Targeting hard-to-treat cancers, with EPSRC's Interdisciplinary Research Collaboration

Connect: Health Tech

In this episode of Joining the Dots we explore the Interdisciplinary Research Collaboration group and their approach to developing new technologies for hard-to-treat cancers.

The EPSRC Interdisciplinary Research Collaboration (IRC) in Targeted Delivery for Hard-to-Treat Cancers aims to develop new technologies to effectively deliver drugs for the treatment of three hard-to-treat cancers: in the pancreas, brain, and chest.

The guests for this podcast are two of the IRC investigators: Professor Colin Watts, Chair and Professor of Neurosurgery at the Brain Cancer Programme at the University of Birmingham, and Dr Ronan Daly, Associate Professor in the Science and Technology of Manufacturing at the University of Cambridge’s Institute for Manufacturing.

Listen on to hear Colin and Ronan talk about how manufacturing research is helping to overcome the challenges of delivering effective cancer treatments and the opportunities to use the same technologies for other diseases or conditions.

The overarching aim of the IRC is to develop and validate high-capacity vehicles, injectable gels, and implantable devices to better target hard-to-treat cancers, enhancing treatment efficacy by increasing the rate and extent of drug activity at the tumour site. The programme has been designed to facilitate effective translation from the laboratory to the clinic by incorporating cross-cutting validation and manufacturing themes across all the technologies.

ABOUT THE GUESTS

Professor Colin Watts

Professor of Neurosurgery, Chair Birmingham Brain Cancer Programme, University of Birmingham

Honorary Consultant Neurosurgeon, University Hospitals Birmingham

Colin leads the newly established Brain Cancer Programme at the University of Birmingham. His research aims to improve the treatment and survival of patients with glioma by understanding the molecular genetic heterogeneity of individual tumours and using that data to develop novel molecular and functional stratification suitable for application in clinical trials. His clinical practice specializes in neurosurgical oncology with a particular interest in intrinsic gliomas and cerebral metastases.

Dr Ronan Daly

Associate Professor, Science and Technology of Manufacturing, Institute for Manufacturing, University of Cambridge

Ronan is a Course Director for the Manufacturing Engineering course, where students learn about manufacturing technologies and manufacturing management. He previously worked in Unilever R&D before completing a PhD in Chemistry from the School of Chemistry and Centre for Research on Adaptive Nanostructures and Nanodevices at Trinity College Dublin. He leads the Fluids in Advanced Manufacturing research group at the IfM, which tackles fluid flow and functional material challenges to enable scale-up of advanced manufacturing technologies.