyle worked with bowel cancer expert Professor Paddy Johnston, tackling the challenge of drug resistance. There are now a number of drugs available to treat bowel cancer, but different drugs are more effective in some people than others.

Dr Coyle's Bobby Moore Fellowship allowed her to identify different genetic patterns in bowel cancers that could potentially be used to predict response to chemotherapy. The groundbreaking work could enable doctors to tailor treatment to a particular patient – helping them to treat people more effectively, as well as reducing side-effects.

Dr William Hamilton
University of Bristol
Start date: 1 December 2006
Finished: 31 May 2008

For many people with bowel cancer, their journey starts when they go to the GP with symptoms such as bleeding, constipation or abdominal pain.

But these symptoms are very common, and are more likely to be due to other problems than to bowel cancer. Only a tiny minority of these patients will have bowel cancer, and it is difficult for GPs to work out which of the patients are likely to have bowel cancer and should be referred to a specialist for further tests.

Dr William Hamilton has been finding out which symptoms are most important for GPs to recognise when diagnosing bowel cancer. Previously, his group developed a scoring system for GPs to use, called CAPER.

Dr Hamilton has been testing CAPER in a clinical trial, to find out if it can help doctors to spot bowel cancer earlier. He has also been investigating whether computerised medical records could be used to alert doctors once a patient's symptom pattern suggests a risk of bowel cancer.

Award holder: Dr Huw Thomas
Named Clinical Fellow: Dr Kevin Monahan (studying for a PhD)
Host Institution: Northern Institute for Cancer Research, University of Newcastle upon Tyne.
Start date: 1 October 2004
Finished: 30 September 2007

Dr Monahan was searching for new genes that are involved in inherited cases of bowel cancer. It is thought that around a third of all bowel cancer cases are due to the inheritance of certain gene faults, yet we currently only know of a few of the genes responsible.

There are several rare inherited conditions linked to bowel cancer, including Familial Adenomatous Polyposis (FAP). People who have FAP develop large numbers of growths, called polyps, in the lining of their gut. While these don't usually cause problems, some can go on to develop into bowel cancer. As a result, people with FAP are very susceptible to the disease.

But a number of people who have a high risk of bowel cancer don¿t carry the faulty genes linked to FAP or other known inherited bowel cancer syndromes. Dr Monahan was hunting for new genes that cause these other conditions.

Award Holder: M Seymour
Named Fellow: Dr Julian Adlard
Location: St James' Hospital, Leeds
Start date: 2001
Finished: 2004

Many people with bowel cancer receive chemotherapy at some point during their treatment. Unfortunately, not all patients respond in the same way, and some cancers can be resistant to certain drugs. No two patients' cancers are exactly the same – even if they look identical under the microscope, they will almost certainly have different genetic changes.

During his Bobby Moore Fellowship, Dr Adlard was studying the molecular ¿signatures¿ of bowel cancers, which could be used to predict how patients will respond to chemotherapy. In the future, this could help doctors to tailor treatment more accurately to a patient's cancer.

Award holders: Sir Walter Bodmer & Dr Huw Thomas
Named Fellow: Dr Veronique Bataille
Start date: June 1999
Finished: 2002

Dr Bataille was based at the Skin Tumour Laboratory at the Royal London Hospital during the course of her Bobby Moore Fellowship. During this time, she investigated whether analysing skin can provide an early indication of people who are prone to developing certain forms of bowel cancer.

Dr Bataille studied the DNA in non-cancerous skin growths taken from families with a history of bowel cancer. She found that a particular DNA fault was more common in samples from people with Hereditary Non-Polyposis Bowel cancer (HNPCC) – an inherited form of bowel cancer. Further research based on this work may lead to a new test to help identify those at risk of developing this form of bowel cancer.

Award holder: Dr Ian Tomlinson
Named Fellow: Dr Emma Jaeger
Location: Cancer Research UK London Research Institute
Start date: 2001
Finished: 2003

Bobby Moore Fellow Dr Jaeger worked with Dr Ian Tomlinson, who is leading a large national study called CORGI. The study aims to identify genes that predispose people to bowel cancer.

During the course of her fellowship, Dr Jaeger helped to analyse the vast amounts of data generated by CORGI. In doing so, she played a key part in identifying a number of new gene faults. The results of genetic studies like this will help to identify people at increased risk of bowel cancer, who might benefit from screening or other prevention strategies.

Award holder: Dr H Thomas
Named Fellow: Dr Lara Lipton
Location: Bowel cancer Unit, St Mark's Hospital
Start date: 2000
Finished: 2003

A Family Cancer Clinic was set up at St Mark's in 1986 with the aim of identifying and helping people with a family history of bowel cancer. A further aim was to understand more about the genes and molecules involved in different forms of inherited bowel cancer. Since opening, the clinic has assessed thousands of people, many of whom now have regular bowel screening.

There are many different types of inherited bowel cancer. At present, it is often very difficult to decide on the best advice and screening to offer families that attend the clinic. Dr Lipton was using knowledge about the genes involved in bowel cancer to classify families into different categories, and to determine the best way of screening them based on their risk.

Award holder: R Wolf
Named Fellow: Dr Douglas Adamson
Location: Molecular Pharmacology Unit at Ninewell's Hospital, Dundee
Start date: 1998
Finished: 2002

Dr Adamson studied the combined effect of lifestyle factors, such as diet, and inherited gene faults on the risk of bowel cancer.

One aspect of his work focused on the link between bowel cancer and a relatively common precancerous inflammation of the lining of the bowel wall. Not only did he strive to understand the reasons for this inflammation and its link to the disease but he also studied drugs that could control the inflammation. This work could, in the future, contribute to new approaches for both the prevention and treatment of bowel cancer.

Award holder: J Smythe
Name: Dr Jill Gardiner
Location: Medical Oncology Unit at the Western General Hospital in Edinburgh
Start Date: 1994
Finished: 1997

Dr Gardiner was awarded the first ever Bobby Moore Fellowship in 1994. She investigated a pioneering approach for treating bowel cancer that has spread to the liver - the exact condition from which Bobby suffered. Cancer is much harder to treat once it has spread.

One of the major challenges when treating any type of cancer is ensuring that enough of the chemotherapy drug reaches and kills the cancer cells without harming healthy tissues in the body. Dr Gardiner was helping to develop a method that involved loading tiny balls of protein, called microspheres, with an anti-cancer drug. These were then injected into the blood vessels that feed the liver, delivering the drug directly to the cancer. This approach is still being developed, and is not yet available for patients.

Name: Dr Alan Melcher
Location: Leeds Cancer Centre, University of Leeds
Start date: 2003
Finished: 2006

During the course of his Bobby Moore Fellowship, Dr Melcher was investigating a potential new treatment for bowel cancer. This was based on a specific set of genes found in viruses, known collectively as FMG genes. These help viruses to break into cells and infect them. But if they are added to cancer cells, the genes cause the cells to fuse together and die.

It's still at an early stage but researchers think that gene therapy with FMG genes could help to treat bowel cancers that have spread to the liver. Dr Melcher's research helped to move forward work in this area, paving the way for potential treatments for bowel cancer that has spread.

Name: Dr Helen McNeill
Location: Cancer Research UK London Research Institute, Lincoln's Inn Fields
Start date: 2002
Finished: 2005

Dr McNeill's Bobby Moore Fellowship focused on an important gene called LKB1, which Cancer Research UK-funded scientists helped to discover in 1998. Inherited faults in this gene cause a disease known as Peutz-Jeghers syndrome, and people with this condition have a greatly increased risk of bowel cancer. But little is known about the role of LKB1 in bowel cells.

Using a range of laboratory techniques, Dr McNeill studied LKB1 in great depth – to discover the other genes and molecules that interact with it. Studies like this help us to understand more about the role of specific genes in the development of bowel cancer. And they may point towards new ways to tackle the disease in the future.