Our researchers
The WCRC supports research aligned with the six CReSt themes, across the spectrum from pre-clinical to clinical research.
Clair Brunner
Clair is a clinical oncology registrar in South Wales and am completing a research fellowship in radiotherapy at Swansea Bay University Health Board and Swansea University. My current research focusses on how we can use imaging to improve outcomes from radiotherapy for oesophageal cancer. One aspect of my work is to assess the potential impact of using MRI for radiotherapy planning for oesophageal cancers.
Kian Quest
Kian is a PhD researcher in Dr Lee Parry’s lab at the European Cancer Stem Cell Research Institute, based in the Haydn Ellis Building. His research focuses on harnessing Salmonella typhimurium as an oncotropic delivery platform for shRNA targeting PD-L1. By disrupting PD-L1-mediated immune suppression within the tumour microenvironment, his work aims to stimulate and enhance anti-tumour immune responses, particularly in tumours that are immunologically “cold” or immune evasive.
Dr Ashley Pridgeon
Dr Ashley Pridgeon is a Bioinformatician at the All Wales Medical Genomics Service. He is working closely with the Division of Cancer and Genetics at Cardiff University, where he is focusing on supporting the development and implementation of structural variant analysis in clinical diagnostics.
Manon Jones
Manon Jones is part of Dr Clement’s lab, where she supports research to identify novel tumour-associated antigens in glioblastoma to improve anti-tumour T-cell responses. She previously researched glioma and medulloblastoma during her BSc and MRes, drawing hypotheses from transcriptomic datasets and functionally testing them using brain tumour spheroid models. As an early career researcher, she is eager to build on this foundation towards a long-term career in cancer research, with the aim of contributing to improved outcomes for patients.
Emma Swift
Emma is a post-doctoral researcher working in the Viral ImmunoTherapies and Advanced therapeutics Lab (VITAL) group based in the Division of Cancer and Genetics at Cardiff University. Her research aims to generate tumour-selective adenoviral vectors for cancer virotherapy applications.
Dr Mathew Clement
Dr Clement is a Neuroimmunologist that combines advanced neurology and immunology research techniques together. His research focusses on the study of brain cancer, specialising in Glioblastoma (GBM) research.
Dr Michelle Edwards
Dr Edwards’ research is focused on patient’s experiences of cancer treatment when cancer is advanced. She has been working on a review of decision and communication support for patients and research to develop an intervention to support patients understand their options and make informed decisions.
Fariba Mirani Sargazi
Fariba Mirani Sargazi is a PhD student in Medical Sciences at Bangor University. Under the supervision of Dr. Jonathan Blank, her main goal is to determine whether MRE11 is lactylated in response to MCT1 inhibitor treatment in the cisplatin-resistant and parental ovarian cancer model and how this impacts inhibitor and cisplatin sensitivity.
Dr Carly Bliss
Dr Bliss is a Lecturer in Cancer Immunology at Cardiff University, where she develops pre-clinical cancer therapies that utilise adenoviruses. This research includes a novel approach to harness and redirect antiviral T cells against cancer, in addition to cancer vaccine strategies that deploy novel vectors based on rare adenovirus serotypes to prime anti-tumour immune responses.
Dr James Powell
Dr Powell is a neuro-oncologist based at Velindre Cancer Centre and treats patients with brain tumours with radiotherapy and systemic therapies such as chemotherapy. He is involved in several clinical trials assessing novel treatments for brain tumours. His research focuses on brain tumours, including Glioblastoma Multiforme, and he has led clinical collaborations with the Cardiff University Brain Research Imaging Centre (CUBRIC) studying the role of advanced MRI scanning techniques in patients with brain tumours.
Dr Ashley Poon-King
Dr Ashley Poon-King is a clinical oncology registrar in South Wales. She is completing a clinical research fellowship in radiotherapy, genomics and immunology. Her current research investigates telomere length and function in the tumour DNA in patients with head and neck and lung cancer and explores its relationship with clinical outcomes. Her research also examines sequential leucocyte telomere dynamics in the patients undergoing definitive or adjuvant high dose radiotherapy for head and neck cancer.
Dr Arron Lacey
Dr Arron Lacey is a Senior Lecturer in Cancer Bioinformatics and Data Science focussing on Population Health at the SAIL Databank and cancer genomics in the Reproductive Biology and Gynaecological Oncology Group at Swansea University. His overarching research focus is to help bridge cancer genomics and population health at scale and he is working on technological and strategy solutions to integrate multi-modal data (imaging, genetic testing via AWMGS) into a Cancer National Data Resource at the SAIL Databank.
Dr Agisilaos Zerdelis
Dr Zerdelis is a haematology specialty registrar in South Wales and a research fellow in early phase cancer trials. He is doing laboratory research in the field of acute myeloid leukaemia with a particular interest in using myeloid blast differentiation as a new strategy for leukaemia treatment
Dr Kate Milward
Dr Milward is a post-doctoral researcher in the VITAL (Viral ImmunoTherapies and Advanced therapeutics Laboratory) team at Cardiff University. Her research seeks to tap into the wealth of scientific knowledge developed in the fields of vaccine and virotherapy research and apply it to the treatment of cancer.
Dr Laura Baker
Dr Baker is a Research Fellow in Cancer Data Science based at Swansea University, focused on population health using national scale data available within the SAIL Databank. Her research aims to showcase the opportunities available using routinely collected Welsh cancer data sources, providing insights into cancer services and outcomes for patients in Wales.