DR. Paul Mullholland
Glioblastoma Research Group
Consultant in Medical Oncology and Honorary Associate Professor
The aim of our group is to improve outcomes for people diagnosed with glioblastoma. We have a clinical trial programme running together with a translational scientific programme. The clinical trials give patients living with glioblastoma access to novel treatments. Our laboratory research is aimed at improving our mechanistic understanding of therapeutic response and resistance and provides a rationale for novel therapies.
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Glioblastoma Research Group:
The aim of our group is to improve outcomes for people diagnosed with glioblastoma. We have a clinical trial programme running together with a translational scientific programme. The clinical trials give patients living with glioblastoma access to novel treatments. Our laboratory research is aimed at improving our mechanistic understanding of therapeutic response and resistance, and provides a rationale for novel therapies.
Group members
Dr Diego Ottaviani
NIHR Academic Clinical Fellow & Consultant in Medical Oncology
Dr Nick Brown
Clinical Research Fellow & Specialist Registrar in Medical Oncology
Dr Ben Kinnersley
Senior Research Fellow - Senior Computational Biologist
Dr Vassilis Genoud
Senior Clinical Fellow
Dr Ariel Finkielsztein
Senior Research Fellow
Harriet Howard
Masters student
Research
Glioblastoma is the most common and aggressive primary malignant brain tumour. Due to the lack of effective treatment options, Cancer Research UK has included glioblastoma in the category of ‘cancers of substantial unmet need’. Our goal is to improve clinical outcomes for patients with glioblastoma, from pre-clinical development of novel therapies to early and later phase clinical trials.
Clinical trials
We have set up a national programme of immunotherapy clinical trials for patients with glioblastoma. We have recently completed recruitment for the IPI-GLIO trial (ISRCTN84434175) which is a phase II, open label, randomized study of ipilimumab (anti-CTLA monoclonal antibody) and temozolomide versus temozolomide alone after surgery and chemoradiotherapy in patients with recently diagnosed glioblastoma. We are currently actively developing new clinical trials.
Molecular mechanisms in glioblastoma
Alongside clinical trials, we are running a translational programme to improve our understanding of the molecular mechanisms driving glioblastoma response and resistance to treatment. There is emerging evidence that DNA organisation is critical in mediating responses to cancer treatment including chemotherapy and immunotherapy. We are characterising the DNA architecture in glioblastoma and how it can be modified to enhance treatment efficacy.