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Our approach to research excellence

The Institute of Cancer Therapeutics is world-renowned for research, training and partnership with industry. Our excellence is testified by substantial investment from industry and research councils, leading to high impact outputs, innovation and knowledge transfer.

The REF 2021 assessment placed over 80% of outputs in Allied Health Professions rated as Internationally Excellent or World Leading (3* or 4*).

Research Excellence Framework Assessment 2021

Recent Publications

2023

Hull MA, Ow PL, Ruddock S, Paul M Loadman et al Randomised, placebo-controlled, phase 3 trial of the effect of the omega-3 polyunsaturated fatty acid eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA) on colorectal cancer recurrence and survival after surgery for resectable liver metastases: EPA for Metastasis Trial 2 (EMT2) study protocol. BMJ Open 2023;13:e077427. doi: 10.1136/bmjopen-2023-077427

Barnieh FM, Galuska SP, Loadman PM, Ward S, Falconer RA, El-Khamisy SF. Cancer-specific glycosylation of CD13 impacts its detection and activity in preclinical cancer tissues. iScience. 2023 Oct 16;26(11):108219. doi: 10.1016/j.isci.2023.108219. PMID: 37942010; PMCID: PMC10628746.

Sutherland, M.; Gordon, A.; Al-Shammari, F.O.F.O.; Throup, A.; Cilia La Corte, A.; Philippou, H.; Shnyder, S.D.; Patterson, L.H.; Sheldrake, H.M. Synthesis and Biological Evaluation of Cyclobutane-Based β3 Integrin Antagonists: A Novel Approach to Targeting Integrins for Cancer Therapy. Cancers 2023, 15, 4023. https://doi.org/10.3390/cancers15164023

Downing A, Fenton H, Nickerson C, Loadman PM, Williams EA, Rees CJ, et al. Colorectal polyp outcomes after participation in the seAFOod polyp prevention trial: Evidence of rebound elevated colorectal polyp risk after short-term aspirin use. Aliment Pharmacol Ther. 2023; 58: 562–572. https://doi.org/10.1111/apt.17646 

Azodicarboxylate-Mediated Peptide Cyclisation: Application to Disulfide Bond Formation in Solution and Solid Phase, Alexandra R. E. Serre,  Gabriel C. Nwokolo,  Dr. Hannah L. M. Spencer,  Timothy J. Bell,  Dr. Francis M. Barnieh,  Laurie Hughes,  Prof. Robert A. Falconer,  Dr. Goreti Ribeiro Morais,  Eur. J. Org. Chem. 2023, 26, e202300789.

Fuller H, Race AD, Fenton H, Burke L, Downing A, Williams EA, Rees CJ, Brown LC, Loadman PM, Hull MA. Plasma and rectal mucosal oxylipin levels during aspirin and eicosapentaenoic acid treatment in the seAFOod polyp prevention trial. Prostaglandins Leukot Essent Fatty Acids. 2023 May;192:102570. doi: 10.1016/j.plefa.2023.102570. Epub 2023 Mar 23. PMID: 37003144.

Naeem P, Baumgartner A, Ghaderi N, Sefat F, Alhawamdeh M, Heidari S, Shahzad F, Swaminathan K, Akhbari P, Isreb M, Anderson D, Wright A, Najafzadeh M. Anticarcinogenic  impact  of  extracellular vesicles (exosomes) from cord blood stem cells in malignant melanoma: A potential biological treatment. J Cell Mol Med. 2023 Jan;27(2):222-231. doi: 10.1111/jcmm.17639. Epub 2022 Dec 22. PMID:  36545841; PMCID: PMC9843520.

2022

Ray, S., Abugable, A.A., Parker, J. & Sherif F. El-Khamisy et al. A mechanism for oxidative damage repair at gene regulatory elements. Nature 609, 1038–1047 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-022-05217-8

Barnieh FM, Ribeiro Morais G, Garland H, Loadman PM, and Falconer RA. Targeted delivery of a colchicine analogue provides synergy with ATR inhibition in cancer cells. Biochem Pharmacol 201, 115095  (2022). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.bcp.2022.115095

Eschweiler, S., Ramírez-Suástegui, C., Li, Y., Loadman P. M., et al. Intermittent PI3Kδ inhibition sustains anti-tumour immunity and curbs irAEs. Nature 605, 741–746 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-022-04685-2

Abacha Yabalu Z., Forkuo Arnold Donkor, Shnyder Steven D., Wright Colin W. et al Semi-Synthetic Analogues of Cryptolepine as a Potential Source of Sustainable Drugs for the Treatment of Malaria, Human African Trypanosomiasis, and Cancer. Front. Pharmacol., 13 (2022) https://doi.org/10.3389/fphar.2022.875647

Ali I. M. Ibrahim, Elisabet Batlle, Smarakan Sneha, Rafael Jiménez, Raquel Pequerul, Xavier Parés, Till Rüngeler, Vibhu Jha, Tiziano Tuccinardi, Maria Sadiq, Fiona Frame, Norman J. Maitland, Jaume Farrés, and Klaus Pors. Expansion of the 4-(Diethylamino)benzaldehyde Scaffold to Explore the Impact on Aldehyde Dehydrogenase Activity and Antiproliferative Activity in Prostate Cancer; Journal of Medicinal Chemistry 2022 65 (5), 3833-3848 https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.jmedchem.1c01367

Ingram, N.; McVeigh, L.E.; Abou-Saleh, R.H.; Batchelor, D.V.B.; Loadman, P.M.; McLaughlan, J.R.; Markham, A.F.; Evans, S.D.; Coletta, P.L. A Single Short ‘Tone Burst’ Results in Optimal Drug Delivery to Tumours Using Ultrasound-Triggered Therapeutic Microbubbles. Pharmaceutics 2022, 14, 622. https://doi.org/10.3390/pharmaceutics14030622

Giacomo Reina, Amalia Ruiz, Barbara Richichi, Giacomo Biagiotti, Gina E Giacomazzo, Lucas Jacquemin, Yuta Nishina, Cécilia Ménard-Moyon, Wafa T Al-Jamal and Alberto Bianco. Design of a graphene oxide-BODIPY conjugate for glutathione depletion and photodynamic therapy; 2D Materials, Volume 9, Number 1 https://doi.org/10.1088/2053-1583/ac4572

2021

Barnieh, F.M.*; Loadman, P.M.; Falconer, R.A.* “Is tumour-expressed aminopeptidase N (APN/CD13) structurally and functionally unique?” Biochimica et Biophysica Acta – Reviews on Cancer, 2021, 1876, 188641.

Ibrahim AIM*, Ikhmais B, Batlle E, AbuHarb WK, Jha V, Jaradat KT, Jiménez R, Pequerul R, Parés X, Farrés J, Pors K*. Design, Synthesis, Biological Evaluation and In Silico Study of Benzyloxybenzaldehyde Derivatives as Selective ALDH1A3 Inhibitors. Molecules. 2021 Sep 23;26(19):5770. doi: 10.3390/molecules26195770.
 
Presa D, Khurram SA, Zubir AZA, Smarakan S, Cooper PA, Morais GR, Sadiq M, Sutherland M, Loadman PM, McCaul J, Shnyder SD, Patterson LH, Pors K*. Cytochrome P450 isoforms 1A1, 1B1 AND 2W1 as targets for therapeutic intervention in head and neck cancer. Sci Rep. 2021 Sep 23;11(1):18930. doi: 10.1038/s41598-021-98217-z.

Peter K Nicholls, David C Page. Germ cell determination and the developmental origins of germ cell tumors (2021) Development 148 doi:10.1242/dev.198150

Barnieh, F.M.; Loadman, P.M.; Falconer, R.A.* “Progress towards a clinically-successful ATR inhibitor for cancer therapy.” Current Research in Pharmacology and Drug Discovery, 2021, 2, 100017.  https://doi.org/10.1016/j.crphar.2021.100017

Guo, X.; Elkashef, S.M.; Patel, A.; Ribeiro Morais, G.; Shnyder S.D.; Loadman, P.M.; Patterson, L.H.; Falconer, R.A.* “An assay for quantitative analysis of polysialic acid expression in cancer cells.” Carbohydrate Polymers, 2021, 259, 117741. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.carbpol.2021.117741

Ribeiro Morais, G.*; Falconer, R.A.* “Glycosyl disulfides: importance, synthesis and application to chemical and biological systems.” Organic and Biomolecular Chemistry, 2021, 19, 82-100. https://doi.org/10.1039/D0OB02079F

Ringaile Zaksauskaite, Ruth C Thomas, Freek van Eeden, Sherif F. El-Khamisy; Tdp1 protects from topoisomerase 1–mediated chromosomal breaks in adult zebrafish but is dispensable during larval development; Science Advances,  29 Jan 2021: Vol. 7, no. 5; DOI: 10.1126/sciadv.abc4165

2020 

Guo, X.; Malcolm, J.R.; Ali, M.M.; Ribeiro Morais, G.; Shnyder, S.D.; Patterson, L.H.; Loadman, P.M.; Falconer, R.A. An efficient assay for identification and quantitative evaluation of potential polysialyltransferase inhibitors. Analyst, 2020, 145. 4512-4521. https://doi.org/10.1039/D0AN00721H

Fielden J, Wiseman K, ……Maughan TS, El-Khamisy SF, Ramadan K (2020). TEX264 coordinates p97- and SPRTN-mediated resolution of topoisomerase 1-DNA adducts. Nature communications, 9;11(1):1274.   https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-020-15000-w

Nicola Ingram; Laura E McVeigh; …………Neil H Thomson; Paul M Loadman; …………; P Louise Coletta Targeted, Ultrasound - Triggered Microbubbles Enhance the Therapeutic Range of Cytotoxic Drugs, (2020) Theranostics; 10(24):10973-10992. https://doi.org/10.7150/thno.49670

Quattrini, L.; Sadiq, M.; Petrarolo, G.; Maitland, N.J.; Frame, F.M.; Pors, K.; La Motta, C. Aldehyde Dehydrogenases and Prostate Cancer: Shedding Light on Isoform Distribution to Reveal Druggable Target. Biomedicines 2020, 8, 569. https://doi.org/10.3390/biomedicines8120569

Ahmet DS, Basheer HA, Salem A, Lu D, Aghamohammadi A, Weyerhäuser P, Bordiga A, Almeniawi J, Rashid S, Cooper PA, Shnyder SD, Vinader V, Afarinkia K. Application of small molecule FPR1 antagonists in the treatment of cancers. Sci Rep. 2020;10(1):17249. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-020-74350-z

Synthesis and Characterization of Novel Nopyl-Derived Phosphonium Ionic Liquids J. Yu, R.T. Wheelhouse, M.A. Honey* and N. Karodia*.  J. Mol. Liq. (2020) https://doi.org/10.1016/j.molliq.2020.113857

Soldevila-Barreda J, Azmanova M, Pitto-Barry A, Cooper P, Shnyder S, Barry N (2020). Preclinical anticancer activity of an electron-deficient organoruthenium (II) complex. ChemMedChem. 15:982-987. https://doi.org/10.1002/cmdc.202000096

Mikedis MM, Nicholls PK, Fan Y, Endo T, Jackson EK, de Rooij DG, Page DC. DAZL mediates a broad translational program regulating expansion and differentiation of spermatogonial progenitors. eLife. 2020; 9: e56523. https://dx.doi.org/10.7554%2FeLife.56523