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Sometimes cancer cells can also grow resistant to treatment, meaning the cancer cells come back after initial treatment. Professor Spencer is working to develop new, alternative drug treatments that stop this from happening.

A man stood in a science lab with his arms folded wearing a red Blood Cancer UK lab coat.

Professor John Spencer

Project information

Lead researcher

Professor John Spencer, University of Sussex

Research team
  • A team at University of Sussex
Related conditions
  • Myeloma
  • Childhood leukaemias
  • Leukaemia
  • Root condition
Research type
  • Non-clinical
Region
  • South East
Grant awarded
  • Project Grant
Status
Ongoing
Funding award date
January 2023
Amount awarded

£280,000

The challenge

A problem with current blood cancer treatments is that sometimes the cancer can stop responding to it, which causes the disease to return. We need to work out how we can stop this from happening to give everyone the best possible chance of survival.

The project

Professor Spencer and his team have identified a molecule that they think is involved in certain blood cancers such as leukaemia, lymphoma, and myeloma. They think this molecule might also contribute to certain treatments stopping working for these types of blood cancer.

The team want to build a 3D structure of this molecule to look at the different forms it exists in and look at how it interacts with different things in the cell. With this knowledge he will then test different combinations of drugs to see if this molecule can be a target for new treatments in the future.

The future

The hope is that this work will lead to new understanding about how this molecule is involved in the development of blood cancer and how it might lead to treatment resistance. This will assist scientists to develop new, alternative drug treatments for people affected by blood cancer that are kinder, with fewer side effects.

Help us beat blood cancer by funding a research project

  • Could help eight people newly diagnosed with blood cancer understand their condition.
  • Could help researchers study blood cancer cells to develop new treatments and improve early diagnosis.
  • Could help scientists identify genetic patterns in tumour samples to better understand how genes contribute to the development of blood cancer.
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