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 Oxford
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

Tony Ng, King’s College London and Martin Forster, University College London

Multimodality Early Detection of Head and Neck Cancer Recurrence 

Sam Janes, University College London and Peter Campbell, Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute

Reinterpreting the ‘field of injury’ through understanding cellular level damage and dynamics and consequences for the Prediction, Prevention and Early Detection of lung cancer: ELIMINATE

Early Detection Project Awards

Bethan Psaila, University of Oxford; Chris Gregory, University of Edinburgh; Kenneth Meissner, Swansea University

TEP-eDx: Validating the use of Tumour Educated Platelets for early cancer diagnosis 

Charles Swanton, University College London

Validation and cellular origins of clonal expression biomarkers in lung cancer 

Sarah Bailey and Tanimola Martins, University of Exeter

Evaluating ethnic differences in blood markers of cancer in primary care 

Karla Evans, University of York

Understanding the Global Gist Signal as a Risk Marker for Early Cancer Detection 

George Vassiliou, University of Cambridge

Towards an early detection programme for myeloid malignancies 

Oleg Blyuss, University College London

Serial Artificial Intelligence/machine learning Classifiers for personalised Risk stratification and Early Detection of lung, bowel and pancreatic cancers in women (SAICRED)

Rosalind Eeles, Institute of Cancer Research

Early detection of prostate cancer in the general practice setting: The BARCODE1 Study 

Suzanne Scott, King’s College London

Interventions to encourage early diagnosis of future cancer after a negative urgent referral 

Gary Abel, University of Exeter

Investigating the conversion rate of routine referrals for patients presenting with symptoms of possible cancer 

Cristina Renzi, University College London

Variation in timeliness of diagnostic investigations for symptomatic patients and effect on cancer outcomes: facilitating the implementation of Faster Diagnosis Standards 

Julia Hippisley-Cox, University of Oxford

Development and validation of a risk assessment tool to improve early detection of childhood, adolescent and young adult cancer 

Early Detection Primer Awards

Onima Chowdhury, University of Oxford

Single cell genomics for early diagnosis in myelodysplastic syndromes 

Lizhe Zhuang & Sriganesh Jammula, University of Cambridge

Recapitulate the initiation and progression of Barrett’s oesophagus using patient-derived organoids 

Anita Grigoriadis, King’s College London

Early detection of cancer in germline BRCA1/2 mutation carriers 

Nitzan Rosenfeld, University of Cambridge

Genomic signatures in cell-free DNA and their role in early detection of cancer  

Louis Chesler, Institute of Cancer Research

Harnessing liquid biopsy for early detection of paediatric cancer 

Norbert Klein, Imperial College London

A label-free and real-time Graphene bioSensor for exosome-driven point-of-care detection of early CANcers (Gr-SensorCAN) 

Early Detection Innovation Awards 

Digital Pathology & AI 

Team Haem-AI led by Daniel Royston, University of Oxford
Advanced early detection of myeloproliferative neoplasms (MPN) using digital image analysis, computational pathology and machine learning.

Team PathNAV led by Marnix Jansen, University College London
PathNAV – Early detection of pre-neoplastic changes in Barrett’s oesophagus using expert knowledge augmented machine learning. 

Team PRISM led by Jan Lukas Robertus, Imperial College London
PRISM - Machine Learning for Discovery of Pre-neoplastic signature in Mesothelioma.

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

Renewal

Antonis Antoniou, University of Cambridge
CanRisk: Personalising cancer risk prediction for prevention and early detection

Project Grants

Blánaid Hicks, Queen's University Belfast
Psychotropic medications and Glioma: an international pharmacoepidemiological study

Katie Robb, University of Glasgow
Improving access to cancer screening among people with intellectual disabilities: development of a complex interaction

Gemma Taylor, University of Bath
Integrating online smoking cessation treatment as part of NHS routine psychological care for people with common mental health problems: a randomised feasibility and pilot study

Jack Cuzick, Queen Mary, University of London
A Comparison of cervico-vaginal self-samples and clinician taken routine cervical screening samples in terms of HPV positivity rate, referral rates after triage and CIN2+ detection rates using current and novel triage strategies - Predictors 5.2

Konstantinos Tsilidis, Imperial College London
Investigating mechanistic pathways linking adiposity to colorectal cancer

David Muller, Imperial College London
In-depth investigation of the role of inflammation and the immune system in renal cancer incidence and survival

Population Research Postdoctoral Fellowship

Brian Nicholson, University of Oxford
Developing a decision rule using existing blood test data to select primary care patients with non-specific symptoms for urgent cancer investigation

Haiyan Zheng, University of Cambridge
IDENT: Improving Design and analysis of oncology trials Evaluating New targeted Therapies

Kaitlin Wade, University of Bristol
Applying human genetics to interrogate the role of the human gut microbiome in cancer aetiology

​​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