A University surgeon has been awarded £1.4m from Cancer Research UK to carry out potentially groundbreaking research into oesophageal cancer.
Tim Underwood, Professor of Gastrointestinal Surgery divides his time between treating patients in hospital and carrying out research in the lab. He will lead a team who will examine oesophageal tumours in incredible detail in a bid to discover what causes them to grow after receiving an Advanced Clinician Scientist Fellowship from the charity.
Professor Underwood is hoping his research, which will be carried out in Southampton over the next five years, will lead to “phenomenal results” including better outcomes and improved survival for patients.
His work will specifically focus on a group of cells within the tumour microenvironment known as fibroblasts, which have previously been shown to help cancer cells grow. The team’s aim is to try and understand how and when fibroblasts are hijacked by oesophageal cancer cells to aid their growth, with the hope of being able to develop targeted drugs to stop this from happening.
Professor Underwood and his team will use two state-of-the-art techniques to carry out the research – ‘drop sequencing’ and cell organoids.
He said:
It’s the first time drop sequencing technology will be used to research oesophageal cancer. It’s a technique that can capture single cells in tiny droplets, enabling the entire DNA profile of thousands of cells to be looked at individually in great detail.
You can read the full press release here.
