The PdD project Dissecting the Spatial Origins of Biliary Intraepithelial Neoplasms, supervised by Dr. Luke Boulter (MRC Human Genetics, Institute of Genetics & Cancer) and Prof. Tim Kendall (Center for Inflammation Research, Institute for Regeneration & Repair), is looking for applicants.
Application deadline: October 1st 2025
Expected start date: January 2026
Project Description:
In this project prior analysis of human tissue will be expanded to further investigate tumour-starting cells. To do this, samples from patients who have pre-cursor cells and a tool called spatial transcriptomics will be used to 1. Find which immune cells are next to cancer-starting cells and 2. Understand how the cancer-starting cells are talking to these immune cells. Once this has been done, cancer cells (which we have in our laboratory) will be taken and introduced to immune cells in a dish. It will be possible then to discover whether these cancer cells use immune cells to grow. Based on the information from human tissue, these cancer-immune cell mixtures will be treated with new medicines to determine if stopping these conversations reduces how cholangiocarcinoma starts.