Mr Richard T. Bryan MBChB PhD MRCS FAcadTM

Mr Richard T. Bryan

Institute of Cancer and Genomic Sciences
Senior Research Fellow

Contact details

Telephone
+44 (0)121 414 7870
Email
r.t.bryan@bham.ac.uk
Address
Institute of Cancer and Genomic Sciences
Robert Aitken Institute for Clinical Research
College of Medical and Dental Sciences
University of Birmingham
Edgbaston
Birmingham
B15 2TT
UK

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 leads the Bladder Cancer Group in the Institute of Cancer & Genomic Sciences. The group has a particular interest in the genomics and epigenomics of bladder cancer and related biomarkers, and novel agents, technologies and pathways.

Qualifications

  • Fellow of the Academy of Translational Medicine 2016
  • PhD in Medicine 2007
  • Membership of The Royal College of Surgeons of England 1999
  • MBChB 1995

Biography

Rik Bryan qualified in Medicine at the University of Birmingham and subsequently entered surgical training. After completing a PhD in bladder cancer biology he became a higher surgical trainee in Urology. After 4-years as a Specialist Registrar, Rik left clinical urology to assist with the set-up of the Bladder Cancer Prognosis Programme (BCPP) in the Department of Public Health, Epidemiology and Biostatistics at the University of Birmingham, and was then subsequently appointed as a Senior Research Fellow in the School of Cancer Sciences. Rik is now the Chief Investigator of BCPP, which incorporates the SELENIB clinical trial.

Rik has an interest in all aspects of bladder cancer research and leads a multidisciplinary group with a focus on translation. The particular interests of the Bladder Cancer Group include cancer genomics/epigenomics, urinary biomarkers, novel therapeutics/technologies/devices, and clinical and epidemiological research. Rik has a track record of publication in all of these areas.

The group also has an interest in upper tract urothelial cancer, and Rik is the Chief Investigator of POUT-T, the translational study linked to the POUT trial.

Postgraduate supervision

  • Intercalated BMedSci
  • MRes
  • PhD

Research

  • Genomics and epigenomics, and associated biomarkers for non-invasive diagnosis and prognostication
  • Novel genomic platforms and approaches
  • Proteomics and urinary protein biomarkers
  • Novel therapeutics, technologies and devices and associated clinical trials
  • Tumour immunology and BCG mechanisms of action
  • Clinical, epidemiological and health economic research.

Aside from the research carried out at the University of Birmingham, the Bladder Cancer Group also has a number of important national and international collaborations with other bladder cancer investigators, including Professor Maurice Zeegers (Maastricht), Professor John Kelly (UCL), Professor Bart Kiemeney (Radboud), Professor Chris Probert (Liverpool), Dr Anne Kiltie (Oxford) and Professor Chas Bountra (Oxford).

Other activities

Aside from his bladder cancer research at the University of Birmingham, Rik also fulfils a number of other roles:

  • Member of the University of Birmingham’s Clinical Trials Oversight Committee (CTOC)
  • Member of the Bladder GeCIP, 100,000 Genomes Project
  • Trustee of the charity Action Bladder Cancer UK
  • Member of the T2 and Below Subgroup (TABS) of the NCRI Bladder & Renal Clinical Studies Group
  • Council Member and current Honorary Secretary of The Royal Society of Medicine Section of Urology
  • Member of the Trial Management Group of the Peri-Operative Chemotherapy versus Surveillance in Upper Tract Urothelial Cancer (POUT) trial
  • Member of the Trial Management Group of the Clinical Research Office of the Endourology Society (CROES) multicentre randomised trial of narrow band imaging-assisted transurethral resection (TURBT) versus conventional white light-assisted TURBT in primary non-muscle-invasive bladder cancer patients.

Publications

DG Ward & RT Bryan. Liquid biopsies for bladder cancer. Translational Andrology & Urology 2017; in press.

RT Bryan, NS Gordon, B Abbotts, MP Zeegers, KK Cheng, ND James, DG Ward.  Multiplex screening of 422 candidate serum biomarkers in bladder cancer patients identifies syndecan-1 and nectin-4 as prognostic indicators. Transl Cancer Res 2017; in press.

M Afshar, H Goodfellow, F Jackson-Spence, F Evison, J Parkin, RT Bryan, H Parsons, ND James, P Patel. Centralisation of radical cystectomies for bladder cancer in England a decade on from the ‘Improving Outcomes Guidance’: the case for super-centralisation. BJU Int 2017 doi:10.1111/bju.13929

F van Osch, C Pauwels, S Jochems, R Fayokun, ND James, DMA Wallace, KK Cheng, RT Bryan, FJ van Schooten, MP Zeegers. Tar, nicotine and carbon monoxide yield of UK cigarettes and the risk of non-muscle-invasive and muscle-invasive bladder cancer. Eur J Cancer Prev 2017; in press.

VA During, GM Sole, AK Jha, JA Anderson, RT Bryan. Prediction of histological stage based on cystoscopic appearances of newly-diagnosed bladder tumours. Ann R Coll Surg Engl 2016; 98: 547-551.

L Rooshenas, D Elliott, J Wade, M Jepson, S Paramasivan, S Strong, C Wilson, D Beard, JM Blazeby, A Birtle, A Halliday, CA Rogers, R Stein, JL Donovan; ACST-2 study group; By-Band-Sleeve study group; Chemorad study group; CSAW study group; Optima prelim study group; POUT study group. Conveying Equipoise during Recruitment for Clinical Trials: Qualitative Synthesis of Clinicians' Practices across Six Randomised Controlled Trials. PLoS Med 2016; 13: e1002147.

JJ D’Costa, JC Goldsmith, JS Wilson, RT Bryan, DG Ward. A systematic review of the diagnostic and prognostic value of urinary protein biomarkers in urothelial bladder cancer. Bladder Cancer 2016; 2: 301-17.

A Feber, P Dhami, L Dong, P de Winter, WS Tan, M Martínez-Fernández, DS Paul, A Hynes-Allen, S Rezaee, P Gurung, S Rodney, Ahmed Mehmood, F Villacampa, F de la Rosa, C Jameson, KK Cheng, MP Zeegers, RT Bryan, ND James, JM Paramio, A Freeman, S Beck, JD Kelly. UroMark - A urinary biomarker assay for the detection of bladder cancer. Clinical Epigenetics 2017; 9: 8-17.

JJ D'Costa, DG Ward, RT Bryan. Urinary biomarkers for the diagnosis of urothelial bladder cancer. New Horizons in Translational Medicine 2016; in press.

FS Togneri, DG Ward, JM Foster, AJ Devall, P Wojtowicz, S Alyas, F Ramos Vasques, A Oumie, ND James, KK Cheng, MP Zeegers, N Deshmukh, B O’Sullivan, P Taniere, KG Spink, DJ McMullan, M Griffiths, RT Bryan. Genomic complexity of urothelial bladder cancer revealed in urinary cfDNA. Eur J Hum Genet 2016 Jan 13. doi: 10.1038/ejhg.2015.281.

DG Ward, L Baxter, N Gordon, S Ott, RS Savage, A Beggs, JD James, J Lickiss, S Green, Y Wallis, W Wei, ND James, MP Zeegers, KK Cheng, GM Mathews, P Patel, M Griffiths, RT Bryan. Multiplex PCR and next generation sequencing for the non-invasive detection of bladder cancer. PLoS One 2016; 11: e0149756.

MO Kitchen, RT Bryan, RD Emes, JR Glossop, C Luscombe, KK Cheng, MP Zeegers, ND James, AJ Devall, CA Mein, L Gommersall, AA Fryer, WE Farrell. Quantitative genome-wide methylation analysis of high-grade non-muscle invasive bladder cancer. Epigenetics 2016; in press.

MO Kitchen, RT Bryan, KE Haworth, RD Emes, C Luscombe, L Gommersall, KK Cheng, MP Zeegers, ND James, AJ Devall, AA Fryer, WE Farrell. Methylation of HOXA9 and ISL1 predicts patient outcome in high-grade non-invasive bladder cancer. PLoS One 2015; 10: e0137003.

RT Bryan and DG Ward. Words of Wisdom: Bladder cancers arise from distinct urothelial sub-populations. Eur Urol 2015; 67: 590-1.

RT Bryan, HL Regan, SJ Pirrie, AJ Devall, KK Cheng, MP Zeegers, ND James, MA Knowles, DG Ward. Protein shedding in urothelial bladder cancer: prognostic implications of soluble urinary EGFR and EpCAM. Br J Cancer 2015; 112: 1052-58.

RT Bryan, NJ Shimwell, W Wei, AJ Devall, S Pirrie, ND James, MP Zeegers, KK Cheng, A Martin, DG Ward. Urinary EpCAM in urothelial bladder cancer patients: characterisation and evaluation of biomarker potential.  Br J Cancer 2014; 110: 679-85.

NJ Shimwell, RT Bryan, W Wei, ND James, KK Cheng, MP Zeegers, PJ Johnson, A Martin, DG Ward. Combined proteome and transcriptome analyses for the discovery of urinary biomarkers for urothelial carcinoma. Br J Cancer 2013; 108: 1854-61.

S Naito, F Algaba, M Babjuk, RT Bryan, YH Sun, L Valiquette, J de la Rosette on behalf of the CROES NBI Global Study Group. The Clinical Research Office of the Endourology Society (CROES) multicentre randomised trial of narrow band imaging-assisted transurethral resection (TURBT) versus conventional white light-assisted TURBT in primary non-muscle-invasive bladder cancer patients: trial protocol and 1-year results. Eur Urol 2016; in press.

RT Bryan, LJ Billingham, DMA Wallace. Narrow band imaging flexible cystoscopy in the detection of recurrent urothelial cancer of the bladder. BJU International 2008; 101: 702-5.

RT Bryan, ZH Shah, SI Collins, DMA Wallace. Narrow band imaging flexible cystoscopy: a new user’s experience. J Endourol 2010; 24: 1339-43.

SC Barnes, DET Shepherd, DM Espino, RT Bryan. Frequency dependent viscoelastic properties of porcine bladder. J Mech Behav Biomed Mater 2014; 42C: 168-76.

SC Barnes, BM Lawless, DET Shepherd, DM Espino, GR Bicknell, RT Bryan. Viscoelastic Properties of Human Bladder Tumours. J Mech Behav Biomed Mater 2016; 61: 250-257.

S Barnes, D Shepherd, D Espino, RT Bryan, R Viney, P Patel. Design of an improved surgical instrument for the removal of bladder tumours. Proc Inst Mech Eng H 2016 Apr 12. pii: 0954411916640580.

X Liu, AC Dowell, P Patel, RP Viney, MC Foster, E Porfiri, ND James, RT Bryan. Cytokines as effectors and predictors of responses in the treatment of bladder cancer by Bacillus Calmette-Guérin. Future Oncol 2014; 10: 1443-56.

AD Bardoli, M Afshar, R Viney, M Foster, E Porfiri, A Zarkar, R Stevenson, ND James, RT Bryan, P Patel. The PD-1/PD-L1 axis in the pathogenesis of urothelial bladder cancer and evaluating its potential as a therapeutic target. Future Oncology 2016; 12: 595-600.

DMA Wallace, RT Bryan, JA Dunn, G Begum, S Bathers. Delay and survival in bladder cancer. BJU International 2002; 89: 868-78.

RT Bryan and DMA Wallace. Have we abandoned the “superficial” in bladder cancer? Eur Urol 2009; 56: 1091.

RT Bryan, SI Collins, MC Daykin, MP Zeegers, KK Cheng, DMA Wallace, GM Sole. Mechanisms of recurrence of Ta/T1 bladder cancer. Ann R Coll Surg Engl 2010; 92: 519-24.

RT Bryan, MP Zeegers, EH van Roekel, D Bird, MR Grant, JA Dunn, S Bathers, G Iqbal, HS Khan, SI Collins, A Howman, NS Deshmukh, ND James, KK Cheng, DMA Wallace. A comparison of patient and tumour characteristics in two UK bladder cancer cohorts separated by 20 years. BJU International 2013; 112: 169-75.

RT Bryan, T Evans, J Dunn, G Iqbal, S Bathers, SI Collins, ND James, JWF Catto, DMA Wallace. A comparative analysis of gender, pathway delays and risk factor exposures on the long-term outcomes from bladder cancer. Eur Urol Focus 2015; 1: 82-89.

EH van Roekel, KK Cheng, ND James, DMA Wallace, LJ Billingham, PG Murray, RT Bryan, MP Zeegers. Smoking is associated with lower age, higher grade, higher stage, and larger size of malignant bladder tumours at diagnosis. Int J Cancer 2013; 133: 446-54.

FHM van Osch, SHJ Jochems, FJan van Schooten, RT Bryan, MP Zeegers. Quantified relations between exposure to tobacco smoking and bladder cancer risk: a meta-analysis of 89 observational studies. Int J Epidemiol 2016; in press.

FH van Osch, SH Jochems, FJ van Schooten, RT Bryan, MP Zeegers. Significant role for lifetime cigarette smoking in worsening bladder cancer and upper tract urothelial carcinoma prognosis: a meta-analysis. J Urol 2015 Oct 31. pii: S0022-5347(15)05162-9. doi: 10.1016/j.juro.2015.10.139.

RT Bryan, P Atherfold, Y Yeo, RF Harrison, DMA Wallace, JA Jankowski. Cadherin switching dictates the biology of transitional cell carcinoma of the bladder: ex vivo and in vitro studies. J Pathol 2008; 215: 184-194.

 RT Bryan. Cell adhesion and urothelial bladder cancer: the role of cadherin switching and related phenomena. Philos Trans R Soc Lond B Biol Sci 2015; 370.

All of my publications can be seen in the PURE research portal

Expertise

Bladder Cancer