Lung Cancer Focus Subgroup (Dr Fiona Blackhall)

The research interests of the lung cancer focus group within CEP are the development of novel mechanism based therapies and clinically relevant biomarkers for treatment selection and resistance to treatment. A major goal is to improve knowledge on mechanisms of resistance to existing therapies. The recent award of European Union Framework 6 funding for a collaborative project entitled ' CHEMORES' (www.chemores.org) which brings together specialists from leading centres for lung cancer, genomic and proteomic research across Europe will further this aim. The lung cancer focus group consists of clinicians and scientists who are engaged at the translational interface between the lab and the clinic in applying cutting edge technologies to plasma, serum and circulating tumour cells for biomarker discovery, evaluation and validation. Biomarkers of apoptosis and hypoxia are of particular interest to evaluate in preparation for clinical development of apoptosis promoters that have demonstrated promise to impact on lung cancer in preclinical and early clinical trials.