Professor Christopher Talbot

Chris Talbot is Professor of Radiotherapy Genetics in the Leicester Cancer Research Centre and Department of Genetics & Genome Biology at the University of Leicester. He leads an inter-disciplinary research group which focusses on understanding and predicting side effects from radiotherapy. The group’s work including carrying out genome-wide association studies for acute and late side effects, investigating the effect of time-of-treatment and circadian rhythm and building predictive models using statistical and machine learning approaches.

Prof Talbot did his BSc at Imperial College in London and his PhD at Washington University in St Louis as an external student of the University of London. His early work and PhD project was on the genetics of Alzheimer disease, with John Hardy and Alison Goate. Postdoctoral research work was carried out at the Wellcome Trust Centre for Human Genetics at the University of Oxford with Jonathan Flint, which centred on finding genes for anxiety using mouse genetics. Talbot started as a Lecturer in Medical Genetics at the University of Leicester in 2001. Since 2008 his research has focussed on radiotherapy side effects, through a long-standing and fruitful collaboration with Prof Paul Symonds, now Emeritus Professor of Clinical Oncology. Dr Talbot was promoted to Senior Lecturer in 2016 and Professor in 2024.

Prof Talbot was deputy co-ordinator and work package lead for Biomarkers in the EU-funded REQUITE project, and is now chair of the REQUITE legacy committee. He is currently chair of the Association for Radiation Research and co-chair of the Radiogenomics Consortium. Talbot is science co-ordinator for the Horizon Europe PRE-ACT project.

Prof Talbot is involved in multiple overlapping projects that focus on predicting side effects from radiotherapy. The main projects are:

PRE-ACT, a Horizon Europe project with €7.4 million funding to build predictive models for side effects from breast radiotherapy using Explainable AI and to carry out a clinical trial to test the prediction and improve quality of life for patients. Talbot is the science co-ordinator for the project. See https://preact-horizoneurope.eu/ 

Analysing time-of-treatment effects on radiotherapy and how genotype interacts with circadian response. 

Carrying out genome-wide association studies to understand the genetic basis of radiotherapy side effects.

1. Jaikuna T, Osorio EV, Azria D, Chang-Claude J, De Santis MC, Gutiérrez-Enríquez S, van Herk M, Hoskin P, Lambrecht M, Lingard Z, Seibold P, Seoane A, Sperk E, Symonds RP, Talbot CJ, Rancati T, Rattay T, Reyes V, Rosenstein BS, de Ruysscher D, Vega A, Veldeman L, Webb A, West CML, Aznar MC. Contouring variation affects estimates of normal tissue complication probability for breast fibrosis after radiotherapy. Breast. 2023 Sep 11;72:103578.
2. Jandu HK, Veal CD, Fachal L, Luccarini C, Aguado-Barrera ME, Altabas M, Azria D, Baten A, Bourgier C, Bultijnck R, Colciago RR, Farcy-Jacquet MP, Chang-Claude J, Choudhury A, Dunning A, Elliott RM, Green S, Gutiérrez-Enríquez S, Herskind C, Lambrecht M, Monten C, Rancati T, Reyes V, Rosenstein BS, De Ruysscher D, Carmen De Santis M, Seibold P, Sperk E, Veldwijk M, Paul Symonds R, Stobart H, Taboada-Valladares B, Vega A, Veldeman L, Webb AJ, Weltens C, West CM, Rattay T, Talbot CJ; REQUITE consortium. Genome-wide association study of treatment-related toxicity two years following radiotherapy for breast cancer. Radiother Oncol. 2023 Oct;187:109806.
3. Joseph N, Cicchetti A, McWilliam A, Webb A, Seibold P, Fiorino C, Cozzarini C, Veldeman L, Bultijnck R, Fonteyne V, Talbot CJ, Symonds PR, Johnson K, Rattay T, Lambrecht M, Haustermans K, De Meerleer G, Elliott RM, Sperk E, Herskind C, Veldwijk M, Avuzzi B, Giandini T, Valdagni R, Azria D, Jacquet MF, Charissoux M, Vega A, Aguado-Barrera ME, Gómez-Caamaño A, Franco P, Garibaldi E, Girelli G, Iotti C, Vavassori V, Chang-Claude J, West CML, Rancati T, Choudhury A. High weekly integral dose and larger fraction size increase risk of fatigue and worsening of functional outcomes following radiotherapy for localized prostate cancer. Front Oncol. 2022 Oct 26;12:937934.
4. Barnett GC, Kerns SL, Dorling L, Fachal L, Aguado-Barrera ME, Martínez-Calvo L, Jandu HK, Welsh C, Tyrer J, Coles CE, Haviland JS, Parker C, Gómez-Caamaño A, Calvo-Crespo P, Sosa-Fajardo P, Burnet NG, Summersgill H, Webb A, De Ruysscher D, Seibold P, Chang-Claude J, Talbot CJ, Rattay T, Parliament M, De Ruyck K, Rosenstein BS, Pharoah PDP, Dunning AM, Vega A, West CML; RGC and REQUITE Consortia. Int J Radiat Oncol Biol Phys. 2022 Nov 1;114(3):494-501
5. Webb AJ, Harper E, Rattay T, Aguado-Barrera ME, Azria D, Bourgier C, Brengues M, Briers E, Bultijnck R, Chang-Claude J, Choudhury A, Cicchetti A, De Ruysscher D, De Santis MC, Dunning AM, Elliott RM, Fachal L, Gómez-Caamaño A, Gutiérrez-Enríquez S, Johnson K, Lobato-Busto R, Kerns SL, Post G, Rancati T, Reyes V, Rosenstein BS, Seibold P, Seoane A, Sosa-Fajardo P, Sperk E, Taboada-Valladares B, Valdagni R, Vega A, Veldeman L, Ward T, West CM, Symonds RP, Talbot CJ; REQUITE Consortium. Treatment time and circadian genotype interact to influence radiotherapy side-effects. A prospective European validation study using the REQUITE cohort. EBioMedicine. 2022 Oct;84:104269.
6. Aldraimli M, Soria D, Grishchuck D, Ingram S, Lyon R, Mistry A, Oliveira J, Samuel R, Shelley LEA, Osman S, Dwek MV, Azria D, Chang-Claude J, Gutiérrez-Enríquez S, De Santis MC, Rosenstein BS, De Ruysscher D, Sperk E, Symonds RP, Stobart H, Vega A, Veldeman L, Webb A, Talbot CJ, West CM, Rattay T; REQUITE consortium, Chaussalet TJ. A data science approach for early-stage prediction of Patient's susceptibility to acute side effects of advanced radiotherapy. Comput Biol Med. 2021 Jul 5;135:104624
7. Van der Weijst L, Aguado-Barrera ME, Azria D, Berkovic P, Boisselier P, Briers E, Bultijnck R, Calvo-Crespo P, Chang-Claude J, Choudhury A, Defraene G, Demontois S, Dunning AM, Elliott RM, Ennis D, Faivre-Finn C, Franceschini M, Gutiérrez-Enríquez S, Herskind C, Higginson DS, Kerns SL, Johnson K, Mollà M, Lambrecht M, Ramos M, Rancati T, Rimner A, Rosenstein BS, De Ruysscher D, Salem A, Sangalli C, Seibold P, Sosa-Fajardo P, Sperk E, Stobart H, Summersgill H, Surmont V, Symonds P, Taboada-Lorenzo B, Talbot CJ, Valdagni R, Vega A, Veldeman L, Veldwijk MR, Ward T, Webb A, West CML; REQUITE Consortium, Lievens Y. Overview of health-related quality of life and toxicity of non-small cell lung cancer patients receiving curative-intent radiotherapy in a real-life setting (the REQUITE study). Lung Cancer. 2022 Apr;166:228-241.
8. Kerns SL, Amidon Morlang A, Lee SM, Peterson DR, Marples B, Zhang H, Bylund K, Rosenzweig D, Hall W, De Ruyck K, Rosenstein BS, Stock RG, Gómez-Caamaño A, Vega A, Sosa-Fajardo P, Taboada-Valladares B, Aguado-Barrera ME, Parker C, Veldeman L, Fonteyne V, Bultijnck R, Talbot CJ, Symonds RP, Johnson K, Rattay T, Webb A, Lambrecht M, de Ruysscher D, Vanneste B, Choudhury A, Elliott RM, Sperk E, Herskind C, Veldwijk MR, Rancati T, Avuzzi B, Valdagni R, Azria D, Farcy Jacquet MP, Chang-Claude J, Seibold P, West C, Janelsins M, Chen Y, Messing E, Morrow G; REQUITE Consortium. Use of angiotensin converting enzyme inhibitors is associated with reduced risk of late bladder toxicity following radiotherapy for prostate cancer. Radiother Oncol. 2022 Mar;168:75-82.
9. Franco NR, Massi MC, Ieva F, Manzoni A, Paganoni AM, Zunino P, Veldeman L, Ost P, Fonteyne V, Talbot CJ, Rattay T, Webb A, Johnson K, Lambrecht M, Haustermans K, De Meerleer G, de Ruysscher D, Vanneste B, Van Limbergen E, Choudhury A, Elliott RM, Sperk E, Veldwijk MR, Herskind C, Avuzzi B, Noris Chiorda B, Valdagni R, Azria D, Farcy-Jacquet MP, Brengues M, Rosenstein BS, Stock RG, Vega A, Aguado-Barrera ME, Sosa-Fajardo P, Dunning AM, Fachal L, Kerns SL, Payne D, Chang-Claude J, Seibold P, West CML, Rancati T; REQUITE Consortium Collaborators. Development of a method for generating SNP interaction-aware polygenic risk scores for radiotherapy toxicity. Radiother Oncol. 2021 Jun;159:241-248.
10. Rattay T, Seibold P, Aguado-Barrera ME, Altabas M, Azria D, Barnett GC, Bultijnck R, Chang-Claude J, Choudhury A, Coles CE, Dunning AM, Elliott RM, Farcy Jacquet MP, Gutiérrez-Enríquez S, Johnson K, Müller A, Post G, Rancati T, Reyes V, Rosenstein BS, De Ruysscher D, de Santis MC, Sperk E, Stobart H, Symonds RP, Taboada-Valladares B, Vega A, Veldeman L, Webb AJ, West CM, Valdagni R, Talbot CJ; REQUITE consortium. External Validation of a Predictive Model for Acute Skin Radiation Toxicity in the REQUITE Breast Cohort. Front Oncol. 2020 Oct 30;10:575909. doi: 10.3389/fonc.2020.575909. eCollection 2020.

Prof Talbot teaches across a range of undergraduate modules as well as supervising MSc, MD and PhD students. He teaches the bioethics component in the biological sciences degrees (in BS2000 & MB2050), human genetics (BS3031) and medical genetics (MB3050). Talbot convenes the two compulsory modules on the Medical Genetics BSc program (MB2051 & MB3050). He has an interest in research-inspired teaching and publishes an annual research newsletter for the students.