Cancer – (M.Phil.)

MPhil supervision is normally available in the following areas:

Exploratory biology and target discovery: molecular genetic and mechanistic studies are used to identify processes relevant to cancer development and progression, and to validate these processes as targets for therapeutic intervention. A wide range of contemporary molecular biology, biochemical and cell biology techniques are used, and studies focus on breast, ovarian, prostate, bladder and lung cancer, mesothelioma, sarcoma, haematological malignancies (leukaemia and lymphoma) and paediatric solid tumours (neuroblastoma and medulloblastoma).

Drug development: the exploitation of novel targets is achieved by the use of rational drug design, notably the use of structure-based design, in conjunction with medium-throughput screening. Target molecule synthesis and multiple parallel synthesis approaches are used for lead optimisation, and candidate drugs are evaluated in cell-free and whole cell target-based assays.

Clinical trials: clinical trials (Phase I/II/III) are undertaken in both adults and children. Trials have a strong hypothesis-testing translational research component and are performed under the auspices of national or international research networks (eg CR–UK, CCLG, EORTC), as well as directly in collaboration with the pharmaceutical industry.