Richard Mair joins Institute as an Independent Clinical Fellow

Richard Mair has joined the Cancer Research UK Cambridge Institute as an Independent Clinical Fellow.

Dr Richard Mair is the first to be appointed under the Institute’s new Independent Clinical Fellow Programme, which supports clinician scientists in establishing themselves as independent clinical academics and future leaders in their field.

The programme provides fellows with access to world-class research facilities, dedicated mentorship, and operational support, enabling them to build their own research groups and advance translational cancer research.

Richard is Assistant Professor of Neurosurgical Oncology at the University of Cambridge and an Honorary Consultant Neurosurgeon at Addenbrooke’s Hospital. He leads several key initiatives, including the Minderoo Precision Brain Tumour Programme, the Brain Cancer Virtual Institute at the CRUK Cambridge Centre and the ICARUS tissue bank.

Supported by a Cancer Research UK Advanced Clinician Scientist Fellowship, Richard will build a research group at the Institute to focus on IDH mutant astrocytoma, a common type of brain tumour that accounts for 9% of brain tumour diagnoses.

Astrocytoma typically presents as a slow growing, low-grade tumour, before undergoing a transformation to a high-grade, fast-growing tumour. Once this transformation occurs, the average patient survival is approximately 2 years.

Richard and his team at the Institute will investigate why astrocytoma transforms from a low-grade to a high-grade tumour.  Their work will particularly focus on metabolic and epigenomic interplay in this process. They aim to identify key genes that drive transformation and to develop novel therapeutic strategies that could improve patient outcomes.