The Paediatric Cancer Focus Subgroup (Dr Guy Makin)

Historically, access to novel anti-cancer therapeutics has not usually been considered a priority for children, due partly to the perception that drug resistance is not a major problem. However there are selected groups of childhood cancer where survival remains very poor. New EU legislation requiring drug developers to submit a Paediatric Investigation Plan provides a unique opportunity to broaden access to new agents for this previously denied patient population.  Within CEP we have established a ‘fast track’ system whereby as novel drugs enter Phase I trial in adults at the Derek Crowther Unit, a programme of pre-clinical studies of the same drug is initiated ready for submission to the CRUK New Agents Committee (NAC) for paediatric clinical testing at the conclusion of the adult trial. The first example of this ‘fast track’ system in action is the recent approval by NAC of a Phase I trial in children of the bioreductive alkylating agent RH1, where a pharmacokinetic method and a panel of pharmacodynamic biomarkers had been validated and used in the adult Phase I trial.  Extending this approach, assessment of the validity of the anti-apoptotic IAPs and Bcl-2 family members as therapeutic targets in childhood cancers is underway, where adult clinical evaluation is ongoing or imminent in Manchester. The role of hypoxia in modulating the threshold for drug-induced apoptosis in childhood cancers and the potential for HIF-1 targeted therapeutics are also being examined. We are also starting to address specific challenges relating to pharmacodynamic biomarkers of drug efficacy in young patients.

Group Leader:
Caroline Dive

After completing my PhD studies in Cambridge, I moved to Aston University's School of Pharmaceutical Sciences in Birmingham where I started my own group studying mechanisms of drug induced tumour cell death. I then moved to what became the Faculty of Life Sciences at The University of Manchester to continue this research. I was awarded a Lister Institute of Preventative Medicine Research Fellowship before moving to the Paterson Institute for Cancer Research in 2003.  Here I set up the Clinical and Experimental Pharmacology Group interfacing with the Derek Crowther Unit for early clinical trials at The Christie. I am currently a Senior Group Leader at the Paterson Institute for Cancer Research and Professor of Pharmacology at The University of Manchester.

Deputy Group Leader 
Gerard Brady

Disease Focus Team Leaders 
Fiona Blackhall
Guy Makin
Andrew Renehan

Staff Scientists
Jeff Cummings
Dominic Rothwell
Jonathan Tugwood

Clinical Lecturers
Emma Dean
Alastair Greystoke
Matthew Krebs
Cliona Kirwan

Associate Scientists
Kathryn Simpson
Chris Morrow

Service Manager
David Moore

Laboratory Manager
Martin Greaves

Postdoctoral Fellows
Alison Backen
Becky Bola
Radoslaw Polanski
Francesca Trapani
Cong Zhou

Clinical Fellows
Kyaw Aung
Louise Carter
Leila Khoja
Kalena Marti Marti
Robert Metcalf
Danielle Shaw
Laura Cove Smith

Graduate Student
Danielle Potter

Scientific Officers
Mahmood Ayub
Jenny Antonello
Stephen Bramley
Debbie Burt
Fouziah Butt
John Castle
Samson Chinien
Jakub Chudziak
Martin Dawson
Olive Denneny
Suzanne Faulkner
Joseph Halstead
Grace Hampson
Cassandra Hodgkinson
Paul Kelly
Matthew Lancashire
Daniel Morris
Karen Morris
Jackie Pierce
Lynsey Priest
Tony Price
Robert Sloane
Nigel Smith

Scientific Assistant
Aileen Jardine

Admin Assistant
Lisa Waters