PhD in Cancer Biology

Prostate cancer is the second most frequently diagnosed cancer in men worldwide and causes approximately 375,000 deaths annually. While localised disease can often be treated effectively with surgery or radiotherapy, many patients progress to metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer (mCRPC), an aggressive stage with limited therapeutic options and a median survival of less than three years. Targeted alpha-emitting therapies (TAT) have shown significant promise by delivering short-range, high-energy particles directly to tumour cells while sparing healthy tissue. Clinical trials using PSMA-directed TAT have achieved encouraging results; however, up to 40% of patients fail to respond and many responders eventually relapse. This highlights an urgent need to discover and validate new molecular targets beyond PSMA to broaden the therapeutic reach of these treatments. This project aims to identify, develop, and test new radiopharmaceuticals preclinically for advanced prostate cancer. By validating novel molecular targets, this project will generate next-generation therapies that could expand treatment options and improve survival outcomes for patients with advanced disease.