We are delighted to be teaming up with North West Cancer Research to fund a three-year PhD studentship for blood cancer research within the academic department of haemato-oncology at the University of Liverpool.
The project is focussed on Chronic Lymphocytic Leukaemia (CLL) and diffuse large B cell lymphoma (DLBCL), which make up more than half of all the newly diagnosed cases of non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma (NHL). Some cases of CLL and DLBCL have a deletion in one of the chromosomes, which means these cells lose about 394 genes. Patients who have this deletion have a higher risk disease as not only is their disease more aggressive, but it can also become more resistant to therapy. Unfortunately, we know very little about how these genes work together, as there are no models we can use to study how their loss affects the way that the cells work. In this project, we will use a technique called CRISPR/Cas9 (known as molecular scissors) to remove these genes from cells that have been developed from patients with CLL and DLBCL. This will allow us to study them in the laboratory to see how the cells develop resistance to therapy, and potentially uncover new ways to treat these diseases by understanding how the genes work together.
This studentship is focussed on addressing which patients are more likely to respond to a novel and expensive treatment right at the outset to ensure that this treatment is used when it is most likely to be effective. This is of benefit both for patients (ensuring that they get the best treatments) and the NHS to best direct stretched financial resources.
We are delighted to be involved with this project.
