Principal investigators

Maria Chiara Arno (Chiara) is a Birmingham Fellow, working across the School of Chemistry and the Institute of Cancer and Genomic Sciences.

With a background in polymer chemistry and nanoparticle design, Dr Arno’s research interests span across a diverse range of disciplines, including Polymer Chemistry, Materials Science, and Life Sciences. Her current research is focussed on the ...

Dr Roland Arnold is a group leader in the Institute for Cancer and Genomic Sciences and joined the Institute in 2017 to build up a research group dedicated to bioinformatics for cancer and diseases.

He is interested in developing and applying methods that help us to bridge the gap between genomic alterations, especially in cancer, and cellular phenotypes by novel data analysis methods and by ...

Simon is Professor of colorectal surgery, section lead for surgery and clinical lead for the D3B [Drugs, Devices, Diagnostics & Biomarkers] clinical trials team at the Institute of Cancer and Genomic Sciences, University of Birmingham.

Simon trained in Newcastle, Christie Hospital Manchester, John Radcliffe Hospital Oxford before joining the Colorectal Surgical Society of Australia and New ...

Paul Badenhorst is an Associate Professor in the Institute of Cancer and Genomic Sciences.

Paul’s field of expertise is in Epigenetics and Development. Paul uses both the Drosophila model system and human cells to investigate how chromatin modifying complexes regulate gene expression to control developmental pathways. He has received major grant funding from Cancer Research UK, the ...

Dr Chiara Bardella was appointed as a group leader at the Institute of Cancer and Genomic Sciencesin 2018. Her research is focused on understanding the mechanisms of tumour onset and progression, with a particular interest in gliomas. Gliomas account for >70% of all primary brain tumours of which glioblastomas are the most frequent and malignant. In particular, her team investigates the ...

Timothy Barrett is Leonard Parsons Professor of Paediatrics and Child Health in the Institute of Cancer and Genomic Sciences. He is an Honorary Consultant in Paediatric Endocrinology and Diabetes and Managing Director for the NIHR Wellcome Clinical Research Facility (children) at Birmingham Women’s and Children’s Hospital. Timothy is also the Director of the Centre for ...

Andrew Beggs is a Professor of Cancer Genetics & Surgery in the Institute of Cancer and Genomic Sciences, University of Birmingham. He is also the Deputy Director of the Birmingham Experimental Cancer Medicine Centre and Theme Lead for Biomarkers and Liquid Biopsy.  He also is Head of Somatic Cancer in the Central and South Genomic Medicine Service Alliance. He is Co-Lead of the Tran ...

Dr Andrew Bell is a Lecturer within the Institute of Cancer and Genomic Sciences in the College of Medical and Dental Sciences. He has a longstanding interest in Epstein-Barr virus and its associated diseases.

Andrew is Programme Lead for the MSc in Genomic Medicine, a course designed by Health Education England to offer students a multidisciplinary perspective on genomics and its applications ...

Fedor’s research is focused on communication between cells in tumour microenvironment in the Institute of Cancer and Genomic Sciences. His research is supported by grants from the Breast Cancer Now, Medical Research Council and Wellcome Trust. Fedor is involved in undergraduate teaching and in supervision of postgraduate students.

External web page:  berditchevski-lab.weebly.com 

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Mr Aneel Bhangu is Professor of Global Surgery at the University of Birmingham and a Consultant Colorectal Surgeon at University Hospital Birmingham. His clinical practice includes management of colorectal cancer, common proctological problems, and a range of general and emergency conditions. Aneel is based in the Institute of Cancer and Genomic Sciences. His full online CV can be found ...

Lucinda Billingham is Professor of Biostatistics within the Institute of Cancer and Genomic Sciences at the University of Birmingham. She has worked for over 25 years as a Biostatistician at their Cancer Research UK Clinical Trials Unit and is now Director of Biostatistics for the unit working with a large team of Biostatisticians on an extensive portfolio of early and late phase trials. 

Lu ...

There is great heterogeneity among individuals in their risk of developing cancer, their disease progression and their responses to therapy.  This heterogeneity is a major obstacle in designing uniformly effective prevention, screening and treatment strategies and motivates the large effort to personalize these interventions. Both rare and common inherited genetic variants have great ...

My name is Constanze Bonifer, I am Chair of Experimental Haematology in the Institute of Cancer and Genomic Sciences. Our lab works on gene regulation in the hematopoietic system. We study how transcription factors and chromatin components drive differential gene expression during blood cell development, both in a normal, but also in a disease setting. We are particularly interested into studying ...

Rik Bryan is a former clinical urologist, and now a full-time bladder cancer research academic. He is the Chief Investigator of the Bladder Cancer Prognosis Programme (BCPP), the SELENIB clinical trial, and POUT-T. He is the Director of the Bladder Cancer Research Centre (BCRC) in the Institute of Cancer & Genomic Sciences. The BCRC has a particular interest in the proteomics, genomics and ...

Prof Jean-Baptiste Cazier has interests across the broad spectrum of Computational and Mathematical modelling of natural phenomena.

Peter is a Professor within the Institute of Cancer and Genomic Sciences. He has spent his career engaged in research using chromatin structure analysis as a tool to investigate gene regulation in the fields of molecular immunology and leukaemia. Peter was previously a professor at the University of Leeds from 2000 to 2011, and he ran a research group in Australia before that. He currently ...

Mathew Coleman is a Professor in Tumour Cell Biology at the Institute of Cancer and Genomic Sciences, where his research focusses on the role of protein hydroxylation in the cell biology of tumour cells. He is also Theme Co-Lead for Translational Biology and Genetics.

Mathew has attracted highly competitive funding support from Cancer Research UK, the MRC, BBSRC and Glaxo Smith Kline. His work ...

Clare Davies is a Reader of Cancer Cell Biology in the Institute of Cancer and Genomic Sciences, where her research is focused on understanding the role of PRMTs, enzymes that catalyse methylation of arginine residues, in cancer pathogenesis. This is important as inhibitors to specific PRMTs are in pre-clinical development for cancer therapy.

Clare started her research group in 2012 as a ...

Prof Jon Frampton is a stem cell biologist.  Prof Frampton's primary area of interest is in how stem cells operate in adults.

Professor Aga Gambus moved to Cancer Sciences in 2011 to start her independent research. She was awarded MRC Career Development Award and Birmingham Fellowship supporting her research into regulation of DNA replication through small protein modifiers: ubiquitin and SUMO.

Aga’s group discovered the first elements of the mechanism of replication machinery disassembly at termination of DNA ...

The Garcia group research interest is to understand the molecular mechanisms that maintain genome integrity in stem cells and how loss of genome integrity leads to development of cancer during ageing. Her research focuses on both embryonic stem cells ESC/iPSC and adult stem cells, in particular haemopoietic stem cells and breast cancer initiating cells.

 

 

Simon Gates is Professor of Biostatistics and Clinical Trials at the Cancer Research UK Clinical Trials Unit (CRCTU). He is a Deputy Director of CRCTU and is involved in design, supervision, analysis and reporting of clinical trials in paediatric cancer and a variety of other fields. His main research interests are in improving the efficiency of clinical trials so that they can provide better and ...

Dr Susanne Gatz is a clinician scientist who aims to combine her clinical expertise in solid tumours with her laboratory interests and expertise into translational research into DNA repair and sarcoma to ultimately identify better treatments for children with cancer, in particular sarcomas.

Susanne joined the University of Birmingham as senior lecturer in Paediatric Oncology in October 2018. She ...

Dr Deena Gendoo is an Associate Professor in Computational Biology at the Institute of Cancer and Genomic Sciences. Dr Gendoo obtained her PhD in 2012 at McGill University in Canada, and completed her postdoctorate fellowship at the Princess Margaret Cancer Centre in Canada. Over the course of her career, she has developed extensive expertise in bioinformatics and computational biology, applied ...

Professor George Gkoutos has interests in the general areas of clinical and biomedical informatics, computational biology, and integrative & translational research.

Marc Haber is an Associate Professor at the Institute of Cancer and Genomic Sciences and leads the Health Data Science Programme at the Dubai Campus. His group investigates genetic variation in humans to explain differences between populations in disease incidence and progression. The group focuses on genetically underrepresented populations to understand how their genomic history ...

Martin Higgs is a group leader in the Institute of Cancer and Genomic Sciences. He is currently Associate Professor for Genomics and Rare Disease, and leads a research group working on the cellular response to genotoxic stress. He is also Deputy Director for the Centre for Rare Disease Studies (CRDS) Birmingham.  

Martin’s area of expertise is the study of a single ...

Maarten Hoogenkamp is a Leukaemia & Lymphoma Research Bennett Fellow. He joined the Institute of Cancer and Genomic Sciences in summer 2012 to establish his own independent research group.

His research focuses on the dynamic interplay between transcription factor complexes and the chromatin, how this regulates cellular identity during differentiation, and how these interactions change ...

Pam Kearns is Professor of Clinical Paediatric Oncology at the University of Birmingham and an Honorary Consultant Paediatric Oncologist at Birmingham Women and Children’s Hospital. She is Director of the University of Birmingham’s Institute of Cancer and Genomic Sciences and Director of the Cancer Research UK Clinical Trials Unit(CRCTU). As Director of CRCTU, she leads the research ...

Lennard Lee is an Honorary Senior Research Fellow at the Institute of Cancer and Genomic Sciences.

His research interests are those of the interaction of COVID-19 infection and cancer patients. He has set up the UK Coronavirus Cancer monitoring project which is a national project that pioneers the use of a clinician-led reporting project to enable tracking of cancer patients who have ...

Professor Hisham Mehanna is the chair of head and neck surgery, and is the Director of the Institute of Head and Neck Studies and Education (InHANSE) at the Institute of Cancer and Genomic Sciences.

Hisham is a head and neck and thyroid surgeon with clinical interests in recurrence in thyroid and parathyroid surgery. He has a keen interest in clinical and translational research, ...

The Monteiro Lab studies the fundamental mechanisms underpinning haematopoiesis in development and homeostasis and how perturbations in these mechanisms lead to haematopoietic disease.

What factors direct cells of a particular lineage(endothelium) to de-differentiate and become a stem cell for a different tissue type (blood)? How do these stem cells maintain the balance between differentiation ...

Professor Jo Morris is interested in the way our cells maintain and repair our genome, keeping our DNA intact.

A particular interest is the functions of the breast and ovarian cancer predisposition protein BRCA1 and the way it works in controlling DNA resection and DNA replication. She also works on the small modifier proteins, ubiquitin and SUMO and is interested in how these change the way ...

After Dion received his degree in Medicine from Bristol University in 1985, he took up an honorary consultant appointment at the University Hospitals Birmingham NHS Foundation Trust in 1996 and was appointed Professor of Surgery in 2006. In 2015, he became Barling Chair of Surgery. He is also Surgery Section Head at the Institute of Cancer and Genomics.

Dion was appointed Officer of the Order of ...

Ferenc leads a research group in the Institute of Cancer and Genomic Sciences  and is a member of the Birmingham Centre for Genome Biology. Their research encompass transcription regulation in vertebrate development and the DNA codes of gene expression regulation. They use zebrafish as a main model system. They collaborate with colleagues in the Medical School and internationally ...

Mr Paul Nankivell is Senior Clinical lecturer at the Institute of Head and Neck Studies and Education (INHANSE) and Institute of Cancer and Genomic Sciences at the University of Birmingham, and also a Consultant ENT/Head and Neck surgeon in the department of Otolaryngology at the University Hospital Birmingham. He is a member of the University’s INHANSE head and neck cancer research ...

Dr Odintsova’s research interests are focused on an elucidation of the role of tetraspanins in modulation of responses of cancer cells to extracellular stimuli targeting various transmembrane receptors. Specifically her current and future research is focused on the following areas:

a)    Investigation of the role of CD82/KAI1 in releasing of extracellular vesicles with a ...

Claire Palles was appointed as a Birmingham Fellow in October 2017.  Her laboratory studies genetic predisposition to gastrointestinal cancers with a focus on discovery and characterisation of:

1)    Genetic variants associated with oesophageal adenocarcinoma and its precursor Barrett’s oesophagus

2)     Genetic variants associated with colorectal ...

Professor Jo Parish was awarded a Royal Society University Research Fellowship in 2007 and was appointed Senior Lecturer in Institute of Cancer and Genomic Sciences at the University of Birmingham in 2012.

The main focus of Jo’s research is the study of novel virus-host interactions that are important for viral pathogenesis and persistence. Jo has a longstanding interest in the ...

Prashant Patel qualified in 1993 from India and then trained to qualify as a General Surgeon with special interest in pelvic surgery. He was awarded a PhD from the University of Birmingham whilst training as a Urologist. His research explored gene and immunotherapy for prostate cancer. He travelled to Perth, Australia to complete a fellowship in urological cancer surgery where he had exposure to ...

Andrew Peet is an NIHR Research Professor in paediatric neuro-oncology at the University of Birmingham and the Research Director of the NIHR 3T MRI Research Centre at Birmingham Children’s Hospital. He is a practicing paediatric oncologist. Professor Peet’s research focusses on the development and evaluation of novel MRI techniques for diagnosis, management and understanding childhood ...

Professor Petermann’s research focuses on mechanisms of mammalian DNA replication stress, with an emphasis on oncogene-induced replication stress and homologous recombination. She has published more than 35 research papers and review articles in the field of DNA replication and DNA repair. Her lab has received research funding from Cancer Research UK, MRC, BBSRC, Worldwide Cancer Research, ...

Thomas Pinkney received his Medical Degree from the University of Birmingham in 2000. He was appointed as Senior Lecturer in Surgery in 2012 and awarded an honorary consultant appointment at the University Hospitals Birmingham at the same time.  In 2019 he was appointed as George Drexler and Royal College of Surgeons Chair of Surgical Trials at the University of Birmingham

Professor Pinkney ...

Dr Rea is a Medical Oncologist with a primary Research Interest in Breast Cancer.

Dr Saponaro is interested in characterising mechanisms of genome stability maintenance. In particular he is interested in understanding how RNA Pol II transcription, especially when in mutant contexts that affect transcription progression, can induce genome instability. He develops his research combining whole genome analyses with functional studies. He characterises RNA Pol II progression ...

Dr Sovan Sarkar is a Birmingham Fellow at the University of Birmingham, and holds the distinction of Former Fellow for life at Hughes Hall, University of Cambridge. He is also involved in setting up academic and research collaborations with India. His laboratory studies the biological process of autophagy, which is an intracellular degradation pathway essential for cellular survival. Using human ...

Neil Sharma is a Clinician Scientist and practising Consultant Head and Neck Surgeon, with a lead role in the thyroid cancer service at University Hospital Birmingham.

Neil’s main research interest lies in clinical and translational studies in to head and neck cancer, particularly thyroid cancer.  He is also involved in developing sustainable research and development programmes in ...

Professor Steve Smerdon is a structural biologist with a long-standing interest in biological signaling processes. For the last twenty years or so, he has been mainly focussed on how cells respond to DNA damage and how protein modifications such as phosphorylation and, more recently, ubiquitylation regulate the timely assembly of protein complexes responsible for maintenance of genomic integrity.

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Professor Tatjana Stankovic is a Professor in Cancer Genetics. 

Professor Tatjana Stankovic has published over 90 research papers in high impact scientific journals as well as reviews in the fields of cancer genetics and DNA damage response.  She has received grants from the Bloodwise (previously Leukaemia Research Fund, Cancer Research UK, Kay Kendall Leukaemia Fund, and CLIC.

She is ...

Professor Grant Stewart is a Professor of Cancer Genetics in the Institute of Cancer and Genetic Sciences.

Defective repair of DNA damage is the most frequent underlying cause of genetic instability and cancer development. Professor Stewart's research focuses on understanding how the cell detects and repairs damage to its DNA and how defects in this process contribute to the development of ...

Sudha Sundar is a gynaecological cancer surgeon and a clinical academic. Her research programme focusses on improving cancer diagnostics, cancer surgery and addressing inequalities in cancer outcomes. Sudha’s research has led to change of NICE guidance to recommend maximum cytoreduction surgery for ovarian cancer. She has recently completed her term as the President of the British ...

Malcolm Taylor is an Emeritus Professor of Cancer Genetics within the Institute of Cancer and Genomic Sciences. Malcolm has published over 120 Research papers and received consistent major support from Cancer Research UK as well as the Leukaemia Research Fund.

He also has a close relationship with the charity, the Ataxia -Telangiectasia Society and his laboratory is NCG designated for the ...

Andy Turnell is a Senior Lecturer in the Institute of Cancer and Genomic Sciences.  He is interested in how viruses regulate host cell transcription programmes and cell cycle checkpoints in order to promote viral replication and cellular transformation. He is particularly interested in how adenovirus oncoproteins modulate the function of host cell proteins to regulate chromatin, the ...

Bryan Turner is an internationally recognised expert in the fields of epigenetics and gene regulation. He has published over 140 research papers in scientific journals as well as reviews and book chapters. He has written a long-lived book on his specialist research area (Chromatin and Gene Regulation: Mechanisms in Epigenetics, Blackwell Scientific 2001). He has received major grants from Cancer ...

Richard is an Associate Professor and Head of Education based in the Institute of Cancer and Genomic Sciences. He is a cell biologist with a particular interest in understanding DNA damage in neurological disease.

 

 

Doug Ward is a Senior Research Fellow and theme lead for Biomarkers and Proteomics at the University of Birmingham Bladder Cancer Research Centre. His main research interests are the use of proteomic and genomic platforms to discover prognostic and diagnostic biomarkers for bladder cancer, biomarker validation and translation into clinical use.

 

Professor Colin Watts leads the newly established Brain Cancer Programme at the University of Birmingham. His research aims to improve the treatment and survival of patients with glioma by understanding the molecular genetic heterogeneity of individual tumours and using that data to develop novel molecular and functional stratification suitable for application in clinical trials. His clinical ...

Professor of Clinical Trials, specialising in management (design, monitoring, analysis and reporting) of clinical trials in a range of disease areas, mainly paediatric oncology and also leukaemia and skin cancer, along with related meta-analyses and add-on biomarker studies.

 

Victoria Wykes is a Senior Clinical Lecturer at the Institute of Cancer and Genomic Sciences at the University of Birmingham and an Honorary Consultant Neurosurgeon at University Hospital Birmingham, sub-specialising in neurosurgical oncology and epilepsy surgery. 

Victoria is the local principal investigator for the Tessa Jowell Brain Matrix study  and chief ...