Head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC) is a highly aggressive cancer with particularly poor survival outcomes in the North-West of England. With limited effective therapies there remains a critical need to develop new strategies to detect and prevent the disease at its earliest stages to improve patient outcomes.
This PhD project will investigate how fibroblasts—key regulatory and structural cells in the tumour microenvironment—drive the early development of HNSCC through their metabolic interactions. Our research focuses on lipids secreted by fibroblasts which are taken up and metabolised by HNSCC cells to promote aggressive behaviours such as invasion, proliferation, and resistance to cell death.
This project will explore how these fibroblast-derived lipids influence the development of premalignant lesions (oral dysplasia) and progression to early-stage HNSCC, and whether targeting this lipid metabolism could represent a novel strategy for cancer prevention. The overarching aim is to uncover how metabolic crosstalk between fibroblasts and epithelial cells shapes early tumour evolution, and how these interactions can be disrupted to halt disease progression.
This interdisciplinary project will combine cutting-edge lipidomics, proteomics, and functional co-culture models to comprehensively profile metabolic phenotypes of fibroblasts from normal, dysplastic, and HNSCC tissues. Findings will be integrated with patient-derived clinical samples to identify biomarkers of cancer risk and progression, with strong potential for translational impact.
The PhD will be based in the Budden Lab within the Department of Molecular and Clinical Cancer Medicine, alongside the Liverpool Head and Neck Centre. The student will receive expert training in advanced techniques including 2D and 3D cell culture, metabolic assays, transcriptomics, and the use of world-class facilities for proteomics and metabolomics. There will also be opportunities to gain experience with in vivo cancer models, equipping the student with a broad and competitive skill set for a future career in translational cancer research.