Kevin Brindle has been awarded a Wellcome Trust Strategic Translation Award, with a value of over £4 million, which with a contribution from CRUK totals £5.3 million.
Through a research agreement with GE Healthcare the Brindle lab have been developing metabolic imaging using MRI and hyperpolarised 13C-labelled cell substrates as a clinical tool for monitoring tumour responses to treatment. Their preclinical studies demonstrated the potential of the technique and they are now translating this work to the clinic.
The project, which is an industry-academic-NHS collaboration (GE Healthcare, University of Cambridge, Addenbrooke's Hospital) involves the purchase and installation of a clinical polarizer (funded by CRUK), and an investigation of its capability for detecting treatment response in lymphoma, glioma and breast cancer patients.
The award will link the departments of Biochemistry, Radiology, CRUK Cambridge Institute, Haematology and Oncology.