Rare Cells

The Rare Cells team is focussed on understanding the biology behind and the clinical significance of circulating cancer-associated cells. We investigate these rare populations in the blood of cancer patients by utilising a wide range of innovative technologies, including CellSearch, Parsortix and High Definition Single Cell Assay (HD-SCA) platforms.  The goal of the team is to translate our research into knowledge and biomarkers that can help clinicians and their patients better understand cancer and choose optimal treatment options. 

We apply our research to a broad range of cancer types and clinical problems from the early detection of cancers and minimal residual disease monitoring, through to understanding mechanisms of resistance and metastatic spread. The expertise of the team ranges from the development and provision of technically challenging workflows, the analysis of complex imaging data through to the isolation and molecular characterisation of circulation tumour cell at the single cell level. The team runs numerous clinical studies and collaborates widely, with a strong ambition towards the development of multi-analyte, multi-omic biomarkers.