This Fellowship scheme aims to support outstanding scientists seeking to develop a career in childhood cancer research and aims to identify ‘research leaders of the future’ providing them with the support they need to achieve their full potential. The Fellowship includes funding for a defined five year programme of work.
David’s research interest centres around a subset of cancers that adopt a specific telomere lengthening mechanism known as the Alternative Lengthening of Telomeres (ALT) pathway, which is thought to involve Homologous recombination (HR) mediated copying of telomeric templates. An important prediction is that ALT positive cancers are susceptible to specific therapeutic treatments. This is particularly important because a variety of clinically difficult to treat pediatric cancers, including currently untreatable brain tumours, such as Glioblastoma Multiforme and Diffuse Intrinsic Pontine Gliomas elongate their telomeres via the ALT pathway. David’s research will explore the molecular mechanisms underlying the ALT pathway with a view to identifying novel druggable targets and small molecule drugs for the rational design of more effective cancer therapies.