Early Detection and Diagnosis Research Committee awards

Explore our recently funded awardees from 2025 or learn more about how we make funding decisions.

Learn more about the committee

Programme Awards

November 2025

Using biomarkers to better predict and intercept lung cancer (IMPACT)

Professor Sam Janes

University College London

Improving early detection of advanced metachronous polyps in colorectal cancer surveillance

Dr Philip Dunne

Queen's University Belfast

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Professor Joanne Edwards

University of Glasgow

Dr Stephen McSorley

University of Glasgow

Explore the Early Detection and Diagnosis Programme Award

Project Awards

November 2025

Chronoendoscopy of mucosal cancers

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Dr Mads Bergholt

King's College London

Detecting and targeting translation inhibitor sensitive RUNX1 mutations in chronic myeloid leukaemia

Dr Rhys Morgan

University of Sussex

Establishment of novel orthotopic xenotransplantation hepatocellular carcinoma models with defined mutations using human precursor of chemically expanded hepatocytes for the identification of early detection markers

Dr Keisuke Kaji

The University of Edinburgh

Professor Tom Bird

The University of Edinburgh

Impact of digital scribes on clinical reasoning and cancer detection (DiSCa): an AI-enabled, cognitive analysis of multimodal data

Dr Olga Kostopoulou

Imperial College London

May 2025

Stratification of high-risk anal dysplasia in targeted risk groups of patients through identification of viral and host epigenetic markers to aid patient care (STRIVE)

Dr Belinda Nedjai

Queen Mary University of London

Professor Richard Gilson

University College London

Developing ultrafast 2D-IR liquid biopsies for risk stratification in melanoma patients

Professor Neil Hunt

University of York

Dr Ruth Board

Lancashire Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation

Dr Rebecca Lee

University of Manchester

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Professor Matthew Baker

University of Central Lancashire

The follow-up phase of AgeX: 2025-2033

Dr Toral Gathani

University of Oxford

Dr Isobel Barnes

University of Oxford

Explore the Early Detection and Diagnosis Project Award

Primer Awards

November 2025

Artificial intelligence in prostate MRI screening (AI-PROSCREEN)

Dr Iztok Caglic

University College London

Signal before shift: predicting transformation in follicular lymphoma

Dr Marta Crespi Sallan

Queen Mary University of London

Professor Andrejs Braun

Queen Mary University of London

Early detection of aggressive subclones and their stromal footprint: linking spatial subclonal evolution to tumor microenvironment interactions

Dr Srinivasa Rao

University of Oxford

Dr Beatriz Gamez Molina

University of Oxford

Expanding the cell-free RNA biomarker landscape: improved liquid biopsy and breast cancer diagnosis through advanced blood sample processing

Professor Nicholas Leslie

Heriot-Watt University

Salivary pro-resolving lipid mediator profiling for early detection of oropharyngeal squamous cell carcinoma

Professor Ghassan Alusi

Queen Mary University of London

Defining aggressive growth signatures in early-stage non-small cell lung cancer to identify biomarkers of disease progression in liquid biopsy

Dr Luis Pardo-Fernandez

University of Glasgow

Validation of a rapid diagnostic test for early detection of esophageal adenocarcinoma using a novel multiplex protein assay

Dr Ahsen Ustaoglu

University of Cambridge

May 2025

Early detection of breast cancer in people with intellectual disabilities through Smart Bra

Professor Yang Wei

Nottingham Trent University

Professor Deborah Cairns

University of Glasgow

Genetic links between benign diseases, precursors and cancer: a multi-biobank investigation for improved risk prediction and early detection

Dr Xiaomeng Zhang

University of Cambridge

Exploring the potential of a pyroglutamated chromogranin A fragment for the early detection of pancreatic adenocarcinoma

Professor Nikolitsa Nomikou

University College London

Development of fluorescent switches for fast, point-of-care, sensitive and reliable detection of cancer biomarkers

Dr Amit Sachdeva

University of East Anglia

Early detection and risk stratification of localised prostate cancer using circulating DNA methylation biomarkers

Dr Laura Feeney

Queen's University Belfast

Enhanced breast cancer screening with unprocessed mammograms

Dr Sam Ellis

The Royal Surrey County Hospital

Risk stratification for earlier diagnosis of bowel cancer using machine learning techniques applied to linked routine data

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Dr Bernard Rachet

London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine

Dr Ananya Malhotra

London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine

Using tissue glycan levels as a novel biomarker for the early detection and diagnosis of colorectal cancer

Dr Ralf Richter

University of Leeds

Professor Nicholas West

University of Leeds

Investigating the application of Raman spectroscopy coupled with machine learning as a novel tool to determine tumour genetic heterogeneity from blood and for early diagnosis of pancreatic cancer

Dr Andrew Downes

University of Edinburgh

Dr Marta Canel

University of Edinburgh

EV-MASS: extracellular vesicles-based liquid biopsy platform for early detection of breast cancer

Dr Erika Dorado

Imperial College London

PETAL: PET-based albumin nanoprobes for early detection of lung cancer and fibrosis

Professor Ljiljana Fruk

University of Cambridge

Detection of blood TCR signatures associated with risk and precursors of high-grade serous ovarian cancer (HGSOC)

Dr Filipe Martins

University College London

Dr Svetlana Khoronenkova

University College London

Finding the sweet spot: proteoform-resolved analysis and activity mapping of prostate specific antigen for early detection and phenotyping of prostate cancer

Dr Pengfei Li

University of Oxford

Dr Jonathon Wojciechowski

University of Oxford

Immunogenetic landscape of individuals with rare cancers

Dr Raheleh Rahbari

Wellcome Sanger Institute

Explore the Early Detection and Diagnosis Primer Award