Dr Tom Mitchell, a clinically-trained engineer, has received University of Cambridge-Wellcome Trust Senior Internship funding for a proposal to improve prostate cancer diagnosis. He will investigate how silica nanoparticles coated with antibodies can be used to bind to tumour cells, making the cells easier to detect using ultrasound imaging.
Dr Mitchell will conduct his research with scientists from the University Departments of Chemical Engineering and Biotechnology, and Medical Imaging, and clinicians in the Urology Department at Addenbrooke’s Hospital. If the new method of imaging tumour cells is successful in the lab, it is hoped the research will be translated into the clinic to enhance the diagnosis of prostate cancer.
A Cancer Research UK funding committee has sifted through over 100 applications from the brightest and most innovative cancer scientists. Of the 12 funding awards given across the UK, five of the successful applicants are based in Cambridge.
Dr Oliver Florey, who is based at the Babraham Institute, has received a Career Development Fellowship. He will establish a research team to investigate how cells recycle their components and how this is involved in cancer.
Dr Ultan McDermott, a team leader for the Cancer Genome Project at the Welcome Trust Sanger Insitute and a medical oncologist at Addenbrooke’s, is investigating mutations in cancer genomes to find out why tumours become resistant to treatment.
Dr Ferdia Gallagher is a researcher based at the Cancer Research UK Cambridge Institute and a radiologist at Addenbrooke’s. He has been awarded a Clinician Scientist Fellowship for research on developing new molecular biomarkers and imaging techniques to enhance the detection and monitoring treatment response of ovarian cancer.
Dr Sarah Bohndiek, a Cambridge University lecturer and scientist, has received a CRUK Career Establishment Award. The funding for 5 years enables her to lead a team within the Department of Physics and to work with other clinical translational scientists across the Cambridge Cancer Centre. Her research will investigate new molecular imaging tools to detect cancer earlier and to study the evolution of drug resistance in the disease.
Dr Simon Buczacki, a surgeon specialising in treating bowel cancer, has been awarded a Clinician Scientist Fellowship to support his research into how cancer stem cells fuel drug resistance in bowel cancer.
