Our Research Partners

The Continuum Long Term Survivor (CLTS) Study is being conducted in partnership with six leading research institutions by teams of specialist scientists, led by the eminent Professors featured here. Whilst sharing a common goal, this is a multidisciplinary study and each team has specialist expertise and a particular area of focus in their research work. We are excited to announce further universities from the UK and the United States will be joining our unique team. This study is a truly significant initiative in the fight against cancer.

Steve Conlan, Swansea University

Research focus: Investigation of epigenomics and exosomes of the cells of the immune system.

Steve Conlan is Professor of Molecular and Cell Biology at Swansea University. He is affiliated to the Wales Cancer Research Centre.

“By understanding why some patients remain cancer free, we may be able to develop ways to treat those who do relapse. We hope that by investigating the immune system of long term cancer survivors that these secrets can be unlocked”

Lindy Durrant, University of Nottingham

Research focus: Identification of novel TCRs (T-cell receptors) and vaccine epitopes for the treatment of cancer patients from long term cancer survivors.

Lindy Durrant is Professor of Cancer Immunotherapy at the University of Nottingham. In 2019 she was awarded the Waldenstrom prize for Cancer Immunotherapy.

“We have identified some unique TCR clones from CLTS which recognise key tumour targets. There are no previous reports of T cells to these antigens, so they represent a significant step forward in immunotherapy. They also identify unique epitopes that can be used for cancer vaccines.”

Hardev Pandha, University of Surrey

Research focus: Investigation of neoantigen molecular mimicry in long term cancer survivors.

Dr Hardev Pandha is Professor of Medical Oncology at the University of Surrey as well as Director of the Surrey Cancer Research Institute.

“The ground-breaking aspects of this project is in having access to these unique individuals and a dissection of the immune interactions in their tumour. The tumour micro-environment as a whole (rather than just the component cancer cells by themselves) dictates either the response and clearance of cancer or resistance to therapy.”

Dan Davis, University of Manchester

Research focus: Using ‘extreme phenotypes’ to define the Natural Killer cells best equipped to fight cancer: a route to new therapies.

Dan Davis is Professor of Immunology at the Manchester of University. He has published over 130 academic papers and is the author of The Beautiful Cure.

“Bringing together such a diverse group of clinicians and scientists is exciting. Breaking down barriers and engaging in interdisciplinary research gives us every chance of answering questions whose solutions are beyond the scope of a single discipline.”

Kim Midwood, University of Oxford

Research focus: Exploiting anti-tumour immunity for immunotherapy in Colorectal and Pancreatic cancer.

Kim Midwood is Professor of Matrix Biology at the University of Oxford’s Kennedy Institute of Rheumatology.

“We have uncovered mechanisms by which the immune response is activated early in the fight against this type of cancer, we have shown how tumours can highjack these mechanisms for their own survival, and we have also identified how CLTS can override tumour highjack such that these patients recover control over tumour growth and immune defence.”

Andrew Sewell, Cardiff University

Research focus: Discovering cancer specific T-Cell ligands recognised by
long term cancer survivors.

Professor Sewell is Research Director of Cardiff University’s Institute of Infection and Immunity.

“Thus far, we have amassed over 1,500 different cancer-killing T-cells from seven different Continuum Life Sciences extreme survivors. Over 300 of these T-cells kill multiple types of cancer.”