Probing microenvironmental immunobiology to support understanding of novel anti-cancer biotherapeutic interventions in MSS colorectal cancer

This studentship will explore regulation of anti-tumour immunity in the setting of colorectal cancer. Focussing on low mutation patient groups poorly responsive to current immunotherapy approaches, it will use a range of cutting-edge technologies to probe the immunobiology of key pathways for intervention. These studies, will use a 'multimodal' approach involving multiplex immunofluorescence and spatial transcriptomics, as well as innovative ex vivo and in vivo models, to explore underlying disease mechanisms and microenvironmental immunobiology. Close collaboration between the University of Birmingham (UoB) and Astra Zeneca (AZ) teams will enable the student to leverage candidate therapeutic antibody assets targeted at three specific tumour pathways. The studentship will provide an excellent training in tissue microenvironmental biology, allowing the student to maximise outstanding opportunities at UoB and AZ, including in digital pathology analyses, tissue slice models, and multimodal data integration. The results will likely help define patient subgroups most likely to response to AZ immuno-oncology assets, identify potential stratification approaches and predictive biomarkers, and inform immune-oncology combination approaches. The student should complete his/her studies with a range of strategically critical experimental and analytical and scientific skills, ideally positioned to further explore therapeutic development either in academia or industry.