MESOBANK - Key Persons

Job Titles:

• Consultant
• Director
• Member of the Project Team
• Consultant Histopathologist / Professor Robert Rintoul

Anna is a Consultant Histopathologist at Addenbrookes Hospital, Cambridge. She studied medicine at the University of Cambridge as part of the MB/PhD programme, undertaking a PhD with Professor Rebecca Fitzgerald exploring predictive and prognostic biomarkers in oesophageal carcinogenesis. She completed her Histopathology training at Addenbrookes Hospital and Royal Papworth Hospital.

Job Titles:

• Member of the Project Team
• Research Associate

Dr Jose Antonio Valer joined the Mesobank and the Cambridge Institute for Medical Research to study patient-derived primary pleural mesothelioma cell lines and novel mesothelioma organoid models. In this project, he expects to identify genomic and transcriptomic alterations that could highlight novel tumour drivers as well as to integrate complementary multi-omics data to identify genomic and transcriptomic biomarkers of drug resistance and sensitivity. These findings will provide relevant mesothelioma research models and unveil new biomarkers, advancing towards precision cancer medicine in pleural mesothelioma.

Job Titles:

• Member of the Project Team
• Clinical Research Fellow

Dr Niki Veale, Clinical Research Fellow. As part of his PhD studies, Dr Veale who is a Victor Dahdaleh Foundation Mesobank Fellow, will use transcriptomic, genomic and functional datasets from mesothelioma cell models to better understand the interactions between tumour stroma and mesothelioma cells.

Job Titles:

• Data Manager
• Member of the Project Team

Holly has worked within the medical sector for approximately 10 years with most of her background experience working with sample types in Pathology and research. Holly supports the day to day coordination of Mesobank and is the data manager for the workstream responsible for creating a bespoke retrospective Mesobank cohort of matched BAPE/MPM biopsies for PREDICT-Meso; a study which is aiming to understand some of the earliest signals which initiate the development of mesothelioma.

Job Titles:

• Director
• Consultant Histopathologist / Professor Robert Rintoul
• Professor of Thoracic Oncology in the Department

Robert Rintoul is Professor of Thoracic Oncology in the Department of Oncology, University of Cambridge and Honorary Consultant Respiratory Physician, Royal Papworth Hospital, Cambridge. Professor Rintoul is the Chief Investigator of Mesobank, which he founded in 2012, with foundation funding support from the Mick Knighton Mesothelioma Research Fund and the British Lung Foundation. He trained in respiratory medicine in London and Edinburgh receiving his doctorate from the University of Edinburgh for work investigating mechanisms underlying resistance to chemotherapy in small cell lung cancer. Professor Rintoul is lead clinician for cancer at Royal Papworth Hospital and Director of the Papworth Trials Unit Collaboration. He is co-lead for the CRUK Cambridge Centre Thoracic Cancer Programme and co-ordinates thoracic oncology research across Cambridge. He is the current chair of the Clinical Advisory Group for the UK Lung Cancer Coalition. Beyond Mesobank, Professor Rintoul's research is focused around clinical trials and translational research in malignant mesothelioma and the early detection of lung cancer. He is Chief Investigator for several clinical translational studies examining biomarkers in lung cancer. His work is funded by the Cambridge NIHR Biomedical Research Centre, Cancer Research UK Cambridge Centre, National Institute for Health Research and the British Lung Foundation.

Job Titles:

• Member of the Project Team
• Operational Manager

Sally has a MSc in Epidemiology from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, and started her career working for the Public Health Laboratory Service on gastrointestinal diseases, where she was responsible for providing scientific and logistical support for investigations into national outbreaks of foodborne disease, and providing information on the epidemiology of gastrointestinal disease to government agencies, local/regional health protection practitioners, university researchers and commercial organisations.

Job Titles:

• Member of the Project Team
• R & D / Sponsor Representative

Victoria has a BSc (Hons) in Microbiology & Virology and a PhD in Tumour Immunology. Her post-doctorate career began as a Research Fellow at Keele University, identifying novel genes regulating apoptosis in myeloid progenitor cell lines; followed by a Research Associate position in the University of Cambridge's Division of Cardiovascular Medicine. Using a variety of methods including clinical material and primary cell lines she studied various aspects of vascular smooth muscle cell apoptosis and macrophage function in atherosclerosis and plaque rupture. After a short time at the Wellcome Trust as a Science Advisor for the Immunity & Infectious Disease division Victoria joined Papworth as a Clinical Project Manager in 2011. The specialties she covers at Papworth are Pathology, Respiratory Support and Sleep Centre, Pulmonary Vascular Disease Unit and the Cambridge Centre for Lung Infection. She is also the Tissue Bank Manager and the Biological Safety Officer for research at the Trust