I hope my research will be thought-provoking and useful for other cancer researchers. I'm trying to improve the way in which cancer drugs are tested, and therefore I want my research or some elements of it to help other scientists improve their own methods and ultimately lead to more successful cancer drugs being discovered.
My research
Currently, 97% of potential new anti-cancer drugs fail when they are tested in humans. This is due to the way that researchers study cancer in the laboratory, either using cells grown in plastic flasks or animal models, which struggle to mimic a human tumour in the body. Encapsulating cancer cells into spherical 'bubbles' of a biomaterial is a promising way of producing more 'human-like' laboratory cancer models.
My research aims to create a tumour-like ‘bubble’ to encapsulate breast cancer cells inside, and do this in a scalable way to mimic key tumour characteristics and therefore improve the success rate of breast cancer drug testing.
Many cancer researchers are now interested in 3D models of cancer, to study a more ‘human-like’ cancer environment in the lab. However, to create these models, many researchers use techniques which are labour intensive and not easily adaptable to be used on a large scale. My work uses a technique that is entirely scalable and therefore the resulting cancer models that I make could be useful to drug companies when they test thousands of potential drug compounds.
Conducting my PhD at º¬Ðß²ÝÊÓƵ
º¬Ðß²ÝÊÓƵ is a great place to carry out multi-disciplinary research like mine, as collaborations between different scientists and departments are always encouraged. The engineering expertise in º¬Ðß²ÝÊÓƵ is excellent and has allowed me to tackle a biological problem from a chemical engineering point of view.
My supervisors are incredibly supportive mentors not only for my research but also in my personal development over the years of my PhD. They have encouraged to take up a placement opportunity in industry and present my work at many conferences around the world. I have also received wellbeing support from Student Services during my studies, which has been brilliant in times when juggling the PhD with many other things has been challenging.
My advice to prospective PhD researchers
You need to be really passionate about your research topic. There will be bumps in the road and times when you get so bogged down in the detail of your work that it is easy to lose sight of the reason you wanted to do the research in the first place! So, the ability to see the bigger picture and motivate yourself towards realising the aims of your research is really key.