Digital Cancer Research

The Digital Cancer Research team investigates how innovative technologies, including digital and artificial intelligence (AI) tools, can help doctors and patients make decisions in cancer care and allow patients to be partners in their own cancer research. Digital and AI tools include things like smartphone apps, computer programmes, and data visualisation tools that present patient information in an easily understandable and usable way.  

Our projects include research on: 

• how we can use AI to identify new biomarkers from a wide range of clinical information from patients (‘multi-omics’). We are developing cutting-edge AI algorithms to solve challenges in cancer diagnosis, and building these algorithms into applications that are safe and usable in the clinic.  
• improving early-phase clinical trials of new cancer treatments – this is when new cancer treatments are tested in patients for the first time. Through our research we are making digital tools to help doctors to find the best clinical trials for their patients, help patients to share their experiences of being in a clinical trial, and using AI to help plan trials. 

We are a multi-disciplinary team with the clinical and technical skills needed to design, build and test new digital and AI tools to solve challenges in cancer care, while keeping patient data safe and secure.  

DCR is led by Dr Harriet Unsworth and has 3 sub-teams: 

• Technology Trials team, led by Dr Donna Graham: running clinical trials using innovative in-home technologies with patients as a co-researcher.  
• AI team, led by Dr André Freitas: developing cutting-edge AI algorithms to solve challenges in cancer. 
• Technology Solutions team, led by Alex Bogatu: building software to enable delivery of digital and AI solutions, running the technology needed for secure transfer and storage of clinical data. 

DCR began in 2016 as the digital Experimental Cancer Medicine Team (dECMT), with funding from AstraZeneca. Our current funders include CRUK, EU Horizons 2020, and the NIHR Manchester Biomedical Research Centre. The research we do is enabled through our close collaborations with the Christie Hospital, across the University of Manchester, the UpSMART collaborator network, and the patients who have shared their data with us and helped guide our research.