Our research

Important work is underway within our laboratories to better understand the way in which leukaemia stem cells grow and acquire resistance so that more effective treatments can be developed. We are making a major effort to understand and improve antibody therapies for lymphoma and examining these tumours at a gene level using state of the art technology in the Cancer Research UK Manchester Institute.

This work will help us identify at the time of diagnosis which patients are likely to do well with existing treatments and those who may not, so alternative approaches can be considered for these individuals. In addition, key abnormalities in cell function due to certain mutations may be identified from this work that may allow new drugs to be designed and targeted on these.

Trials

In the clinic we have led the national RAPID trial investigating the role of PET scanning in early stage Hodgkin lymphoma to see if this can reduce the number of patients requiring radiotherapy after chemotherapy.

We have also played a pivotal role in the early development of a new antibody-drug conjugate, brentuximab vedotin, in certain types of lymphoma resistant to conventional treatments and are leading further studies of this exciting new drug.

In follicular lymphoma a series of important studies have investigated radioimmunotherapy (radioactive antibody treatment) and we are now the recognised leaders in this field.

We are concerned by the late toxicity of some treatments and have undertaken studies describing these in large populations of survivors. Our efforts are now focused on reducing the impact of these "late effects" (second cancers and heart disease) that undermine the quality of life and survival of patients cured of haematological cancer.

More detailed information on research projects and publications can be found on staff profiles.