Catch up on the latest news, updates, and stories from our community and beyond. From important announcements to behind-the-scenes highlights, there’s always something new to explore. Scroll down to read the latest posts and see what we've been up to.
Researchers have uncovered a mechanism that makes some cancer cells especially vulnerable to experimental drugs known as ATR inhibitors. The findings could support the development of tests to identify the patients most likely to benefit.
Publications 17 August 2026
Scientists have carried out one of the largest and most comprehensive studies to date of the genetic and clinical factors associated with cancer in British Bangladeshi and Pakistani people. The findings could help inform future efforts to make cancer screening and risk assessment more equitable.
Publications 7 August 2026
Scientists at Barts Cancer Institute, Queen Mary University of London, have uncovered an important way that cells keep their genes under control. The discovery could help explain one of the earliest molecular changes that occurs during the development of lung cancer. The study, published in Science Advances, reveals that a protein called LIMD1, which is frequently lost in lung cancer, plays a much bigger role in controlling gene activity than scientists previously realised. The findings uncover a previously hidden layer of gene regulation and may provide new insight into how normal cells begin to lose control during the earliest stages of cancer.
Publications 23 July 2026
Researchers have developed an artificial intelligence method that can detect signs of cancer by combining several different clues found in DNA fragments circulating in the blood. The method, developed by a team led by scientists at Barts Cancer Institute, Queen Mary University of London, and the University of Cambridge, uses a comparatively inexpensive form of genome sequencing to detect signals shared by a range of cancer types.
Publications 10 July 2026
Researchers at Barts Cancer Institute, Queen Mary University of London, have discovered a way in which the environment surrounding triple-negative breast cancer cells helps suppress our immune system, making this cancer harder to treat. The findings open the door to a potential new treatment strategy that could make triple-negative breast cancers more vulnerable to the immune system and help more people to benefit from immunotherapy in future.
Publications 18 June 2026
Researchers have developed a new way to understand how genetic changes linked to blood cancer evolve in our cells, offering new insight into predicting blood cancer risk.
Publications 5 May 2026
Researchers have been awarded £1m to launch a new clinical trial for people with myelodysplastic syndromes, a form of blood cancer with limited treatment options.
Publications 8 April 2026
Researchers have developed a way to grow miniature ovarian tumours in the lab that mimic the tumour environment found in patients. The new approach offers a useful way to study how cancer cells interact with the immune system and to explore potential treatments. Ultimately, it could help accelerate progress for patients and reduce reliance on research methods involving animals.
Publications 25 March 2026
A more active approach to monitoring and treating people with a rare eye cancer (known as uveal melanoma) that has spread to the liver could help some patients to live longer, according to researchers at Barts Cancer Institute, Queen Mary University of London. The findings, from a retrospective study of the largest UK cohort of patients with this condition to date, offer an encouraging sign of progress in this rare and difficult-to-treat cancer.
Publications 21 January 2026
Scientists have discovered that a single letter change in a gene called PRKCA drives a rare and hard-to-treat brain cancer, chordoid glioma, through an entirely unexpected mechanism. The findings could open up new ways to design targeted treatments for this difficult-to-treat disease, and possibly for other cancers involving the same gene.
General News 7 November 2025
A new clinical trial led by Professor Thomas Powles at Barts Cancer Institute, Queen Mary University of London, has shown that a blood test to detect tumour DNA could help doctors decide which patients with bladder cancer are most likely to benefit from further treatment after surgery. The new approach improved survival in those identified as high-risk while safely sparing low-risk patients from unnecessary side effects.
Conferences 22 October 2025
Researchers have developed an artificial intelligence (AI) tool that could help doctors identify which skin cancers are most likely to spread. We spoke to Professor Jun (Alex) Wang, a group leader at BCI, and Dr Emilia Peleva, a Clinical Research Fellow and dermatologist in his team, about their new study, published in npj Precision Oncology.
General News 30 September 2025
An international team of scientists has revealed how rogue rings of DNA that float outside of our chromosomes – known as extrachromosomal DNA, or ecDNA – can drive the growth of a large proportion of glioblastomas, the most common and aggressive adult brain cancer. The discovery could open the door to much-needed new approaches to diagnose glioblastoma early, track its progress and treat it more effectively.
General News 8 September 2025
Molecules exhaled in the breath may provide clues to detect blood cancer, according to new research by scientists at Barts Cancer Institute. The findings could enable the development of a blood cancer breathalyser, providing a rapid, low-cost way to detect disease.
General News 23 July 2025
Researchers have discovered a new mechanism by which B cells – antibody-producing immune cells – use a cellular recycling process called autophagy to control changes to their DNA essential for antibody improvement. The findings could have future implications for the development of certain blood cancers and autoimmune diseases.
General News 2 July 2025
Scientists have uncovered how bowel cancer cells imitate our gut’s natural healing processes to adapt, spread and grow. The findings researchers at Barts Cancer Institute could lead to new treatment strategies aimed at preventing cancer spread.
General News 8 June 2025
A new strategy to help powerful cancer-targeting immune cells, known as CAR-T cells, infiltrate pancreatic tumours has been developed by researchers at Barts Cancer Institute, Queen Mary University of London.
General News 22 May 2025
Women of African or South Asian genetic ancestry tend to develop breast cancer and die at a younger age than women of European ancestry, according to new research by Barts Cancer Institute, Queen Mary University of London. The study, which looked at clinical and genetic data from over 7,000 women with breast cancer, also found important genetic differences in these women’s cancers that could impact their diagnosis and treatment.
General News 20 May 2025