The Expanding Theories grant aims to support pilot studies that are exploring novel concepts with the potential to improve clinical outcomes, such as quality of life, for people with brain tumours.
We created this award to empower researchers to delve into pioneering ideas and gather essential data vital for larger-scale project applications.
Our latest awardees for this grant are Dr Manish Aghi and Professor Michael Brown, who have both been awarded £150,000 over two years to support their research and take it to the next level!
Exploring the immune cells in skull bone marrow to treat glioblastoma
Dr Manish Aghi and his team will study immune cells in the bone marrow of the skull – cells which have been found to ‘activate’ T-cells to attack and destroy glioblastoma cells – and explore how treatments could be delivered through the skull to fight against glioblastoma.
Dr Manish Aghi
Dr Manish Aghi is a neurosurgeon specialising in brain tumors at UCSF Medical Center. He is principal investigator at the UCSF Brain Tumor Research Center and has over fifteen years of experience in glioblastoma research.
Boosting the immune system to combat glioblastoma
Professor Michael Brown will bring together two international teams to harness the power of the patient’s immune system. To do this they will use a type of immunotherapy called CAR-T cell therapy, boosted by an immune molecule called IL-2, to hunt down new ways of treating glioblastoma.
Professor Michael Brown
Professor Michael Brown is a specialist physician in clinical immunology and medical oncology and a pathologist in laboratory immunology. He is the Head of Translational Oncology at the Centre for Cancer Biology, a Senior Consultant Medical Oncologist at Royal Adelaide Hospital, and the Director of the Royal Adelaide Hospital Cancer Clinical Trials Unit.
Our Expanding Theories grants give researchers a chance to explore novel ideas which may open new avenues of research into brain tumour treatments. This lays the foundations for The Brain Tumour Charity’s ambition for more people diagnosed with brain tumours living longer and better lives. We look forward to closely following and sharing the success of these projects in the future.
Dr Simon Newman, Chief Scientific Officer at The Brain Tumour Charity