The goal of our laboratory is to design gentler, tailored therapies for patients with multiple myeloma, an immune cell cancer of the bone marrow.

Despite recent marked advances in therapies, most myeloma tumours ultimately become resistant and relapse. Outcomes vary largely with tumours relapsing within a short time in some patients, whereas others may stay in remission for multiple years.

Our team is using cutting-edge genetic tools to characterise the molecular make-up of patient tumour cells to predict tumour behaviour at the time of diagnosis and develop tailored management strategies. This includes identification of drivers of tumour evolution and delineation of vulnerabilities as well as characterisation of therapy resistance in relapsed disease.

In collaboration with the radiology research team at The Royal Marsden NHS Foundation Trust, molecular information is integrated with state-of-the-art functional (diffusion-weighted) MRI imaging data with the aim to improve diagnostic and treatment management strategies for patients.

Through my dual role as scientist and clinician and my active involvement in clinical research, the laboratory serves as a molecular analytical laboratory for several national trials and takes part in shaping improved diagnostic and treatment strategies for patients with multiple myeloma.