Six Tenovus funded PhD projects have recently started at Cardiff and Swansea University, with one each at Bangor and Cardiff due to start later this year.

A project at Swansea University, led by Dr Deborah Fitzimmons at the Institute of Health Research, is exploring how older people in South-West Wales live with cancer. Whilst there is considerable attention to understanding the cancer experience, little is known on how older people assimilate the experience of cancer into their daily lives.

Due to start in October, a project led by Dr Rhiannon Tudor Edwards at the Centre for Economics and Policy in Health at Bangor University will use an innovative approach to gather information and explore a range of methodological and practical questions asked in every cancer trial to ultimately develop standardised guidance for use by trials units in Wales and around the UK.

Projects based at Cardiff University span a diverse range of laboratory based cancer research:

·         A project led by Professor Alan Clarke in the Department of Biosciences, where the student is exploring a series of proteins known to be altered in colorectal cancer to identify new targets and influence the design of future clinical trials into the disease, which is the 2^nd most common cause of cancer death in the UK.  Also supported by the Jane Hodge Foundation.

·         Dr Richard Clarkson, also in the Department of Biosciences, is supervising a student investigating selective anti-breast cancer drugs by testing them on models of a particularly aggressive form of breast cancer that is associated with a poor prognosis and often resistant to conventional therapies.

·         In the School of Medicine, Professor Andrew Sewell is leading a project using genetic modification of cells which are part of the immune system, to increase their ability to eliminate cancerous cells. The groundbreaking technology used to achieve this has already shown some remarkable results in the treatment of HIV; if the effect can be reproduced in the treatment of cancer it could have significant clinical implications. Also supported by the Tenovus Trust.

·         Also in the School of Medicine, Professor Jeremy Cheadle will supervise a studentship to compare tumour samples of patients with colorectal cancer with healthy patients in order to identify differences in genetic make-up, providing possible mutations that are associated with an increased risk of colorectal cancer. Also supported by the Kidani Trust.

·         A third project in the School of Medicine, led by Professor Tony Lai, seeks to establish the structure of part of a protein involved in the regulation of cell growth and division, which makes it an  attractive drug target for the treatment of cancer.

·         Due to start in October, Dr Vera Knauper in the School of Dentistry will be leading a project which will look at a particularly aggressive form of brain tumour called glioblastoma, with the aim of preventing the growth and spread of the cancer.