Find out more about our academic staff, their expertise, achievements and the impact of their work.
Professor Nick Lemoine is Director of the Barts Cancer Institute and a world leader in pancreatic cancer research. Pancreatic cancer is hard to treat and the outlook for patients is generally poor, but he hopes to change that through his pioneering work. His team are analysing the genetic information of pancreatic tumour cells to identify which faulty genes play a role in the disease. This will help them identify potential new targets for therapy, particularly those that stop the cancer from spreading in the body. Their research will hopefully lead to the development of new, more precise treatments for the disease, ultimately helping more people to survive.
He also works with colleagues on the development of oncolytic virotherapy, an approach that uses adenoviruses and vaccinia viruses that selectively replicate within and kill cancer cells, but leave normal cells untouched.
His research has been funded by programme grants from MRC, Cancer Research UK, Digestive Cancer Campaign and the European Union. He has published widely and also holds roles in a range of cancer organisations across the UK and Ireland.
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Dr John Riches is Director for the Cancer and Clinical Oncology programme and Clinical Senior Lecturer. His major research interest is investigating the alterations in metabolism that accompany B-cell activation and how this is reflected in the metabolism of low- and high-grade lymphomas. His team’s aim is that an enhanced understanding will underpin the development of the next generation of anti-metabolic drugs for these diseases. He has received major funding to support his research into chronic lymphocytic leukaemia. He combines his research with clinical practice at the Barts Health Cancer Centre with specific emphasis on the treatment of lymphoid malignancies. In addition to his research in metabolism, he has a particular interest in the role of targeted therapies, immunotherapy and bone marrow transplantation in the treatment of these diseases.
Dr Riches was the lead author on one of the first studies to investigate the outcome of Covid-19 infection in patients with blood cancer, who were expected to be amongst those at increased risk of Covid-19 infection and more severe outcomes. However, the recent study found that even if patients were actively having intensive treatment for blood cancer that weakened their immune system, they usually recovered from Covid-19 as long as they were otherwise fit and well.
Professor Richard Grose is director of Cancer and Molecular and Cellular Biology programmes and Professor of Cancer Cell Biology. He is interested in how cancer cells interact with each other and the microenvironment. His team investigates how cancer cells develop resistance to therapies and design drug combination approaches to overcome this. He has received major funding from Cancer Research UK and Breast Cancer Now for research into the progression of DCIS to invasive breast cancer.
Professor Louise Jones is director of the Cancer and Molecular Pathology and Genomics programme, and Professor of Breast Pathology.
The focus of her research is breast cancer and in particular the factors involved in the progression of in situ to invasive disease with the aims of identifying markers which can predict behaviour, and novel therapeutic targets.
Her current research involves development of in vitro models of Ductal Carcinoma in situ (DCIS) and their use to investigate the influence of the microenvironment on tumour cell behaviour, focusing on the functional significance of altered myoepithelial and fibroblast phenotype in DCIS.
In parallel with work on the microenvironment, her team is investigating the molecular diversity of in situ and invasive breast cancer in different populations (e.g. different ethnic groups, high risk patients) and its therapeutic implications.
She has received major funding from Breast Cancer Now and the Pathological Society of Great Britain and Ireland. She is also lead for Breast Cancer Now National Breast Tissue Bank, and for Molecular Pathology for Genomics England.
A recent study co-led by Professor Jones has identified molecular characteristics in ‘normal-looking’ tissues surrounding breast tumours that may indicate whether breast cancer is likely to return following surgical removal of the tumour. Such biological clues could help to identify patients at risk of recurrence and help to guide treatment decisions.
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Professor Andrejs Braun is director of the Cancer and Therapeutics programmes, and Director of Postgraduate Taught Programmes, Barts Cancer Institute.
His research focuses on molecular mechanisms of leukaemia and lymphoma formation and progression. His research group is specifically interested in epigenetic regulation of somatic mutagenesis in normal and malignant B cells. They aim to understand how alterations in the nuclear envelope influence B cell chromatin conformation, and what the epigenetic consequences of these alterations are. He has received major funding for research into genomic instability in leukaemia and lymphoma.
Dr Jun Wang is programme director of the Cancer Genomics and Data Science programmes.
Dr Wang's research interests lie in applying bioinformatics and computational approaches to analyse large-scale cancer datasets to uncover novel diagnostic and prognostic features. He also leads the Cancer Research UK Barts Centre Bioinformatics Core Facility.
Professor Bijendra Patel is Professor of Surgery (Laparoscopic Surgery and Surgical Skills) and course director for the Laparoscopic Surgery and Surgical Skills programmes at Queen Mary. He is a leading expert in establishing degrees for acquiring operative surgical skills by simulation, pioneering the course in Surgical Skills and Sciences at Barts Cancer Institute and setting up a Virtual Reality Surgical Simulation Centre for training surgeons. He is a fellow of the Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh.
His main clinical interests are in surgery for benign and malignant diseases of the oesophagus and stomach, laparoscopic and bariatric surgery, SILS - Single Incision Surgery, and general and gastrointestinal surgery. In his current consultant post at Barts and The Royal London Hospital, he provides the regional gastro-oesophageal cancer service for inner east London.