Welcome

DNA Damage and Repair

Understanding DNA damage and repair mechanisms helps researchers to identify the aberrant processes that drive cancer development and growth.

Translational Research

A key aim of the Department of Oncology is the optimal translation of fundamental research into patient benefit. Precision cancer medicine brings together the concepts of biological selection of therapy with anatomical and functional targeting of treatment to deliver the best possible outcomes for a patient with cancer.

Metabolism

Metabolism is at the interface of oncogenic signalling, it is essential for tumour growth and all the Hallmarks of Cancer. Additionally, the local microenvironment is modelled by metabolism, which has major influences on the immune response.

Immunology

In the Division of Cancer Medicine we are working to further understand the interplay between the immune system and cancer across both cancer development and treatment.

Tumour Microenvironment

Understanding how the tumour microenvironment affects cancer cell behaviour and how it contributes to a cancer cell’s response to ionising radiation is essential in understanding how to prevent the establishment, growth and progression of cancers and how to exploit the tumour microenvironment for therapeutic gain.

Clinical Trials

A key aim of the Department of Oncology is the optimal translation of fundamental research into patient benefit and for Oxford to become the leading centre for translational early-phase oncology trials in the UK.

Genome Integrity & Epigenetics

Our basic research into genome stability explores how cells repair damaged DNA to prevent cancer. We are also interested in what happens once cancer develops, as it is becoming clear that many tumours are defective in repairing damaged DNA. Our work aims to exploit these repair defects to design novel therapies.

From our Head of Department

John Cairns Photography

Professor Mark Middleton

Welcome to the The Department of Oncology. The Department of Oncology's mission is to improve cancer care through research and teaching. There is strong emphasis on translation, with established infrastructure to develop scientific insights toward clinical appreciation.

The Department houses over 400 staff and postgraduate students - both clinical and non-clinical - and is one of the largest departments in the University of Oxford's Medical Sciences Division. It is also home to the Institute for Radiation Oncology.

One of the key aims for the Department is to bring together basic scientific and clinical research groups from across Oxford - based in the Old Road Campus Research Building, the Radiobiology Research Institute, the Weatherall Institute for Molecular Medicine and the NHS Cancer and Haematology Centre - to apply knowledge of cancer and to develop research so that we may better understand how we can combat cancer in the most effective way possible.

MRC Oxford Institute for Radiation Oncology

The mission of the MRC Oxford Institute for Radiation Oncology is to explore aspects of radiation biology research that could yield new advances in the treatment of cancer.

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Division of Cancer Medicine

The aims of the Division of Cancer Medicine are to understand cancer and the biological processes that govern how it starts, how it behaves and how the body responds to it.

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Our News

Picture showing the effects in lung function in patients who have contracted COVID-19

Hidden lung damage from COVID-19 revealed in new study

2 December 2020

Early findings from a study into longer-term damage amongst patients recovering from COVID-19 suggest that the use of cutting-edge scanning techniques may detect previously unseen lung damage.

Histology and magnetic resonance images from a mouse with breast cancer brain metastases, injected intravenously 2 hours previously with a TNFR1-selective mutant TNF protein.

3 items in the picture:

Cresyl violet stained brain section showing location of a micrometastasis.

Adjacent brain section stained with Hanker-Yates demonstrates HRP extravasation (brown staining) and, hence, BBB breakdown selectively at the site of metastasis.

Post-contrast (gadolinium-DTPA) image from the same mouse showing extravasation of contrast at the metastatic site (hyperintensity) confirming local BBB breakdown. Note, the BBB remains intact in the rest of the brain.

Professor Sibson secures further MRC DPFS funding

20 October 2020

Prof. Sibson together with her co-applicants Prof. Anthony, Dr Campbell and Prof. Middleton have now been awarded a second MRC DPFS grant, for £3.3 million, to acquire further preclinical data to support the case for clinical translation, to develop the mutTNF production for human use and to undertake pre-clinical toxicology.

Department of Oncology secures Athena SWAN Silver award

16 October 2020

The photo is of the SCAN team. Left to right: Zoe Kaveney (Cancer Programme Manager at OCCG), Prof Fergus Gleeson (Professor of Radiology and Department of Oncology), Dr Shelley Hayles (OCCG Clinical Director of Planned and Cancer Care), Julie-Ann Moreland (Macmillan Project Manager/SCAN Navigator) and Dr Brian Nicholson (Macmillan Lead GP and Clinical Researcher for University of Oxford).

Oxfordshire-based SCAN pathway wins BMJ award

9 October 2020

A pathway designed to investigate individuals with non-specific but concerning symptoms of cancer wins the BMJ Awards 2020 Cancer Care Team of the Year.

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