Manchester’s Cancer Research Innovations

The Manchester Cancer Research centre is a hub of scientific innovation in research, driving decades of practice-influencing cancer care. One of the mainstays of the innovative approaches employed is Team Science, where scientists, clinicians and patients come together in joint sessions. These sessions lead to new research ideas within scientific “Town Halls”.

But despite the increasingly sophisticated technologies available for the diagnosis and treatment of cancer, a crucial factor is still being ignored: patient complexity. This omission is leading to unrepresentative research in the lab and inappropriate design of clinical trials. What can be done to fix this?

Led by Robert Bristow, Cancer Research UK’s unique mission in Manchester is to provide “Precision Cancer Medicine for All”. This approach contrasts to studies that are highly selective of patients from Eurocentric backgrounds and/or may be relatively healthy.

The Manchester research centre also recognises the importance of addressing the needs of medically and socially complex patients, many of whom are currently excluded from UK and global precision oncology trials. Manchester has numerous underserved populations secondary to socioeconomic hardship who have multiple health problems.

As patients age, other non-cancer health conditions invariably develop with new medications used for their diabetes, cardiovascular disease, and arthritis. These factors can affect therapy side effects and treatment success, including a patient’s response to immunotherapy.

Manchester’s approach is to recognise and work within the diverse populations in Greater Manchester and in so doing, ensure the research is equitable, diverse, and inclusive (EDI). With an EDI lens, specific exemplars will be presented that use scientific and public engagement across these populations for the design of new clinical trials. This will exploit opportunities to drive innovative care changes that will impact our patients in the UK and worldwide.

Join us to find out more about the innovative methods employed by Manchester Cancer Research from Robert Bristow, a multi-award-winning Research Scientist and Scientific Advisor.

About the Speaker:

Robert Bristow completed his PhD in Medical Biophysics and Residency in Radiation Oncology at the University of Toronto with post-graduate fellowships at Erasmus University Rotterdam, MD Anderson Cancer Centre and Massachusetts General Hospital. He held positions as Professor and Clinician Scientist in Genito-Urinary cancers at the Princess Margaret Cancer Centre in Toronto during 1999-2017.

Seminal contributions include his pioneering work on the prostate cancer genome and tumour microenvironment hypoxic tumour cell characterisation.

He joined the University of Manchester as Director of the Manchester Cancer Research Centre in August 2017 with a remit to developing a new cancer strategy for Manchester with a cancer Team Science approach.

Robert serves on a number of international Scientific Advisory Boards and has more than 300 published papers. He is twice a Canadian Foundation for Innovation (CFI) awardee. He was made a Canadian Cancer Society Research Scientist in 2004, an ESTRO Honorary Fellow in 2011 and a Fellow of the Academy of Sciences (UK) in 2019. In 2021, he was awarded the Weiss medal (Association for Radiation Research) for distinguished contributions to radiation science.

Host or Publisher The Manchester Literary and Philosophical Society