Members

Meso-ORIGINS Study Site Co-investigator for Aneurin Bevan University Health Board

Trust lead for pleural disease

Professor Biankin is a surgeon-scientist and Director of the Wolfson Wohl Cancer Research Centre at the University of Glasgow, where he established the Glasgow Precision Oncology Laboratory in 2016. Professor Biankin is also Chair of the UK-wide Precision-Panc programme of clinical trials for patients with pancreatic cancer. Professor Biankin is the Executive Director of the International Cancer Genome Consortium, Accelerating Research in Genomic Oncology (ICGC ARGO) project.
www.gpol.org

Drug discovery, kinase inhibitors, prodrug strategies

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Ash graduated with her PhD from Flinders University in 2019 and is now a Level A academic postdoctoral researcher in the College of Medicine and Public Health, under the supervision of Associate Professor Sonja Klebe. Ash’s current research focus is on malignant mesothelioma, in particular using organoid models of mesothelioma to predict treatment responses.

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Ankara University Medical Design Application and Research Center (MEDITAM), 06100, Ankara, TÜRKİYE Dr. Kayı Cangır has served as a professor in the Division of Thoracic Surgery at Ankara University Faculty of Medicine in Ankara, Turkey. Her research focuses on the surgical treatment of lung cancer, malignant pleural mesothelioma and thymic tumors. Dr. Cangir has published more than 250 articles and book chapters.
She has been a member of the IASLC Lung Staging and Prognostic Factors Committee and T Factor Subcommittee, IASLC Thymic Malignancy Staging and Prognostic Factors Committee and T Factor Subcommittee and IASLC Mesothelioma Staging and Prognostic Factors Committee since 2017. Dr.Kayı Cangır served as member of the organizing committee of the 20th World Conference on Lung Cancer (WCLC) in 2019.
Dr. Kayı Cangır earned her medical degree at Ankara University Faculty of Medicine in Ankara,Turkey. She completed her residency in surgery at Ankara University Hospital from 1993 to 1998. Dr. Cangir earned the associate professor as a first women associate professor of thoracic surgery of Turkey in 2005 . She has worked as a professor of thoracic surgery at Ankara University since 2012 and is involved in the training of medical students, residents and fellows. Also, Dr.Kayı Cangır has been a Board member of Ankara University Medical Design Application and Research Center (MEDITAM).

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Works as a Pleural and Lung Cancer Consultant working in a busy tertiary hospital.

Diagnostic Imaging

Prof Collins has a B.Sc. in Biological Sciences from Western New England College, Springfield, MA, and a Ph.D. in Medical Genetics from the University of British Columbia. As a pioneer in the field of translational genomics, Prof Collins was deeply involved in the development of molecular cytogenetics. He was the first to establish that genome copy number alteration predicts the risk of metastasis in prostate cancer patients and pioneered paired-end sequencing and its application to genome mapping strategies. More recently, Prof Collins has helped elucidate the mechanisms of transdifferentiation from prostatic adenocarcinoma to lethal neuroendocrine cancer which led to the development of liquid biopsies for prostate cancer. He established that the tumour microenvironment participates in driving prostate cancer metastasis and identified, for the first time, therapeutic vulnerabilities of mesothelioma.

We are a computational biology group based in the MRC Human Genetics Unit at the University of Edinburgh with broad interests in human disease genomics and molecular evolution. Our group performs computational analyses of large-scale genomic, transcriptomic and epigenomic datasets to shed light on the regulatory mechanisms encoded in the human genome. We also study the ways these mechanisms can be disrupted in developmental disorders and in cancers such as mesothelioma.

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Daniel H. Sterman, M.D., is the Thomas and Suzanne Murphy Professor of Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine in the Departments of Medicine and Cardiothoracic Surgery at the New York University Grossman School of Medicine, Director of the Division of Pulmonary, Critical Care, and Sleep Medicine, and Director of the Multidisciplinary Pulmonary Oncology Program at NYU Langone Health in New York City. He was previously lead clinical investigator in the multidisciplinary Thoracic Oncology Research Group at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania and the Principal Investigator of the Clinical Trials Project for the Penn NCI thoracic oncology program project grant from 1997-2015.

Dr. Sterman’s research interests are related to the treatment of thoracic malignancies, specifically as they apply to the synergy of molecular medicine, tumor immunotherapy and novel technologies in Interventional Pulmonology. Over the past 25 years, he has focused on the translation of laboratory discoveries from the bench to the bedside: conducting multiple human clinical trials of gene therapy and vaccine therapy for lung cancer, mesothelioma, and other pleural malignancies.

More recently, as Director of the NYU PORT (Pulmonary Oncology Research Team), Dr. Sterman has expanded his research interests into assessment of the immune microenviroment of tumor-draining lymph nodes, as well as the development of local intra-tumoral and intra-nodal immunotherapies. He is currently co-national PI of the LuTK02 clinical trial of intratumoral CAN-2409 in patients with advanced non-small cell lung cancer refractory to immune checkpoint inhibition, as well as global PI of the INFINITE clinical trial, a randomized Phase III clinical trial of intrapleural adenovirus-interferon alpha 2b in combination with chemotherapy as second/third line therapy for unresectable malignant pleural mesothelioma.

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Eva Lahnsteiner graduated with an MSc in Medical Informatics from the Vienna University of Technology in 2011, before working in various roles in Clinical Trials and Health Research.
As PREDICT-Meso Data Manager she is supporting data and sample access requests and the development of a Mesothelioma Common Data Model and Research Database.

Research interests: Pleural disease and intervention; Non-specific pleuritits; translational mesothelioma work including cell lines and drug sensitivity

My research focuses on identifying the hazards to human health posed by inhalation exposure to aerosolised particles and nanomaterials. My current focus is on the development of physiologically-relevant in vitro models to reduce the reliance on rodent models for hazard assessment of novel materials and to improve our understanding of the underlying mechanism of particle-related lung disease. Current projects include the development of robust and reproducible lung alveolar tissue models and 3D tumour spheroid models of malignant mesothelioma for more efficient drug screening. In addition I am exploring how alternative lower tier whole organism models regularly used in infection and cancer studies, such as Galleria mellonella larvae and the chick embryo can be repurposed and applied to the hazard assessment of particles.

https://www.strath.ac.uk/staff/murphyfionadr/

www.masson-lab.com

Gordon Cowell is a consultant thoracic radiologist at the Queen Elizabeth University Hospital in Glasgow and an honorary clinical senior lecturer at the School of Cancer Sciences within the University of Glasgow. After completion of specialist training in the West of Scotland and taking up a consultant post in 2012, he has developed expertise in lung oncology, pleural imaging/mesothelioma and interstitial lung disease as well as a wider interest in whole body MRI. HIs research interests centre around lung cancer and pleural disease, with a particular focus on thoracic MRI applications, radiomics and pharmacokinetics.

Gordon is the lead radiologist for the Meso-ORIGINS study.   ​

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I am interested in the role of the Integrated Stress Response in the development of mesothelioma. I use a variety of biochemical, structural biological and drug discovery methods to investigate potential new routes to therapy.

www.masson-lab.com

Joshua is currently working towards a PhD in Deep Learning. Working within the Predict-MESO Project, the intention is to follow Work Package 5.5 in improving an AI that can automatically segment and estimate mesothelioma tumour volume. 

Dr. Friedberg has published more than 100 peer reviewed articles, more than 30 book chapters, and is the inventor on multiple U.S. patents. He has over 100 national and international research presentations and has been an invited speaker and visiting professor, both nationally and internationally. He has also performed demonstration operations across the globe. He serves on the Scientific Advisory Board for the Mesothelioma Applied Research Foundation, the Board of the International Mesothelioma Interest Group, and the Mesothelioma Committee for the International Association for the Study of Lung Cancer. He has served in multiple editorial positions, including the original Thoracic Surgery Section Editor for UpToDate.

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Judy is a Professor in the Department of Cellular and Molecular Physiology at the University of Liverpool, where she runs a research group funded by North West Cancer Research, Breast Cancer Now, Fight for Sight, EPSRC and the NC3Rs. Her research interests are in deciphering the interplay between signalling, transcriptional regulation, and the modification of proteins by reversible ubiquitylation, with the aim of translating discoveries as potential therapeutic approaches or biomarkers, in mesothelioma, uveal melanoma or breast cancer. Her lab has been working on the discovery of BAP1-dependent therapeutic sensitivities in mesothelioma and recently developed novel chick embryo CAM xenografts of mesothelioma cell lines and patient-derived tissues (PDX) for preclinical testing. Judy has established a Liverpool Chick Embryo Facility (CEF) together with the Facility Manager Dr Sarah Barnett at the University of Liverpool, which can provide collaborative support or services for internal and external projects. Judy is a member of the Mesothelioma UK Research and Audit Scientific Committee and has served on advisory boards including the Mesothelioma Research Network Steering Group. She is the Deputy Associate Pro Vice Chancellor for Technology, Infrastructure and Environment in the Faculty of Health and Life Sciences at Liverpool, and the Faculty Lead for Equality Diversity and Inclusion.

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The Le Quesne group use quantitative deep phenotyping methods to ask questions about tumour biology in intact tissues from humans and from animal models. We have particular interests in the dysregulation of mRNA translation, in the complex tumour microenvironment, in morphological biomarkers, and in the development of highly multiplexed quantitative methods using machine learning methods. Mesothelioma is an area of particular interest.

PREDICT-Meso Network PI, Co-Lead WP1, Co-Lead WP5.1

Kevin Blyth is Professor of Respiratory Medicine at University of Glasgow, and Honorary Consultant in Respiratory Medicine at NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde (NHSGGC). Following completion of Internal and Respiratory Medicine training and the award of an MD in Magnetic Resonance Imaging, he was appointed as a Consultant in 2009. He splits his time between the CRUK Beatson Institute/University of Glasgow and the Queen Elizabeth University Hospital, where he leads the Glasgow Pleural Disease Unit. He founded and is Director of the Macmillan Scottish Mesothelioma Network, which coordinates clinical care and access to clinical trials for Mesothelioma patients in Scotland. He is an NHS Scotland Research (NRS) Senior Research Fellow and leads a translational research program focused on pleural disease and thoracic malignancy, and has a particular interest in Mesothelioma. He is Principal Investigator of the CRUK PREDICT-Meso International Accelerator Network, and Meso-ORIGINS study site PI for the Queen Elizabeth University Hospital, NHS GGC.

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The Cancer Epigenetics group continues the wide-ranging work on epigenetics that Manel Esteller, the group leader, has carried out during his career until now. Current research is devoted to the establishment of the epigenome and epitranscriptome maps for normal and transformed cells, the study of the interactions between epigenetic modifications and non-coding RNAs, and the development of new epigenetic drugs for cancer therapy.
The Cancer Epigenetics Group’s main research interests are:
– Epigenetic disruption of mRNA transcription, particularly in DNA methylation and histone modification patterns, and its contribution to the initiation and progression of human tumours.
– Translation of the use of epigenetic knowledge gained from research into biomarkers to predict clinical outcome and to assay new drugs to reverse the distorted epigenetic landscape.
– Development and study of new epigenetic drugs that target DNA methylation and histone modification writers, readers and erasers and could have an anti-cancer effect.
– Study of monogenic disorders affecting epigenetic genes, particularly in Rett syndrome.
Study of epigenomic profiles of common diseases such as cardiovascular alterations and Alzheimer and other neurodegenerative diseases.
– Establishment of new epigenomic platforms to elaborate comprehensive DNA methylome maps.
In addition, the study of epitranscriptomics is a focus of intense research in the group.

I have been working on mesothelioma (MPM) for many years and published 113 peer reviewed papers on this tumor to date. My group is currently particularly active in setting up 3D model of MPM and Bio-banking aimed at validating novel avenues of treatment. We have developed an extended expertise in detecting novel actionable targets with particular focus in DNA repair, metabolism and markers of immune-resistance

I have been working on mesothelioma (MPM) for many years and published 113 peer reviewed papers on this tumor to date. My group is currently particularly active in setting up 3D model of MPM and Bio-banking aimed at validating novel avenues of treatment. We have developed an extended expertise in detecting novel actionable targets with particular focus in DNA repair, metabolism and markers of immune-resistance

Full Bio
As a pathologist I’m daily dedicated to diagnostic histopathology and cytology of thoracic oncology together with diagnostic immunohistochemistry and molecular biology techniques applied to histo- and cytopathology. As a researcher my fields of interest are mainly focused on translational studies of histology, immunohistochemistry and molecular pathology applied to thoracic tumors: in particular, I studied the application of immunocytochemistry and molecular biology to identify new biomarkers of neoplasia and/or characterise the phenotypic and molecular profile of various human thoracic tumors, such as non-small cell lung cancer, malignant pleural mesothelioma and neuroendocrine tumors, establishing correlation with clinico-pathological parameters, response to therapy and prognosis.
Prof Righi’s team will provide retrospective MPM pairs and provide expertise in diagnostic histo- and cyto-pathology on MPM samples as part of WP1 .

Areas of interest: Pleural disorders and interventions, lung cancer including mesothelioma endobronchial ultrasound
Clinical lead for Pleural diseases
Clinical lead Scottish National Mesothelioma Network – Grampian

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Pleural malignant mesothelioma and organoids

New and novel uses of medicines
Improving cancer patient outcomes
Cancer services improvements

Lung cancer, Mesothelioma, Staging, Immunotherapy.

Supporting  AI volumetric surgical validation as part of PREDICT-Meso WP5

Having completed a PhD working on ubiquitination in Lung Adenocarcinoma at the CRUK Manchester Institute, I am now working in Sam Janes’ group at UCL performing high-throughput drug screening on patient derived mesothelioma cells to identify and validate therapeutic vulnerabilities.

Meso-ORIGINS Co-I for North Tees and Hartlepool.

Interests: Pleural disease, lung cancer, Clinical Research and Clinical Education

CTA since November 2021 working with Respiratory and Cardiology Research.

Supporting Meso-ORIGINS at North Tees site, supporting PIs Dr Kevin Conroy and Dr Ben Prudon.

I’d like to learn more about mesothelioma

During my PhD, I focused on asbestos-related diseases like Malignant Pleural Mesothelioma and Benign Asbestos Pleurisy by comparing genomic alterations to understand how asbestos exposure affects on human genome. To search for answers, firstly I scanned the genomes of individuals with MPM and asbestos-induced chronic pleuritis (AICP) to compare and determine copy number alterations (CNAs) between two asbestos-related diseases. Secondly, I investigated MPM tumor genomes using high-resolution SNP arrays and whole-genome sequencing comparatively for a better understanding of complex genomic rearrangement patterns on MPM tumor genomes especially in the context of Chromoanagenesis. Currently, we are focused on deciphering MPM tumor heterogeneity and clonal evolution patterns to discover effective novel drug targets using cutting-edge tools like WGS, single-cell RNA seq, and CRISPR-Cas9. I am highly motivated to discover novel treatment targets for Mesothelioma.

PhD student in Physics: Biophotonics and Medical Imaging at the Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, the Netherlands.

Using a novel imaging technique called higher harmonic generation microscopy to image lung tumor biopsies within minutes without any staining or processing

Dr Harrison Stubbs completed his MD in Cardiovascular Medicine in 2024 at the University of Glasgow. His research interests include risk stratification and proteomics in malignant pleural disease

Interests: In vivo models of Mesothelioma; Developement of bespoke co-culture systems for mesothelioma:immune interface; MAPK signalling, focussed on cancer cell: immune system interface; Developement and testing of novel inhibitors of MAPK signalling in mesothelioma and other relevant cancer types

Website: https://research.manchester.ac.uk/en/persons/k.g.finegan

Dr Knight completed a PhD at University College London in 2011. He used an in vitro model of oncogenesis to define a new way by which viral vectors for gene therapy could cause cancers in off target effects. He also cloned the first clinical grade cell line that stably produced lentiviral vectors. Subsequently he completed his core clinical training in Cambridge and London, moving up to Manchester for specialty training in Respiratory Medicine. in 2017. He started a clinical lectureship in 2019 and has set up a translational immunology lab at the Lydia Becker Institute. His principal interest is how chronic inflammation influences the formation of the early tumour microenvironment. He is setting up a new model for oncogenesis in lung cancer in collaboration with cancer cell biologists and bioengineering colleagues. More recently he has been adapting this for mesothelioma.

Skill sets: Lentiviral vectors; in vitro models of cancer; Immunophenotyping with CyTOF

Website: https://research.manchester.ac.uk/en/persons/sean.knight

My clinical background is in nursing. I have a clinical and research interest in nurse led services and impact on patient outcomes and experience.
My particular research focus is on patient experience research, especially related to experience of and access to health and support services. My research aims to capture patient and families experience of health, illness, and services in order to generate evidence to improve care and support. I have expertese in qualitative and mixed method studies.
My research interests also include the link between physical and psychological health and wellbeing. Recent research includes a growing portfolio of studies in mesothelioma and lung cancer. I am Co-Director of the Mesothelioma UK Research Centre.
I also have a track recod of conducting research that generates outputs and tools that make an impact on practice, for example recommendations and guidance, training materials, videos and animations. The goal is to use these outputs to promote positive change. I have expereince of co-design and co-production to develop these resources.
I maintain honorary contracts within the NHS in Sheffield and Doncaster.

Website: https://www.sheffield.ac.uk/ahpnm/people/nursing-and-midwifery/angela-tod

We use statistical genomics to investigate the evolution of structural variants in tumours to inform patient stratification, better predict treatment response and improve clinical outcome. A major source of variation between tumours is the timing and sequence of structural variant (SV) accumulation throughout tumour progression. The SV landscape, in tumours with highly rearranged genomes, can stratify patients according to disease progression, treatment response and prognosis. Interrogating complex tumour genomes is computationally challenging and modelling SV evolution requires statistical methodology.

https://ewinggroup.github.io/ 

Interests: Deep Learning and AI Microscopic Images

Ekansh Chauhan is a PhD student in Cancer Sciences at the Cancer Research UK Scotland Institute, as part of the PREDICT-Meso program. He completed an MS by Research in Computer Science and Engineering (Artificial Intelligence) from IIIT Hyderabad, India, and a BTech from GGSIPU, Delhi. His research focuses on integrating computer vision and healthcare to develop autonomous diagnostic systems that predict disease progression, identify treatments, and improve patient outcomes with a focus on explainable AI solutions.

Website: https://ekansh09.github.io/

I’m a post-doc researcher working in Prof. Crispin Miller’s lab in Glasgow, diving into two exciting areas of science:
1. Early Detection & Diagnosis of PMP:
I’m collaborating with Murphy’s lab to explore multi-omics data with the aim of better understanding mesothelioma progression. The goal is to identify molecular markers that can help spot high-risk cases early. This could mean intervening sooner and potentially preventing the disease from becoming more aggressive.
2. Reproducible Data Analysis Workflows: I focus on developing and refining bioinformatics workflows that are easy to reproduce, ensuring that our data analysis methods are reliable and ready for broader use.

https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7601-4762

The Oncology Unit treats all solid tumors. We have developed outpatient clinics for thoracic, gastrointestinal, breast, urological, neuroendocrine malignancies and sarcomas. Nevertheless, our main fields of education and research (clinical, basic, and translational) are lung, mesothelioma, breast, and pancreatic cancer. In the above areas, we run several clinical trials, record real-world data, and develop educational programs for health professionals, patients, and caregivers

I am currently a member of Professor Marco Bianchi’s lab, where my work focuses on developing organoids derived from human biopsies, including non-tumoral and mesothelioma pleural surgical fragments.
These organoids will provide a platform for evaluating innovative anti-mesothelioma molecules, complementing and potentially enhancing current therapeutic regimens.

Liam is a Physician Associate in respiratory medicine working in NHS Highland. Liam holds an interest in clinical research and is currently completing the NIHR Associate principal Investigator Scheme on the Meso-ORIGINS trial. Through the PREDICT-Meso network, Liam is involved in research relating to lung cancer diagnostics in pleural fluid.

Ex vivo culture platforms for human malignant pleural mesothelioma (explants, pleural effusion)
New combination IO therapy for human malignant pleural mesothelioma
Multi-omics tissue analysis (multiplex immunofluorescence imaging, spatial transcriptome analysis)

I work on understanding cell death and senescence in Mesothelioma. I have been working on combination therapies with senolytics and CDK4/6 inhibitor palbociclib

Investigating the metabolic dependencies of malignant pleural mesothelioma, particularly glutamine metabolism, as a potential treatment strategy.

Professor Lang-Lazdunski is a consultant thoracic surgeon working in Geneva, Switzerland.
He has a long-standing interest in mesothelioma and has been involved in many clinical trials in the field including MARS, MesoVATS, and others.
He previously had a Chair in mesothelioma at King’s College London and led the surgical mesothelioma program at Guy’s & St Thomas’ hospital in London, UK.
He has operated on more than 1000 patients with pleural mesothelioma and his main interests are: surgical research, experimental therapies, immunotherapy, cancer vaccines and survivorship.