Academic clinical fellow wins Research Bursary and NIHR Poster Prize
An Academic clinical fellow from our University’s College of Life Sciences has recently been awarded a Cancer Research UK Research Bursary and NIHR poster prize for his ACF research project.
In November, Leicester's NIHR ACF in Medical Oncology Dr Ali Abdulnabi Mohamed was awarded a Cancer Research UK Research Bursary of £25K.
Working with Hope Against Cancer Fellow Dr Mark Openshaw, Laboratory Research Supervisor Professor Jacqui Shaw and ACF Research Supervisor Professor Anne Thomas, Dr Mohamed will be researching into developing blood tests to detect genetic alterations of upper stomach and lower food-pipe cancers.
The bursary will fund this study, which aims to detect the common gene alterations in tumour samples of patients with upper stomach and lower oesophageal (food pipe) cancers and identify markers of good response. It also aims to develop accurate blood tests that can detect the identified gene alterations in blood samples.
Last month, Dr Mohamed presented his research proposal poster, entitled "developing blood tests to detect genetic alterations of upper stomach and lower food-pipe cancers", at the 11th Annual NIHR Trainee Meeting 2017, where he also became a Poster Competition Prize Winner.
Dr Mohamed said: “I was really delighted to receive the generous £25K bursary from the CRUK to fund my ACF research project and also to win a Poster Competition Prize at the annual NIHR Trainee meeting 2017. This achievement reflects the unique opportunities and dedicated support offered here in Leicester. I owe many thanks to my supervisors Prof Thomas and Prof Shaw and my brilliant colleague Dr Openshaw who have been really supportive with the research proposal.
“I must also thank all the patients who have donated their tumour and blood samples in the earlier phase of this project. This is an exciting area of research and we hope that our research will lead to improvement in the management of these hard-to-treat cancers.”