NWCR
Putting our region's cancer needs first

Merseyside & Cheshire

See the projects that we're currently funding in your region.

Finding My Way UK: Adaptation and replication testing of the benefits of online psychological support for cancer survivors
Prof Nicholas Hulbert-Williams, Dr Lee Hulbert-Williams, Dr Lisa Beatty,
Prof Bogda Koczwara, Dr Laura Ashley, Prof Neil Coulson, Dr Peter Hall,
Prof Eila Watson, Mrs Sue Millington, Mr Richard Jackson        £249,646 / 3 years

Determining ibrutinibs’s potential to treat human leukaemia’s – novel uses for an exciting new Bruton’s tyrosine kinase (BTK) inhibitor
Prof D MacEwan, Prof A Pettitt, Dr J Slupsky, Dr A O’Donnell        £162,443 / 3 years

Development of novel multiplexable single-colour Ras GTPase sensors to compare spatio-temperal features of Ras signalling cascades with subcellular resolution
Dr M Stagi, Prof I Prior        £192,220 / 3 years

Phosphorylation analysis of the master centriole regulator Polo-like kinase 4 using target validated kinase inhibitors
Dr P Eyers, Prof C Eyers, Dr C Staples.        £196,241 / 3 years

S18-phosphorylation controls catalytic activity of the cancer- associated deubiquitylase USP7: defining the implications for cancer biology and USP7 inhibitor therapy
Prof J Coulson, Dr S Darling        £205,292 / 3 years

Investigating in vivo resistance mechanisms to MEK inhibitors in uveal melanoma to enable novel combinational therapies
Dr J Sacco, Prof S Coupland, Dr J Coulson, Dr P Eyers, Dr H Kalirai, Dr S Lake        £135,248.46 / 2 years

Gene edited reversal of FLT3-ITD mutations in acute myeloid leukaemia and its effect on chemotherapy resistance
Prof D J MacEwan, Porf R E Clarke        £181,676 / 3 years

The role of the ERK5 signalling axis in vemurafenib-resistant melanoma progression
Dr M Cross, Mr R Prichard-Jones, Dr C Tournier        £131,790 / 3 years

Understanding the relationship between BCR signalling capacity and clonal behaviour in Chronic Lymphocytic Leukaemia
Dr N Kalakonda, Dr JR R Slupsky, Prof A Pettitt, Prof D MacEwan, Prof F Falciani         £195,288 / 3 years

Novel therapeutic approaches for personalised therapy of Head and Neck cancer
Dr Shankar Varadarajan, Dr Joe Sacco, Dr Janet M Risk, Professor Gerald M Cohen        £192,243 / 3 years

Evaluation of novel combination drug protocols for neuroblastoma using advanced imaging in a chick embryo model
Dr Violaine See, Professor Paul Losty        £117,382 / 2 years

Forcing angiogenesis: Transcriptional control by integrin-dependent mechanotransduction during angiogenesis
Dr Mark Morgan, Dr Katarzyna Wolanska        £224,182 / 3 years

Isolation and identification of the chromatin remodelling enzymes required for base excision repair
Dr Jason Parsons        £109,991 / 3 years

Towards the clinical positioning of a first selective DUB inhibitor
Dr Sylvie Urbe, Prof Michael Clague, Dr Barry L Pizer, Dr Claire Heride        £141,569 / 2 years

Non-canonical protein phosphorylation in human cancer cells
Prof Claire Eyers, Prof Pat Eyers, Dr Andrew Jones        £229,675 / 3 years

Absolute quantitation of endogenous Ras isoform protein abundance: Does codon bias explain the predominance of KRAS mutations in cancer
Prof Ian Prior        £127,257 / 2 years

Kinome profiling and mass cytometry as tools to detect rewiring of B cell receptor signalling in the malignant cells of chronic lymphocytic leukaemia patients taking ibrutinib
Dr J Slupsky, Prof. I Prior        £217,307 / 3 years

Integrating biomarkers to stratify adjuvant chemotherapy in pancreatic cancer patients
Dr William Greenhalf, Dr Dan Palmer, Dr Eithne Costello        £193,220 / 3 years

Characterisation of the tumour- immune microenvironment in metastatic uveal melanoma
Prof Sarah Coupland, Dr Carlos Rogerio de Figueiredo        £132,434 / 2 years

Function of stroma-derived gas6 in pancreatic cancer progression and metastasis
Dr Ainhoa Mielgo; Mr Robert Jones        £114,450 / 3 years

Improving the biological response of proton beam therapy in head and neck cancer
Dr Jason Parsons        £202,129 / 3 years

Tribbles pseudokinases: Analysis of cancer-associated signalling mechanischristianms
Prof Patrick Eyers, Dr Dominic Byrne, Prof Claire Eyers        £221,262 / 3 years

The role of the ERK5 signalling axis in BRAF inhibitor-resistant melanoma progression
Dr Mike Cross, Dr Rowan Pritchard-Jones, Dr Cathy Tournier, Dr Emanuele Giurisato,
Dr Harish Poptani, Prof Clare Eyers        £229,883 / 3 years

Method optimisation of urine GC-MS analysis to predict dying in lung cancer patients
Dr Seamus Coyle, Professor John Ellershaw, Prof Chris Probert, Prof Mark Boyd       £33,899 / 1 year

DUB on the Tracks: USP31, a new regulator of microtubule dynamics in cancer cells
Professor Michael Clague, Professor Sylvia Urbe £128,850/3 years

Sensing tension: Bidirectional feedback mechanisms controlling breast cancer invasion
Dr Mark Morgan, Dt Tobias Zech, Dr Dean Hammond, Asst. Professor Pere Roca-Cusachs, 
Louise Jones, Prof John Marshall.       £233,087 / 3 years

A prospective study of genomic landscape of brain metastasis secondary to breast cancer utilising cell free DNA derived from cerebral spinal fluid Investigators
Prof Carlo Palmieri, Prof Janet Brown, Dr Vinton Wai Tung Cheng, Dr Ellen Copson,
Dr Athina Giannoudis, Mr Michael Jenkinson, Mr Richard Jackson, Dr Iain MacPherson,
Prof Jacqui Shaw, Mrs Lesley Stephen       £254,387.35 / 3 years

“Imaging in the Window of Opportunity” Evaluating the role of advanced MRI techniques in detecting early response to immune checkpoint inhibition in a Head and Neck Cancer window of opportunity trial

Mr Andrew Schache, Prof Harish Poptani, Dr Joe Sacco, Dr Rahcel Brooker, Ms Eftychia-Eirini Psarelli, Dr Kumar Das, Dr Maneesh Bhojak, Dr Rebecca Hanlon, Dr Gaurav Sundar       £98,041.75 / 18 months

Intron retention and alternative polyadenylation control of LAMA3 in head and neck squamous cell carcinoma; mechanistic insight and potential drug target
Dr K Hamil, DR J Risk, Dr S Tew       £188,5119 / 3 years

Pharmacological stimulation of NRF2 to enhance liver regeneration following tumour resection
Dr I Copple, Professor C Goldring, Mr M Elmasry, Mr S Fenwick, Professor D Palmer, Professor K Park       £199,417 / 2.5 years

Validating candidate biomarkers for future use in pancreatic cancer detection amongst individuals with new-onset diabetes
Professor E Costello-Goldring       £171,343 / 2 years

North West Cancer Research Centre
The funding provides support for a Centre Administrator, a rolling PhD Studentship programme, the
LCIRN co-ordinator and support for the Research Development Fund. This funding was extended in
year to 31 December 2017 at a cost of £84,250       £835,232 / six years

Understanding the relative biological effect of Proton Beam Therapy and determining differences in response of head and neck squamous cell carcinoma and uveal melanoma to x-ray and proton beam irradiation: Youth Academy PhD Studentship
Dr J Parsons (Supervisor) Terpsi Vitti (Student)       3 years

Identifying imaging biomarkers to detect molecular and genetic characteristics of glioma and glioblastoma: Youth Academy PhD Studentship
Prof H Poptani (Supervisor) Tom Leather (Student)       3 years

Investigation the role of hypoxia on brain tumour cell division utilising in vivo Glioblastoma models
Prof H Poptani (Supervisor) Clare Kelly (Student)        3 years

Insights into liver regeneration and novel strategies aimed at enhancing crucial hepatic repair
Dr I Copple (Supervisor) Tobias Bunday (Student)       3 years