Owen Group: for non-scientists

The UK has a very high rate of one main type of oesophageal (gullet) cancer. Most patients are still diagnosed at more advanced cancer stages, and the outcomes from treatment are very poor. We still have quite limited ways to identify which patients will respond to which treatments, something we can see from the wide range of outcomes that we see from treatment. Determining who will respond to which treatment, and ways to monitor this, are very much needed. In the Owen group we use patient samples to make models of cancer to understand treatment responses, and blood samples to identify whether cancer is still present as patients go through treatment, and whether cancer can be detected by blood test when we suspect cancer has come back.