Dr John Apps BM BCh PhD MSc MA (Cantab) RCPCH

Department of Cancer and Genomic Sciences
Associate Clinical Professor in Paediatric Neuro-Oncology

Contact details

Email: j.r.apps@bham.ac.uk

Address: Department of Cancer and Genomic Sciences
Ground Floor, IBR West
College of Medicine and Health
University of Birmingham
Edgbaston
Birmingham B15 2TT

I am an Academic Paediatric Neuro-Oncologist working between the University of Birmingham and Birmingham Children’s Hospital.

I have an interest in Craniopharyngioma and rare brain tumours; Imaging, Data Integration and Artificial Intelligence and Clinical Trials.

Qualifications

Fellow Higher Education Academy, 2022
PhD, University College London, Molecular characterisation of childhood craniopharyngioma and identification and testing of novel drug targets, 2018
MSc Advanced Paediatrics, University College London, 2013
Member of Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health, 2012
MA (Cantab) University of Cambridge 2010
BM BCh, University of Oxford 2008

Biography

Throughout my career I have combined research with clinical care. As an undergraduate in Cambridge I developed an interest in cancer biology, completing a BA in Cancer Biology and Immunology. After qualifying I entered the academic training programme in London completing an Academic Foundation Programme and Academic Clinical Fellowship before undertaking a PhD in the lab of Professor Juan Pedro Martinez-Barbera at UCL studying the biology of Craniopharyngioma. I moved to Birmingham in 2018 and undertook a Clinical Trials Fellowship and Academic Clinical Lectureship expanding my areas to other rare tumours, clinical trials, imaging and data integration, working closely with Professor Andrew Peet.

In 2023, I took over leading the Children's Brain Tumour Research Team at the University of Birmingham (www.cbtrt.bham.ac.uk) and as Chief Investigator for the Imaging of Tumour Study. Through this study I support a range of imaging and radiomics projects locally, nationally and internationally.

Teaching

International Society of Paediatric Oncology (SIOP-Europe) Brain Tumour Group, Young Investigator and Innovator, Former Chair 2022-2025

Research

Craniopharyngioma and Rare Brain Tumours

Building on my experience in the lab of Prof JP Martinez-Barbera at UCL I work closely with national and international leaders in Craniopharyngioma biology to identify and translate new therapies, through molecular profiling, preclinical models and clinical trials. I also have an interest in other rare tumour types, particularly rare embryonal CNS tumours.

Data Integration, Imaging and Artificial Intelligence

Just as the management of brain tumours requires collaborative multidisciplinary management, so does research. This includes integration of diverse datasets, from molecular biology/bioinformatics to imaging, clinical data and quality of life. I work across a range of projects, including the CCLG Functional Imaging of Tumours Study, and the Tessa Jowell Brain Matrix Platform Study and have an interest in the development and application of Artificial Intelligence approaches to addressing relevant clinical challenges.

Clinical Trials

I work across a range of clinical trials in Paediatric Neuro-Oncology, including close working with the Cancer Research UK Clinical Trials Unit.

Other activities

Associate Editor, Archives of Disease in Childhood, Education and Practice (Research in Practice section)
Member of Children’s Cancer and Leukaemia Group
Member of SIOP-Europe Brain Tumour Group

Publications

Recent publications

Article

Griffiths-King, DJ, Mulvany, T, Rose, HEL, Peet, AC, Apps, JR, Arvanitis, TN & Novak, J 2026, 'Deep learning segmentation of paediatric brain tumours using diffusion-weighted MRI: towards an early, in vivo classification pipeline', Brain Communications, vol. 8, no. 4, fcag317. https://doi.org/10.1093/braincomms/fcag317

Mulvany, T, Griffiths-King, D, Worthington, L, Crombie, K, Rose, HEL, Peet, A, Apps, J & Novak, J 2026, 'Evaluating the impact of segmentation strategies on radiomic feature stability for paediatric brain tumour diagnosis using diffusion weighted imaging', PLOS One, vol. 21, no. 8, e0356382. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0356382

Adamski, J, Apps, JR, Depani, S, Hill, RM, Pizer, B, Ajithkumar, T, Bailey, S, Bull, KS, Carceller, F, Cockle, JV, Dineen, RA, Douglas‑Pugh, JA, Gains, J, Hicks, D, Jorgensen, M, Kilday, JP, Martinez‑Barbera, JP, Ritzmann, TA, Thompson, E, Gates, S, Hargrave, D, Hackshaw, A, Burke, GAA & Clifford, SC 2026, 'Strategic roadmap for delivery of clinical trials in rare childhood central nervous system (CNS) tumours: a multi-stakeholder consensus', British Journal of Cancer. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41416-026-03589-6

Crombie, K, Potluri, S & Apps, JR 2026, 'What are bispecific antibodies?', Archives of disease in childhood. Education and practice edition. https://doi.org/10.1136/archdischild-2025-330118

Zhao, T, L. Rose, HE, Grist, JT, MacPherson, L, Li, H, Arvanitis, TN, Apps, JR & Peet, AC 2025, 'Accurate Paediatric Brain Tumour Classification Through Improved Quantitative Analysis of ¹H MR Imaging and Spectroscopy', NMR in biomedicine, vol. 38, no. 9, e70103. https://doi.org/10.1002/nbm.70103

Fuentes-Fayos, AC, G-García, ME, Sánchez-Medianero, T, Apps, J, Gálvez-Moreno, MA & Luque, RM 2025, 'Impaired splicing machinery in craniopharyngiomas unveils PRPF8 and RAVER1 as novel biomarkers and therapeutic targets', Acta Neuropathologica Communications, vol. 13, 142. https://doi.org/10.1186/s40478-025-02040-w

CCLG Embryonal Tumour Working Group, Apps, JR, Goddard, J, Sahmoud, S, Green, K, Hedge, K, Keeling, C, Cherungonath, A, Srikumar, B, Lumb, B, Whitby, J, Hayden, J, Gains, J, Mandeville, H, Joanne, L, Pizer, B, Kilday, JP, Clifford, SC, Bailey, S, Jorgensen, M, Carceller, F & Adamski, J 2025, 'Multicentre evaluation of the management of children with high risk medulloblastoma: Real world performance of the SJMB03 and COG-99701 protocols', EJC Paediatric Oncology, vol. 6, 100311. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ejcped.2025.100311

Vardon, A, Haston, S, Hamdi, H, Cooksley, G, Guiho, R, Carvalho, D, Carter, R, Boult, JKR, Gharai, D, Cloete, I, Grey, J, Apps, J, Zhou, D, Zheng, G, Martínez-Máñez, R, Lythgoe, MF, Donovan, LK, Carcaboso, AM, Williams, O, Hong, Y, Alexandre, P, Gil, J, Dean, JA, Michod, D, Jones, C, Hargrave, D & Martinez-Barbera, J-P 2025, 'Navitoclax acts synergistically with irradiation to induce apoptosis in preclinical models of H3K27M-altered diffuse midline glioma', Scientific Reports, vol. 15, no. 1, 45094. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-025-32676-6

Ratnasingham, D, Lawson, G, Hyare, H, Gurney, S, Apps, J, Reekie, I, Vaidya, S, Soto, C, Srivatsa, K, Peregud-Pogorzelski, J, Brodkiewicz, A, Jeelani, O, Jorgensen, M, Depani, S, Hargrave, D & Szychot, E 2025, 'Optic Nerve Sheath Meningiomas in Children: Diagnostic Challenges Based on a Case Series', Pediatric Blood and Cancer, vol. 72, no. 7, e31739. https://doi.org/10.1002/pbc.31739

Mulvany, T, Griffiths-King, D, Crombie, K, Novak, J & Apps, JR 2025, 'What is radiomics?', Archives of Disease in Childhood: Education and Practice Edition, vol. 111, no. 3, pp. 107-110. https://doi.org/10.1136/archdischild-2024-328347

Apps, JR, Gonzalez-Meljem, JM, Guiho, R, Pickles, JC, Prince, E, Schwalbe, E, Joshi, N, Stone, TJ, Ogunbiyi, O, Chalker, J, Bassey, A, Otto, G, Davies, R, Hughes, D, Brandner, S, Tan, E, Lee, V, Hayhurst, C, Kline, C, Castellano, S, Hankinson, T, Deutschbein, T, Jacques, TS & Martinez-Barbera, JP 2024, 'Recurrent adamantinomatous craniopharyngiomas show MAPK pathway activation, clonal evolution and rare TP53 -loss-mediated malignant progression', Acta Neuropathologica Communications, vol. 12, no. 1, 127. https://doi.org/10.1186/s40478-024-01838-4

Conference contribution

Zhao, T, Avula, S, Bailey, S, Burling, S, Jaspan, T, MacPherson, L, Mitra, D, Morgan, PS, Pizer, BL, Shen, R, Wilson, M, Worthington, L, Arvanitis, T, Peet, A & Apps, J 2024, A multi-layer binary model with adaptive metabolite selection for multi-type brain tumour classification. in Proc Intl Magn Reson Med., 6117, International Society for Magnetic Resonance in Medicine.

Zhao, T, Burling, S, MacPherson, L, Worthington, L, Arvanitis, T, Apps, J & Peet, A 2024, MIROR: The clinical decision support system with functional imaging and machine learning. in Proc Intl Magn Reson Med., 6391.

Review article

Gonzalez-Meljem, JM, Cao, L, Apps, JR & Martinez-Barbera, JP 2025, 'Decoding craniopharyngioma: From mechanisms to therapy', Best Practice and Research: Clinical Endocrinology and Metabolism, vol. 39, no. 5, 102051. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.beem.2025.102051

Apps, J, Ritzmann, TA, Liu, JF, Shanmugavadivel, D, Halsey, C, Pritchard Jones, K, Atun, R, Oliver, K, Vedhara, K, Ball-Gamble, A, Ranasinghe, N, Polanco, A, Adamski, J, Green, AL & Walker, DA 2024, 'A review calling for research directed at early detection of childhood cancers: The clinical, scientific, and economic arguments for population screening and surveillance', EJC Paediatric Oncology, vol. 4, 100191. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ejcped.2024.100191

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