Two new group leaders are set to join the Cancer Research UK Manchester Institute at The University of Manchester – part of the Manchester Cancer Research Centre.

Research into two disease areas – lung cancer and prostate cancer – will be strengthened through the appointment of Dr Michela Garofalo and Dr Esther Baena as junior group leaders.

Dr Garofalo joins the Institute from Ohio State University in Columbus in the United States. Her work looks at potential treatment approaches in lung cancer and the importance of microRNAs – small molecules that prevent the expression of individual genes – in sensitising tumour cells to chemotherapy drugs.

Also moving from the US, Dr Baena comes to Manchester from the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute in Boston. Her research is focused on prostate cancer, and mechanisms involved in progression and treatment resistance. In particular, she is interested in certain transcription factors – proteins that control the flow of genetic information - and the role they play in tumour growth.

Professor Richard Marais, Director of the Institute, said: “These are very exciting appointments for the Cancer Research UK Manchester Institute and for Manchester as a whole. It allows us to further develop these two important areas of cancer research.”

The two group leaders are expected to take up their positions in the summer of 2014.