Early Detection and Diagnosis Research Committee awards

Project Awards

May 2025

Stratification of high-risk anal dysplasia in targeted risk groups of patients through identification of viral and host epigenetic markers to aid patient care (STRIVE)

Dr Belinda Nedjai

Queen Mary University of London

Professor Richard Gilson

University College London

Developing ultrafast 2D-IR liquid biopsies for risk stratification in melanoma patients

Professor Neil Hunt

University of York

Dr Ruth Board

Lancashire Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation

Dr Rebecca Lee

University of Manchester

Professor Matthew Baker

University of Central Lancashire

November 2024

Spatial mapping of cervical precancers: combined use of molecular markers and cytology for disease monitoring and to understand the natural history/progression risk

Professor John Doorbar

University of Cambridge

Dr Nagayasu Egawa

University of Cambridge

Early detection of relapse in multiple myeloma patients with high risk genetics using quantitative immunoprecipitation-mass spectrometry (QIP-MS) in blood: an enhanced surveillance platform for the Myeloma XV, RADAR trial

Dr Ceri Bygrave

University of Oxford

Professor Karthik Ramasamy

University of Oxford

A rapid antibody-based assay for conclusive early diagnosis of T cell lymphoma

Professor Elizabeth Soilleux

University of Cambridge

Improving survival by understanding avoidable emergency diagnosis and related inequalities

Professor Georgios Lyratzopoulos

University College London

Dr Matthew Barclay

University College London

Improving cervical cancer outcomes in disadvantaged populations: using HPV self-sampling to increase accessibility, equity, and participation in Scotland’s National Cervical SCREENing programme- AYE-SCREEN

Professor Sharon Hanley

University of Aberdeen

Primer Awards

May 2025

Early detection of breast cancer in people with intellectual disabilities through Smart Bra

Professor Yang Wei

Nottingham Trent University

Professor Deborah Cairns

University of Glasgow

Genetic links between benign diseases, precursors and cancer: a multi-biobank investigation for improved risk prediction and early detection

Dr Xiaomeng Zhang

University of Cambridge

Exploring the potential of a pyroglutamated chromogranin A fragment for the early detection of pancreatic adenocarcinoma

Professor Nikolitsa Nomikou

University College London

Development of fluorescent switches for fast, point-of-care, sensitive and reliable detection of cancer biomarkers

Dr Amit Sachdeva

University of East Anglia

Early detection and risk stratification of localised prostate cancer using circulating DNA methylation biomarkers

Dr Laura Feeney

Queen's University Belfast

Enhanced breast cancer screening with unprocessed mammograms

Dr Sam Ellis

The Royal Surrey County Hospital

Risk stratification for earlier diagnosis of bowel cancer using machine learning techniques applied to linked routine data

Dr Bernard Rachet

London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine

Dr Ananya Malhotra

London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine

Using tissue glycan levels as a novel biomarker for the early detection and diagnosis of colorectal cancer

Dr Ralf Richter

University of Leeds

Professor Nicholas West

University of Leeds

Investigating the application of Raman spectroscopy coupled with machine learning as a novel tool to determine tumour genetic heterogeneity from blood and for early diagnosis of pancreatic cancer

Dr Andrew Downes

University of Edinburgh

Dr Marta Canel

University of Edinburgh

EV-MASS: extracellular vesicles-based liquid biopsy platform for early detection of breast cancer

Dr Erika Dorado

Imperial College London

PETAL: PET-based albumin nanoprobes for early detection of lung cancer and fibrosis

Professor Ljiljana Fruk

University of Cambridge

Detection of blood TCR signatures associated with risk and precursors of high-grade serous ovarian cancer (HGSOC)

Dr Filipe Martins

University College London

Dr Svetlana Khoronenkova

University College London

Finding the sweet spot: proteoform-resolved analysis and activity mapping of prostate specific antigen for early detection and phenotyping of prostate cancer

Dr Pengfei Li

University of Oxford

Dr Jonathon Wojciechowski

University of Oxford

Immunogenetic landscape of individuals with rare cancers

Dr Raheleh Rahbari

Wellcome Sanger Institute

November 2024

Acoustic centrifugation to enhance extracellular vesicle based prostate cancer diagnosis

Professor Aled Clayton

Cardiff University

Dr Xin Yang

Cardiff University

pH sensing of interstitial skin fluid with non-invasive hydrogel patches can improve sensitivity of skin cancer diagnosis in primary care

Professor Sylvain Ladame

Imperial College London

Identification of circular RNA biomarkers for early detection of normal colon cell transformation into precancerous and colorectal cancer states

Dr Parinaz Mehdipour

University of Oxford

Systematically assessing prescription medication use before cancer diagnosis to identify opportunities for early cancer detection

Professor Chris Cardwell

Queen's University Belfast

Early detection of oesophageal cancer: focusing on 10-cell tumour analysis

Dr Greta Skrupskelyte

University of Cambridge

Developing a community pharmacy service to facilitate early diagnosis of bowel cancer: A rapid ethnographic study

Professor Christian von Wagner

University College London

Development of a human fragment antibody targeting an early oncogenic biomarker in breast cancer; a tool for detection and diagnosis

Dr Samantha Salvage

University of Cambridge

Programme Awards

2025 awardees to be announced.