Due to your support, we are funding Phd student, James Thetford.

James is investigating the interplay between ethnicity, the microbiome and DNA damage in prostate cancer to understand how the microbiome of different ethnicities influences tumour biology and prostate cancer progression.  He is looking at the influence of the microbiome on immune response, the extent of DNA damage and clinical outcome in patients of differing ethnicity.

A comprehensive understanding of the prostate tumour microenvironment and complex cellular interactions will be provided via spatial biology and metagenomics analysis performed on prostatectomy specimens collected across England.

He hopes this microbiome research will help to unlock some answers as to why black men are twice as likely to get prostate cancer compared to other men (1 in 4 black men compered to 1 in 8), as microbiomes have a dramatic impact on the immune response.