Birmingham researchers receive prestigious fellowships for thrombosis and cancer therapy projects

Researchers from the University of Birmingham have been awarded prestigious fellowships, which will support important research into thrombosis and cancer therapy.

Dr Joseph Wragg, Birmingham Springboard Fellow and Dr Samantha Montague, Research Fellow, have received a Career Development Award from the Medical Research Council (MRC) and an intermediate fellowship from the British Heart Foundation, respectively.

Dr Wragg investigates childhood sarcoma therapy resistance, translating his expertise in tumour blood vessel formation and developmental dynamics into new treatment options for incurable childhood cancers.

The Birmingham Springboard Fellowship he received in 2024 allowed him to harness this expertise to uncover a previously unappreciated mechanism of therapy resistance in childhood cancers, cancer cells imitating other cell types. Supported by the Springboard funding, he has developed tools to model and potentially specifically target this process, and this new funding from the MRC will allow him to further develop this research.

The Career Development Award will allow Dr Wragg to establish a lab to drive research into uncovering novel mechanisms of therapy resistance, tools to stratify tumours on their ability to mimic blood vessels and predict treatment response. This research will also test whether this process can be targeted as a treatment strategy for currently incurable cancers.

Dr Wragg said: "Birmingham is a fantastic place to do this research with a focus of expertise in cancer, cardiovascular, metabolism, immunology and developmental biology, all key elements of my project. It is also a leading centre for paediatric cancer clinical trials facilitating the translation of key outputs of my project towards patient benefit.”

Dr Samantha Montague has been awarded a five-year intermediate basic science research fellowship from the British Heart Foundation, to understand how platelets and neutrophils are involved in conditions with blood clots (thrombosis) and drops in platelet counts (thrombocytopenia).

Platelets are small disc-shaped cells in the blood that are essential for stopping bleeding. Produced in bone marrow, they react to injured blood vessels by clustering together and forming a clot to prevent excess blood loss. Neutrophils are the most abundant type of white blood cell in the human body and serve as the immune system's first line of defence. They are highly mobile, short-lived cells that rapidly travel to sites of infection or injury to ingest and destroy invading bacteria and fungi.

Some people can develop a rare but powerful immune response and generate antibodies against a naturally occurring protein in the blood, called Platelet Factor 4 (PF4). These antibodies bind to PF4, forming immune complexes that activate platelets and neutrophils, driving blood clotting.

Working with senior haematologists at University Hospitals Birmingham as well as national and international collaborators, the fellowship will allow Dr Montague to establish her own research group, which will aim to identify patients with these rare but life-threatening blood clots and drops in platelet counts and explore reasons why these particular individuals are so susceptible.

Dr Montague said: "I am honoured to have received this fellowship from the British Heart Foundation, which will help me to develop my training and leadership skills to support by independent research career."