Breast Cancer Research Group
- Group summary: We are a multidisciplinary and cross-faculty grouping working on all aspects of breast cancer in an effort to improve understanding of the disease. Our key aims are to identify strategies to prevent breast cancer, develop new treatments for breast cancer, and translate our research findings so that more patients can live beyond breast cancer, with improved quality of life.
What we do
The breast cancer research group brings together academics, with basic and clinical research backgrounds from different Faculties within the University of Leeds (Medicine and Health, Engineering and Physical Sciences, Environment), with breast cancer clinicians (surgeons, pathologists, oncologists) from the Leeds Teaching Hospitals. This breadth of expertise gives us the ability to identify important clinical problems, and find solutions using multiple approaches including analyses of ‘big data’ sets, novel chemistry, engineering and technology approaches, basic molecular and cellular biology, and clinical studies.
Key research themes include:
- Epidemiology and breast cancer risk
- Breast tumour cell and molecular biology
- Drug resistance and breast cancer metastasis
- New breast cancer therapies and clinical trials research
Who we are
- Thomas Hughes - genes, tumour, microenvironment, nanomedicine, biomarkers
- Sandra Bell - stem cells, drug resistance, biomarkers
- Laura Matthews - gene regulation, tumour microenvironment, drug resistance
- James Thorne - nutrition, gene regulation, epigenetics
- Fiona Errington-Mais – immunology, immunotherapy, combination therapy
- Georgia Mavria - metastasis, angiogenesis, signal transduction
- Paul Beales – biomembranes, nanomedicine
- Baek Kim – surgery, clinical studies
- Samuel Smith - cancer prevention, behaviour change, medication adherence
- Chris Twelves – clinical trials, drug development and pharmacology
- Mihaela Lorger – brain metastases, in vivo models, tumour microenvironment
- Tim Perren – oncology, clinical trials research
- Eldo Verghese – histopathology, genomics, technologies for clinical testing
- Galina Velikova – applied cancer research, patient reported outcomes
- Elizabeth Valleley – epigenetics and cancer therapy
Funding
Our research is funded by a range of sources including Cancer Research UK, Yorkshire Cancer Research, the National Institute of Health Research, Medical Research Council, Wellcome Trust, Breast Cancer UK, Breast Cancer Now and local charities including Breast Cancer Action and Leeds Cares.
Studentships
We welcome enquiries from motivated and qualified applicants from all around the world who are interested in postgraduate study in breast cancer research. Competitive schemes are available for three-four year PhD studentships through a variety of routes including:
- Discovery Medicine North (DiMeN) Doctoral Training Program
- International PhD Academy: Medical Research
- Leeds Doctoral Scholarship
- Leeds International Sanctuary Scholarship
- School of Food Science Scholarship
To apply through one of these routes, please contact the Investigator you would like to work with to discuss specific schemes and project outlines. Other opportunities will be posted on FindAPhD.com and on Investigators home pages. The Faculty Graduate School pages have further details for postgraduate research opportunities and projects in the laboratory.