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Professor Steve Pollard

Linking glioblastomas to DNA-protein parcels

Fast facts

• Professor Pollard’s research aims to increase the number of treatment options for GBM patients and improve their survival.
• Previous research has found that GBMs have mutations in the molecular machinery that controls whether key genes are turned ‘on’ or ‘off’.
• The team is using the latest genome editing tools to understand how these mutations arise and affect GBM growth. They’ll then see if they can target them with existing, already approved drugs.

What’s the latest?

• The second year of the project has seen great progress, with the team performing successful chemical and genetic screens.
• The chemical screening has shown that a family of molecules called HDACs are important to GBM growth.
• The team now aims to test the effects of HDAC inhibitor drugs, which have previously been unsuccessful but the team are investigating new ways of using these drugs.

Dr Alasdair Rooney

Reducing the effects of fatigue

Fast facts

• Most adults diagnosed with a primary brain tumour have some level of fatigue. This can have a profound effect on quality of life, so there’s an urgent need to find new ways to manage it.
• Dr Rooney’s team is investigating if lifestyle changes can alleviate fatigue.
• They’re using lifestyle and behaviour interventions to target diet, exercise, sleep and stress, and improve quality of life and patient satisfaction.
  
  

What’s the latest?

• Patients have been recruited to the trial and have started on their respective journeys to manage fatigue.
• Final results are expected later this year.
  

Professor Anthony Chalmers

Repurposing drugs to treat glioblastomas (GBMs)

Fast facts

• GBMs are aggressive tumours that often grow back after treatment. This is partly because they’re made up of several different types of cell.
• Preclinical research has shown that an ovarian cancer drug, olaparib, can control a tumour’s growth by stopping it from healing itself.
• Professor Chalmers is testing the safety of using olaparib in combination with current standard treatments for GBM, to find out if this improves outcomes for patients.