Meet our new research fellows

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A new arrival is an exciting time for any family. But rather than the patter of tiny feet, we’re welcoming the fully-grown footsteps of our latest additions.

We’ve just welcomed 16 new doctors and lab scientists into our family of outstanding researchers. These pioneering newcomers are on the early rungs of their scientific careers, and we can’t wait to see the exceptional contributions they’ll be making to their fields in the coming years.

The hunt for these bright young minds began last year, when we received over 120 funding applications to review. After much deliberation, our expert panel settled on the final 16 this month.

Between them they’re tackling some big scientific questions, like finding potential new routes to tackle brain tumours and pancreatic cancer, harnessing the power of the immune system against cancer, and how different populations of cells change during disease progression and treatment.

If you want to find out a little bit more about who they are and what they’ll be getting up to, watch the slideshow below.

: Dr Georgios Lyratzopoulos is looking for reasons why delays happen in diagnosing cancer. Getting to know where delays happen will help find ways to overcome them and speed up diagnosis.

: Dr Jo Waller is finding out why some girls and women are opting out of measures that could protect them against cervical cancer.

: Dr Dirk Sieger is researching how immune cells in brain tumours may be helping them grow.

: Dr Carmela De Santo is focusing on how leukaemia hides from the immune system, and whether its ‘stealth cloak’ could be whisked away to re-activate an immune response.

: Dr Samra Turajlic is studying the different populations of cancer cells found in kidney tumours and how they change during the course of disease and treatment.

: Dr Bin-Zhi Qian is revealing whether immune cells play a role in helping breast cancers that have spread to the bones move more rapidly.

: Dr Elli Papaemmanuil is studying a chronic blood disorder to find out which genetic faults carry the greatest risk of it developing into a leukaemia.

: Dr Nischalan Pillay is analysing hundreds of samples to identify the genetic faults in different types of sarcoma – cancers that occur in soft tissues like muscle or in bone.

: Dr Marco Gerlinger is looking into whether a simple blood test can measure the diversity of genetic mistakes in different populations of cancer cells, and which pockets of cells are most likely to spread or become resistant to treatment.

: Dr Luis Baena Lopez is carrying out research to find out how cancer cells cheat death and become immortal.

: Dr Walid Khaled is finding out whether the type of cell breast cancer starts in affects the diversity of genetic mistakes in the cancer and how individual patients respond to treatment.

: Dr Jurre Kamphorst is delving into how pancreatic cells get enough energy to grow and whether their fuel supplies can be blocked.

: Dr Francis Mussai is investigating how neuroblastoma – a nerve cancer that affects children – hides from the immune system, and whether the immune response can be switched back on.

: Dr Anna Chambers is investigating a molecule that helps cells repair mistakes in their DNA, and what happens when this part of the repair kit goes wrong.

: Dr Ingo Ringshausen is dissecting the signals lymphoma cells use to communicate with neighbouring cells around them – intercepting these signals might stop cancer cells growing.

: The brain is located within the skull – the organ responsible for all our thoughts, emotions, and behaviours. So for obvious reasons, it isn’t easy to monitor early stages of the disease or take biopsies – Dr Steve Pollard

Investing in new recruits brings with it a flow of fresh new ideas and approaches. It ensures we’re funding the brightest, most talented scientists and supporting cancer research for the future.

And our new arrivals are dedicated to help us accelerate progress against cancer, bringing hope to the hundreds of thousands of cancer patients in the UK. To meet this incredible challenge, we’ve invested around £20m in funding to support their work.

We’d like to welcome them to Cancer Research UK and wish them success in their research –we’re sure we’ll be bringing you news of their achievements soon.

Emma

Comments

Nick Peel

21 January 2015

Hi Ann, thanks for your comment.
We’re really sorry to read about your problems, but it’s good to read that you are seeing a doctor. Probably the best thing to do is to keep going back to your family doctor if your problems don’t resolve or if you don’t get a full explanation of your condition.
Best wishes,
Nick, Cancer Research UK
Ann

18 January 2015

I am asking for your advice as I do not know where to go from here. I have a compromised immune system due to being on remicade for the past six years to treat my psoriasis. However, I no longer take remicade because of frequent infections. Two years ago I had multi lobar pneumonia and was hospitalized. This year I had pneumonia twice and currently have the flu. What is puzzling to me is that I have had abdominal pain (attacks) mostly at night every time I get sick to the point that Im on the floor. I did notice this last episode that when I stood up and walked around I felt much better. Do you think I have some sort of stomach cancer that started from a bacteria infection in my stomach. Why has this happened to me three times this year – October , December and January. I see a pulmonologist and have had seen another one while in the hospital and he said it was bad luck! Now I’m sick again with these stomach attacks. I am a teacher so I thought maybe it’s the kids getting me sick but I’m not so sure anymore. If you can offer any advice as to what or where I can go to figure out what’s really wrong with me I would appreciate it.
Fiona

29 November 2014

I met the wonderful Samra when I was diagnosed with Breast Cancer at Guy’s in 2008. Completely delightful person and gifted doctor.

Comments

Nick Peel

21 January 2015

Hi Ann, thanks for your comment.
We’re really sorry to read about your problems, but it’s good to read that you are seeing a doctor. Probably the best thing to do is to keep going back to your family doctor if your problems don’t resolve or if you don’t get a full explanation of your condition.
Best wishes,
Nick, Cancer Research UK
Ann

18 January 2015

I am asking for your advice as I do not know where to go from here. I have a compromised immune system due to being on remicade for the past six years to treat my psoriasis. However, I no longer take remicade because of frequent infections. Two years ago I had multi lobar pneumonia and was hospitalized. This year I had pneumonia twice and currently have the flu. What is puzzling to me is that I have had abdominal pain (attacks) mostly at night every time I get sick to the point that Im on the floor. I did notice this last episode that when I stood up and walked around I felt much better. Do you think I have some sort of stomach cancer that started from a bacteria infection in my stomach. Why has this happened to me three times this year – October , December and January. I see a pulmonologist and have had seen another one while in the hospital and he said it was bad luck! Now I’m sick again with these stomach attacks. I am a teacher so I thought maybe it’s the kids getting me sick but I’m not so sure anymore. If you can offer any advice as to what or where I can go to figure out what’s really wrong with me I would appreciate it.
Fiona

29 November 2014

I met the wonderful Samra when I was diagnosed with Breast Cancer at Guy’s in 2008. Completely delightful person and gifted doctor.

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