Sussex Blood Cancer Research progress in 2025
The Sussex Blood Cancer Research team
Over the past year the Sussex Blood Cancer Research Group has marked a period of progress, reflected across funding success, scientific output and growing research capacity. Colleagues secured a strong portfolio of new awards, including project grants, prestigious fellowships, PhD studentships, and pilot funding that will support continued advances in blood cancer biology and translational research.
Project grants: Morgan/Palmer/Simoes (CRUK), Morgan (WWCR), Morgan (BCUK).
Fellowships: Oberoi (MRC Career Development Award), Mitchell (UKRI FLF Follow-on).
PhD Studentships: Pepper (Dr William Priddy Studentship), Kennedy (BSMS studentship).
Pilot funding: Oliver/Mancini (SCRC pump priming), Vareli (SCRC pump priming), Kennedy (SCF), Palmer (BSH).
The group delivered an impressive body of publications across high quality journals, spanning lymphoma, leukaemia, systems biology, drug resistance, medicinal chemistry, and clinical practice:
Vareli et al. Cell Death Dis. Jayawant et al. Biochem Soc Trans. Roy et al. Methods Mol Biol. Simoes et al. Osteoarthritis Cartilage. Lau et al. EJHaem. Park et al. Leuk Lymphoma. Ladikou et al. Cancers. Chowdhury et al. J Med Chem. Jin et al. RSC Med Chem. Kamizela et al. Nature. Wagstaff et al. Oncogene. Sevim, Park and Morgan, Oncogene. Campos-León et al. PLoS Pathog. Hunter et al Eur J Oncol Nurs. Moore et al. Br J Haematol. Edmonds et al, Med Chem. Garcia-Manero et al, Ann Hematolo.
This scientific output has been complemented by numerous PhD completions highlighting the strength of researcher development within the programme. Congratulations to the new Drs Sevim, Olaitan, Park, Vareli, Talbot, Chowdary, and Jin.
Members of the group presented their findings at leading national and international meetings, with abstracts accepted to ASH, EHA, iwCLL, and ICSB. Research activity has expanded further with a cohort of new postdoctoral researchers, PhD students and clinical fellows joining during the year. Clinical research has also advanced, with active haematology trials (Chevassut: menin inhibition in AML, BTK degraders in CLL, HbF inducer in Sickle Cell Disease, and Jones: Frailty-adjusted therapy in myeloma, Immunotherapy in Myeloma), and significant contributions to national treatment guidelines.
Taken together, these achievements reflect a thriving research environment that continues to strengthen its impact locally, nationally and internationally.