Dr Alastair Lamb

Group Leader

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Overview
Team
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Research
Key Publications
Major Funding
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Clinical Reader in Prostate Cancer Evolution
Honorary Consultant Urological Surgeon, Guy's and St Thomas' NHS Foundation Trust

Centre for Cancer Evolution

Overview

Our lab focusses on Spatial Prostate Assessment and the Circulating Environment (aka the SPACE Group). We use cutting edge spatial molecular techniques to unpack clonal dynamics in the development of localised prostate cancer. Alongside this we seek to identify scalable “windows” into clonal lethality using machine learning approaches applied to histology and MRI images as well as ‘liquid biopsy’ of circulating tumour cells (CTCs). Our aim is to transform decision-making in clinical management of prostate cancer so that the right men get the right treatment at the right time.

Team

Dr Youssef Arafat

Postdoctoral Researcher

Dr Max Beesley

Postdoctoral Researcher

Dr Pinky Kotecha

PhD Student

Extended team

Oxford team members
- Sandy Figiel, Postdoctoral scientist
- Sophia Abusamra, PhD student
- Thineskrishna Anbarasan, Academic Clinical Fellow
International team members
- Mengxiao He, PhD student (SciLife)

Research

Learn more about our lab’s research in the videos below:

Next generation risk stratification in prostate cancer

SPACE Group Spatial Transcriptomic Pipeline – PART 1: preparation of FFPE tissue for Visium v2 ST

New spatial atlas of clonal somatic mutations reveals novel findings in prostate/skin/breast & more

Genetic mapping of tumours: New breakthroughs in prostate cancer

Visit Dr Alastair Lamb’s YouTube Channel

Key Publications

Clonal phylogenies inferred from bulk, single cell, and spatial transcriptomic analysis of epithelial cancers. PLoS One. (2025) Jan 3;20(1):e0316475. PMID: 39752458
Clinical Implications of Basic Research: Exploring the Transformative Potential of Spatial ‘Omics in Uro-oncology. Eur Urol. (2025) Jan;87(1):8-14. PMID: 39227262
Spatial transcriptomic analysis of virtual prostate biopsy reveals confounding effect of tissue heterogeneity on genomic signatures. Mol Cancer. (2023) Oct 3;22(1):162. PMID: 37789377
Spatio-temporal analysis of prostate tumors in situ suggests pre-existence of treatment-resistant clones. Nat Commun. 2022 Sep 17;13(1):5475. doi: 10.1038/s41467-022-33069-3. PMID: 36115838
Spatially resolved clonal copy number alterations in benign and malignant tissue. Nature. (2022) Aug;608(7922):360-367. PMID: 35948708

See recent publications

Major Funding

2025–2029 – Cancer Research UK. Advanced Clinician Scientist Fellowship. SPACE-X Study. CI. £1.64M
2023–2025 – John Fell Trust. Field activated magnetic nanoparticles to capture CTCs. PI. £40k.
2021-2025 – John Black Foundation. TRANSLATE Trial sample collection funding. PI. £200K.
2021-2025 – National Institute of Health Research (NIHR) Health Technology Assessment (HTA). TRANSLATE Trial. Co-CI. NIHR131233. £1.53M.
2017-2024 – Cancer Research UK Clinician Scientist Fellowship. SPACE Study. CI. £1.15M

Other Activities

BJUI Section Editor (Prostate Cancer & Web).
European Urology Editorial Board.
Trustee UCare charity.
Member of Pan Prostate Cancer Group.
Affiliate member of BAUS, EAU, AUA, AACR

Biography

Alastair Lamb is a Cancer Research UK-funded clinician scientist & urologist based at Barts Cancer Institute and Guys Hospital in London. He runs a scientific group called SPACE (Spatial Prostate Assessment and the Circulating Environment) whose main interest is the molecular basis of localised prostate cancer. His lab interrogate spatial clonal biology to unpack prostate cancer heterogeneity, with a focus on identifying and defining clonal lethality. The longer term objective is to change the paradigm of prostate cancer screening, diagnosis and treatment. The first part of this work was published in Nature in 2022 (see our video summary on YouTube) with a follow up analysis in Molecular Cancer in 2023.

Alastair is also involved in clinical trials research, as co-Chief Investigator of the TRANSLATE Trial, and a local Investigator for the ATLANTA, PROMOTE and FINESSE Trials. Alongside this he set up the QUANTUM Biobank at Oxford to facilitate tissue collections complementing research into urological malignancies.

Clinically, he manages patients across the full spectrum of localised prostate cancer from PSA counselling, through diagnosis, surveillance and robotic prostatectomy. He introduced LATP prostate biopsy to Oxford as well as a prostatectomy planning meeting to ensure robust discussion of all cases and a consensus approach to operative steps, on the basis that intentionality and teamwork matters in complex surgery.

Additional Information

Lab Alumni

Wencheng Yin, Postdoc – now postdoc in Kennedy Institute
Andrew Erickson, Postdoc – now group leader in Helsinki
Hasim Bakbak, summer student – completing medical studies at Koc University
Ying Cui, histopathology technician
Alicia Kayes, histopathology technician
Lois Vesty-Edwards, research nurse and tissue collection coordinator