Dr Simon Reed
Dr Simon Reed is a reader in Cancer Studies at the School of Medicine and a member of the Cancer Interdisciplinary Research Group. His research looks at how the body repairs its DNA at the molecular level. He has a particular interest in one of these mechanisms, called nucleotide excision repair. The process helps repair the damage done to DNA by exposure to the ultraviolet radiation in sunlight. People with defects in the genes controlling this mechanism are more likely to suffer skin and other related cancers.
The mechanisms Dr Reed and his colleagues have uncovered have implications for diagnosing, monitoring and treating patients at the clinical level. The team has worked with clinical colleagues to help answer questions about why some treatments work and others do not. They aim to apply this approach to the work of The European Cancer Stem Cell Research Institute.
Dr Reed said: “DNA repair research can be applied to cancer generally and could be extremely helpful when applied to the cancer stem model.”