Current research projects
These projects are currently being funded by CHECT.
For past research please have a look at our previous projects.
1.
Co-production of a novel psychoeducation intervention for young people who have had Retinoblastoma
Project leader: Professor Bob Phillips
Award: £37,130.01
Duration: One year from January 2026
Summary
The aim of this research is to develop, with support from teenage and young adult survivors of retinoblastoma (Rb), an intervention to improve psychological and social wellbeing in young survivors of Rb. We believe that this will be helpful in improving how young people think and feel and will help us to plan a feasibility study (a small-scale version of a full study) to test how effective this intervention is, before implementing this into routine clinical practice.
This research builds upon a portfolio of work in the form of a PhD funded by CHECT “Developing an evidence-based psycho-educational intervention for teenagers and young adults who have had retinoblastoma.”
2.
Prognostic stratification and early detection of relapsed retinoblastoma using aqueous humor based cfDNA screening
Project leader: Professor Yellapantula
Award: £50,000
Duration: One year
Summary
Cancers shed DNA fragments, called cell-free DNA (cfDNA), into bodily fluids which facilitates detection of genomic alterations driving tumor growth. Using aqueous humor (AH), a watery fluid that fills the eye, collected during treatment, we will evaluate:
1) if serial monitoring of cfDNA can inform intraocular relapse of retinoblastoma earlier than clinical findings based screening methods currently used.
2) if cfDNA prevalance at the end of treatment can inform prognosis of retinoblastoma.
3) the genomic and clinical features that differentiate low and high-risk of relapse.
Status: Began July 2024
3.
A retinal organoid platform for retinoblastoma drug development
Project leader: Professor Seigel
Award: £50,000
Duration: Two years
Summary
One challenge in developing new treatments for retinoblastoma is to preserve vision by ensuring that retinoblastoma tumour cells are killed without damaging surrounding normal retina. For this project, we have a new approach for testing promising retinoblastoma drugs. We can coax adult human stem cells to represent normal retinal tissue in a plastic dish (a “retina-in-a-dish”). If we add human retinoblastoma tumour cells to this same dish, we can disrupt the retina, like an retinoblastoma tumour might do in the human eye. This mixture of retinoblastoma tumour cells with the retina-in-a-dish lets us use human cells to see whether our new drug treatments will kill retinoblastoma cells specifically without harming nearby retinal cells. This new method will be very useful for testing retinoblastoma treatments that we have developed with previous support from CHECT.
Status: Began July 2023
4.
Eloise Patterson Project
Project leader: Dr Zerrin Onadim
Award: Phase I £24,800; Phase II 24,978.39
Duration: Phase I one year, Nov 2015; Phase II one year December 2020
Summary
Records held at the Royal London Hospital will be studied alongside those from the Childhood Cancer Research Group to investigate the way in which risk of tumours occurring in later life depends on different genetic mutations associated with heritable retinoblastoma, on the treatment (radiotherapy, chemotherapy) used in treating retinoblastoma, and to calculate statistical estimates of these risks.
It is hoped this will lead to clinicians and geneticists having better information available to them when assessing the risks of second tumours occurring. This could potentially lead to earlier diagnosis and treatment of these second cancers.
Status: Phase II commenced December 2020