Catrin Pritchard

Personal Details

Deputy Director of Leicester Cancer Research Centre

Tel: 0116 229 7061

Email: cap8@le.ac.uk

Career

• 1983-1987: PhD at the Imperial Cancer Research Fund.
• 1987-1990: Postdoctoral Fellow, University of California, San Francisco, USA.
• 1991-1995: Postdoctoral Fellow, DNAX Research Institute, Palo Alto, California, USA.
• 1995-2003: Royal Society Research University Research Fellow, University of Leicester.
• 2003-2004: Lecturer, Department of Biochemistry, University of Leicester.
• 2004-2009: Reader, Department of Biochemistry, University of Leicester.
• 2009: Professor of Cancer Biochemistry, University of Leicester.
• 2010-2015: Royal Society-Wolfson Research Merit Award Holder
• 2014-2017: Science Director Cancer Research UK Leicester Centre
• 2014-2018: Head of Leicester Cancer Research Centre, University of Leicester
• 2018-present Deputy Director Cancer Research Centre, University of Leicester

Publications

Recent publications (since 2010)

Research

Mechanisms of oncogene-driven tumour development

Our research is focussed on three areas:

• Molecular characterisation of RAS and RAF conditional knockin mice in order to better understand cancer initiation and progression, focusing on lung adenocarcinoma and colorectal cancer models.
• Investigation and manipulation of the tumour microenvironment in early disease models
• Cholesterol metabolism in tumour associated macrophages (TAMs) and targeting of TAMs by cholesterol modulating agents.

Patient-derived explants (PDEs) for drug and biomarker discovery

We have optimised conditions for the ex vivo culture of fragments of human tumours as patient-derived explants (PDEs) without the requirement for tumour deconstruction. PDEs have the advantage over other preclinical models in that tumour architecture is retained intact, making them amenable to the testing of agents that target the tumour microenvironment including immune checkpoint inhibitors. We work with commercial organisations and translational charities to test the efficacy of novel anti-cancer agents in development and are applying digital pathology solutions at endpoint to identify and validate predictive and pharmacodynamic biomarkers. Our approach is being application to a wide range of human primary and metastatic cancers including breast, colorectal, lung, endometrial, renal cancers as well as melanoma and mesothelioma.