Submitted by Claire McGlynn on Mon, 07/08/2023 - 13:53
The IRC has announced a new partnership with Ryan Mathew and Heiko Wurdak of the University of Leeds. The new partnership will focus on the translation of local therapeutic drug delivery technologies to treat brain cancer.
The partnership, established in April 2023, combines Mathew and Wurdak’s expertise in brain cancer research – including their state-of-the art brain cancer models – with the IRC’s engineering and medicines experts.
Mr Mathew, who spoke at last year’s IRC interdisciplinary seminar, is an academic neurosurgeon who divides his time between clinical practice and research and innovation. Dr Wurdak is a cell biologist whose research focuses on brain cancer biology and together with Mathew co-leads the Stem Cells and Brain Tumour Group at Leeds.
The partnership is testing hydrogels and implantable drug delivery devices in patient-derived brain tumour assembloids and resection-recurrence surgical mouse models. Mathew and Wurdak will also be involved in regular meetings and brainstorming sessions between Leeds and other IRC researchers and clinicians.
“Despite best efforts, brain cancer remains one of the cancers with the worst outcomes and prognosis. We’re excited to be joining the IRC because we believe that multidisciplinary teamworking is the only way to make progress in treating hard-to-treat cancers such as glioblastoma,” says Mr Mathew.
“We want to accelerate these technologies and pick winners that can move onto clinical trials. As a result of the partnership, we hope to be in a position to conduct a first-in-person trial of one of these novel technologies. Ultimate success for us would be an additional treatment that can be delivered directly to the tumour, thereby providing patients with better outcomes.”
The IRC comprises five founding universities, Cambridge, Imperial, UCL, Glasgow and Birmingham alongside several partner institutions.
