Recently funded awards

Advanced Clinician Scientist Fellowships

Sean Lim, University of Southampton
Exploiting the innate and adaptive immune interface for effective cancer therapy

Simon Buczacki, University of Cambridge
Contextual clonogenicity in differentiated colorectal cancer cells: understanding the ‘reserve’ cancer stem cell

David Church, University of Oxford
Mechanisms and consequences of hyper/ultramutation in colorectal and endometrial cancer

Paolo Gallipoli, University of Cambridge
Identification and characterisation of metabolic pathways as determinants of drug resistance in acute myeloid leukaemia

Clinician Scientist Fellowships

Thomas Mitchell, Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute
Understanding the multi-cellular microenvironment of renal cell carcinoma

David O’Connor, University College London
Identifying the genetic and functional drivers of chemoresistant T-cell acute lymphoblastic leukaemia

Amit Roshan, University of Cambridge
Molecular risk stratification of early stage melanoma by identifying early genetic events and ultra-sensitive detection of circulating tumour DNA

Simon Richardson, University of Cambridge
Characterisation of altered epigenetic cell states following loss of CREBBP function and their role in the induction and treatment of ALL

Pre-doctoral Research Bursaries

Mareike Thompson, University of Cambridge
Analysis of circulating tumour DNA (ctDNA) in patients with glioblastoma leveraging samples collected in the PARADIGM trial

Rachael Pocock, UCL Cancer Institute
Examining the role of Reptin and its interaction with the transcription factor MYB as a driver of leukaemogenesis in T-ALL

Edward Poynton, Queen Mary, University of London
Investigating circulating tumour DNA as a multi-purpose surveillance tool in follicular lymphoma

Akshay Patel, University of Birmingham
Is B cell Immune phenotype predictive of outcome and toxicity with combination checkpoint blockade in Non-small cell lung cancer patients?

Samuel Withey, King's College London 
Utilising a radiogenomics approach for predicting therapy response in patients with primary oesophageal cancer undergoing neoadjuvant therapy

CRUK/Pathological Society Pre-doctoral Research Bursaries

Lorelle Brownlee, University College London
Tumour evolution in neuroendocrine lung cancers

Sophie Prendergast, University College London
Genomic profiling of adamantinoma

Hannah Crane, University of Sheffield
Exploring chemotherapy resistance in HPV-positive and HPVnegative Oropharyngeal Squamous Cell Carcinoma (OPSCC)

Dr Vinaya Srirangam Nadhamuni, Queen Mary, University of London 
Growth hormone-secreting pituitary adenomas: The link between AIP mutations and resistance to treatment with somatostatin analogues

Postdoctoral Research Bursaries

Kezia Gaitskell, University of Oxford
The molecular pathological epidemiology of ovarian cancer in the million women study: a pilot study

Kate Marks, University of Leeds
Understanding the rate limiting events that determine the fixation and spread of somatic mutations in normal and diseased bowel mucosa and how they lead to colorectal cancer

Elaine Leung, University of Glasgow 
Deciphering the role of the CCR7/CCL21 chemokine axis in ovarian cancer

Saif Ahmad, University of Cambridge
Deciphering the role of androgen receptor mediated upregulation of DNA repair capacity as a driver of breast cancer radioresistance

Sally George, Institute of Cancer Research
Therapeutic targeting of the DNA damage response pathway in neuroblastoma with alterations in ATRX and alternative lengthening of telomeres (ALT)

Rasheed Zakaria, University of Liverpool 
BRain dIffusion TEnsor imaging to predict immunotherapy response in METastatic melanoma (BRITEMET)

John Findlay, University of Oxford 
Augmenting clinical decision-making and predicting success of first-line therapies for oesophageal cancer using multi-omics and artificial intelligence

Biomarker Project Awards

Dr Sudha Sundar and Dr James Brenton, University of Birmingham
ROCKETS-GEN: Earlier detection of ovarian cancer using novel genomic technology

Clinical Trial Awards*

Professor Mererid Evans, Professor Terence Jones and Professor Christian Simon, Cardiff University
PATHOS: Post-operative adjuvant treatment for HPV-positive tumours

Professor Maria Hawkins, University College London
ABC-07: Addition of stereotactic body radiotherapy to systemic chemotherapy in locally advanced biliary tract cancers

Dr Geoff Higgins, University of Cambridge
ARCADIAN: Phase I study combining the tumour hypoxia modifier atovaquone with radical chemoradiotherapy in locally advanced NSCLC

Dr Anthony Kong, University of Birmingham
TWEET: A randomised phase II Trial of WEE1 inhibitor (AZD1775) with Taxane chemotherapy (paclitaxel) versus paclitaxel in head and neck squamous cell carcinoma

Dr Adam Mead, University of Birmingham
PROMise: Investigation into the combination of a Plexxikon BETi with ruxolitinib in patients with high or intermediate-2 risk myelofibrosis not receiving an adequate response with ruxolitinib alone

Dr John Moppett, University College London
ALLTogether-1: A Treatment study protocol of the ALLTogether Consortium for children and young adults (1-45 years of age) with newly diagnosed acute lymphoblastic leukaemia (ALL)

Professor Carlo Palmieri and Dr Anthony Kong, University of Birmingham
RADIANT-BC: A multi-cohort Phase Ib/expansion cohort study of the efficacy and safety of radiosurgery with durvalumab followed by durvalumab and standard of care systemic therapy in patients with brain metastases secondary to breast cancer

Endorsements

Professor Gareth Griffiths and Professor Dean Fennell, University of Southampton
IND227: A phase II/III randomised trial of pembrolizumab in patients with advanced malignant pleural mesothelioma

Professor Gareth Griffiths, Professor Robert Huddart and Dr Simon Crabb, University of Southampton
BL13: A randomised phase II trial assessing trimodality therapy with or without adjuvant durvalumab to treat patients with muscle-invasive bladder cancer

Dr David Chang, University of Glasgow
PRIMUS-004: Second line Chemotherapy for metastatic pancreatic cancer

Dr Susana Banerjee and Professor Judith Bliss, Institute of Cancer Research
ATARI: ATr inhibitor in combination with olaparib in gynaecological cancers with ARId1A loss or no loss

Extension

Professor Robert Hills and Professor Nigel Russell, Cardiff University
AML18: A trial for older patients with acute myeloid leukaemia and high risk myelodysplastic syndrome

Renewal

Professor Gary Middleton, University of Birmingham
LungMatrix: Multi-drug, genetic marker-directed, non-comparative, multi-centre, multi-arm phase II trial in non-small cell lung cancer

Prospective Sample Collection Awards

Dr Marcia Hall, University of Glasgow
TRANS CeNtuRIOn

Clinical Trial Fellowships

Dr John Apps, Leeds Clinical Trials Research Unit

Dr Alexandra Gilbert, Cancer Research UK Clinical Trial Unit Birmingham

Dr Magdalena Meissner, Wales Cancer Trials Unit

*This list includes grants awarded under our Early Phase and Feasibility Study Awards and Late Phase Clinical Trial Awards, which were replaced in 2018 with the single Clinical Trial Awards scheme

Early Detection Programme Awards

Dr Nitzan Rosenfeld and Dr Robert Rintoul, University of Cambridge
ELUSIVE: Early-stage LUng and Second primary cancer non-invasIVE detection by analysis of trace amounts of tumour DNA in liquid biopsy specimens

Early Detection Project Awards

Dr Richard Gilson, University College London
Screening and early detection to prevent anal cancer (SEPAC)

Dr Richard Grose, Queen Mary, University of London
Myoepithelial degradome in the progression of DCIS to invasive breast cancer

Dr Catherine Hogan, Cardiff University
Unravelling mechanisms of cell competition in pancreatic cancer initiation. Potential novel targets for early detection

Dr Daniel Murphy, University of Glasgow
Paracrine ERBB signalling as a predictive indicator of progression in early stage KRAS-driven lung adenocarcinoma test 

Dr Serena Nik-Zainal, University of Cambridge
Early detection of clinically-relevant mutational signatures

Professor Tony Ng, King’s College London
Improving the early detection of lung cancer by combining exosomal analysis of hypoxia with standard of care imaging

Professor Zoltan Takats, Imperial College London
Exosomal lipidome as diagnostic proxy for early detection and phenotyping of solid tumours 

Dr Lee Parry and Professor Paul Dyson, Cardiff University
Exploiting oncotropic bacteria for early detection of colorectal cancerdetection of colorectal cancer 

Professor Pietro Valdastri and Dr Venkataraman Subramanian, University of Leeds
A robotic magnetic flexible endoscope for painless colorectal cancer diagnostic screening, surveillance and intervention

Professor Caroline Dive and Dr Phil Crosbie, University of Manchester
Earlier detection of NSCLC relapse after surgery with liquid biopsies and frequent community based blood collection

Early Detection Primer Awards

Dr Paul Mullan, Queen’s University Belfast
Characterising the blood methylome to develop an early detection test for high grade serous carcinomas

Dr Lucy Oldfield, University of Liverpool
Application of deep proteomics using an aptamer-based technology to advance early detection of pancreatic cancer

Professor Deborah Goberdhan & Dr Elizabeth Bird-Lieberman, University of Oxford
Serum extracellular vesicle signatures as biomarkers for non-invasive early detection of oesophageal adenocarcinoma

Prof Yong-Jie Lu, Queen Mary, University of London
Exploring platelet miRNA as a novel cost-effective non-invasive liquid biopsy approach to improve prostate cancer diagnosis

Dr Ljiljana Fruk, University of Cambridge
Poly-Dopamine Based Nano-Senolytics For Specific Removal Of Senescent Cells 

Dr Piers Boshier, Imperial College London
Mechanistic approach to augment the production of volatile fatty acids for the early detection of oesophagogastric cancer

Dr Jiabao He, University of Aberdeen
Is lipid composition mapping using magnetic resonance imaging an effective early detection tool for breast cancer in high risk populations?

Dr Suzanne Johnson & Dr Martin McCabe, University of Manchester
Are Large Extracellular Vesicles of Value in the Early Detection of Cancer?

Early Detection Innovation Awards 

Sensor technology for liquid biopsy sandpit

Team EpiEnrich led by Charlie Massie at CRUK Cambridge Institute
Will enrich liquid biopsy samples by concentrating nucleosomes and then removing the bits of DNA that are bound to them.

Team ExoPop led by Dave Carter at Oxford Brookes University
Will identify the contents (defining signatures) of extracellular vesicles in liquid biopsies by popping them on a probe using current.

Team Quantum Leapers led by Melissa Mather at University of Nottingham
Will explore a new platform for analysing metabolomic profiles in liquid biopsies that uses a diamond sensor, which can create spectra like NMR.

Team TEP-eDx led by Beth Psaila at University of Oxford
Will identify characteristics and develop sorting techniques to capture tumour educated platelets from blood.

Career Development Fellowship

Dr Charles Massie, University of Cambridge
Early events in prostate cancer: causes, consequences and opportunities for precision medicine in early prostate cancers

Dr Alexis Barr, Imperial College London
Understanding proliferation-quiescence decisions in response to DNA damage

Dr Emma Kerr, Queen’s University Belfast
Defining metabolic mechanisms of drug resistance in colorectal cancer

Dr Kasper Rasmussen, University of Dundee
Aberrant DNA methylation and its impact in blood cancer development

Dr Raheleh Rahbari, The Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute
Pathogenic variants and clonal dynamics in normal and cancerous testes and their role in cancer predisposition

Career Establishment Award

Dr Helen Coleman, Queen’s University Belfast
Epidemiology and molecular pathology epidemiology of Barrett's oesophagus and oesophageal adenocarcinoma in the modern treatment era

Dr Alan Serrels, University of Edinburgh
Defining the mechanisms of FAK-dependent immune evasion in Pancreatic Cancer

Dr Kendle Maslowski, University of Birmingham
Mechanisms of attenuated Salmonella cancer therapy–metabolic reprogramming and immune modulation

Senior Cancer Research Fellowship

Dr Adam Mead, University of Oxford
Unravelling cancer stem cell heterogeneity in myeloproliferative neoplasms

Dr Ferdia Gallagher, University of Cambridge
Hyperpolarised carbon-13 MRI for metabolic imaging of renal cell carcinoma

Programme Grants

Gary Collins, University of Oxford
A Programme of Applied Statistical Methodology Research

Richard Gray, University of Oxford
Early breast cancer meta-analyses and trials: Early Breast Cancer Trialists' Collaborative Group (EBCTCG) and the AgeX NHS breast screening trial

Peter Sasieni, King’s College London
Cancer Screening & Statistics

Project Grants

Abigail Fisher, University College London
Advancing survival cancer outcomes trial (ASCOT); long-term follow-up

Jesper Lagergren, King’s College London
Circulating sex hormone levels and risk of oesophageal adenocarcinoma

Mark Rutherford, University of Leicester
Providing detailed insight into the impact of a cancer diagnosis across a full pathway for cancer patients: development and application of novel methodology

Michael Ussher, University of Stirling
A qualitative study of factors influencing adherence among pregnant women attempting to stop smoking with the aid of electronic cigarettes

Population Research Postdoctoral Fellowship

Tanimola Martins, University of Exeter
Ethnic inequality in diagnosis and outcomes in cancer

Hannah Littlecott, Cardiff University
Using social network analysis to understand the role of school-based social diffusion processes in smoking initiation among adolescents in contemporary Western society

Leah Jayes, University of Nottingham
Preventing relapse to smoking among prisoners after release

Catalyst Award

TBA spring 2019

​​Programme Awards

Christian Siebold, University of Oxford
Molecular Mechanisms of Morphogen Signalling at the Cell Surface

Kamil Kranc, Queen Mary, University of London
Targeting RNA metabolism to expand haematopoietic stem cells and eredicate acute myeloid leukaemia

Jeffery Pollard, University of Edinburgh
Systemic and local influences of cancer on myeloid cell biology promote tumor malignancy

Shonit Punwani, University College London
Novel microstructural (VERDICT and T2 mapping) and metabolic (hyperpolarised 13C-Pyruvate) MR in diagnosis, risk-stratification and treatment response assessment of prostate cancer

Juan Pedro Martinez-Barbera, Institute of Child Health and University College London
Characterisation of the pro-tumourigenic activities of cellular senescence in adamantinomatous craniopharyngioma and preclinical validation of novel therapies

Stephen Royle, University of Warwick
Mitotic spindle stability and chromosome missegregation in cancer

Simon Robinson, The Institute of Cancer Research
Advancing MRI Biomarkers of the Tumour Microenvironment for Patient Benefit

Renewals

Bart Vanhaesebroeck, University College London
PI3Kalpha and PI3Kdelta in cancer biology and therapy

Kim Nasmyth, University of Oxford
How does cohesin regulate transcription in mammalian cells and how does this go awry in tumour cells?

Frances Balkwill, Queen Mary University of London
Targeting the innate immune system in high grade serous ovarian cancer

Jessica Downs, The Institute of Cancer Research
Investigating the contribution of chromatin dynamics to DNA damage responses and genome stability

Keith Caldecott, University of Sussex
A Novel Role for PARP Activity During Normal S phase and its Impact on Genome Stability and Cancer

Ian Tomlinson, University of Birmingham
Using predisposition genes to understand and prevent colorectal cancer

Philip Jones, Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute
Reshaping the mutational landscape in oesophageal squamous pre-cancer

Henning Walczak, University College London
Understanding the tumour-supportive functions of endogenous TRAIL and LUBAC in the context of cancer immunotherapy

Programme Foundation Awards

Cristina Lo Celso, Imperial College London
Understanding the competition between healthy and malignant haematopoiesis within the bone marrow microenvironment: from mechanisms to targets

Simon Mendez-Ferrer, University of Cambridge
Microenvironmental metabolic regulation in myeloid malignancies

Christian Frezza, University of Cambridge
The role of Fumarate Hydratase loss and fumarate accumulation in the predisposition to renal cancer

Multidisciplinary Project Awards

Mieke Van Hemelrijck and Anthony Coolen, King’s College London
New quantitative tools for precision medicine: overfitting correction in multivariate Cox analysis

Paul Beard and Brian Davidson, University College London
Photoacoustic-guided minimally invasive treatment of liver cancer

David Klenerman and Kevin Brindle, University of Cambridge
New biophysical tools to elucidate the role of P53 aggregates in cancer biology

Andrew Povey, University of Manchester, Perdita Elizabeth Barran (Manchester), David Mark Williams, University of Sheffield, Nicholas H Williams (Sheffield), Geoffrey Paul Margison (Manchester)
Identification and nucleotide resolution mapping of alkyl adducts in human DNA

Cancer Immunology Project Awards

Mala Maini, University College London
Overcoming metabolic checkpoints for T cell immunotherapy of liver cancer

Lucy Walker, University College London
Identifying autoimmune signatures in patients receiving checkpoint immunotherapy

Michelle Bombardieri and Hemant Kocher, Queen Mary University of London
Anti-tumour specificity and functionality of monoclonal antibodies derived from single lesional B cells from ectopic germinal centres in pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma

Cecilia Johansson, Imperial College London
Cancer and viral infections in the lung - a delicate balance of microenvironments