Timothy Budden

I started my cancer research career with my PhD, back home in Australia, at the University of Newcastle. I had always wanted to go into a research career once I started my undergraduate Biomedical Science degree, but I only developed interest in cancer during my undergrad degree. I had always had an interest in genetics, but I knew I wanted to work in cancer once I did a mini research project in the final year of my degree that was looking at genetics in cancer.

I started my PhD researching the role of DNA repair in the development of melanoma, investigating how DNA repair pathways contribute to UV-induced DNA damage and mutations in melanoma development. However, during my PhD I started to get exposure to translational research and as my research group met with melanoma patients as part of patient engagement with research, we started to shift our research to areas with more potential for clinical impact. My research changed to how these same DNA repair pathways contributed to chemotherapy resistance and the potential of combined therapies in melanoma. The research from my PhD provided the pre-clinical data that my group later used to establish a clinical trial in melanoma, treating with a combination of chemotherapies to prime melanoma tumours for immunotherapy. This experience drove an interest in undertaking translational research that may have potential impacts on patients.

In the lab at the Cancer Research UK Manchester Institute (Source: Timothy Budden, Cancer Research UK)

My first postdoctoral position after my PhD was in Sydney at the University of New South Wales. This position was primarily as bioinformatic and data analysis for a large international collaboration profiling ovarian cancer. I had exposure to some bioinformatics analysis during my PhD and took this position to learn more complex bioinformatics and data analysis, in particular working with clinical datasets, to combine my lab-based skills with bioinformatics analyses to expand my contribution to research projects. My primary research was on ovarian cancer tumour profiling, focused on discovering prognostic gene that could be used in a clinical setting to provide better prognosis and therapeutic options for ovarian cancer patients. I also worked in projects to refine clinical markers of the molecular subtypes of ovarian cancers, with the goal of being able to translate molecular phenotypes into clinically applicable tests for stratifying patients for treatment and clinical trials.

After a year I was missing being in the lab doing the experiments and decided that I wanted to experience working overseas. Research is a great career to be able to work all over the world and I wanted to experience the research environment in Europe. Since 2018 I have been working as senior postdoc in the Skin Cancer and Ageing group at the Cancer Research UK Manchester Institute. This move brought me back to working in melanoma research again, but also expanding to other types of skin cancers. My work in Manchester has had two main focuses, the first describing the mechanism of ultraviolet radiation (UVR) damage to the dermis leading to decreased melanoma invasion, which translates to real-life patient outcome. The second describes the sex bias in the immediate and late phases of the immune response to early and late skin carcinogenesis, establishing that the sex bias in skin cancer is a result of the stronger response of female immunity protecting against tumourigenesis.

In the lab at the Cancer Research UK Manchester Institute (Source: Timothy Budden, Cancer Research UK)

This year I was honoured to receive the British Association for Cancer Research Chris Marshall Prize. The award is given to recognise the achievements of a young scientist in honour of Chris Marshall. In a career where rejection is commonplace, from applying for fellowships or submitting papers for publication, I think it is important that we reward and encourage young, early career scientists for their achievements to promote and inspire their work. Receiving this award was encouraging acknowledgement of my hard work and commitment to my research and career so far. The recognition it provides is an inspiration for continuing a career and life in cancer research.

At the BACR conference and since then I have met a lot of people who knew Chris Marshall and worked as part of his lab group. Seeing senior researchers and group leaders all over the UK driving outstanding research who have come from working with Chris Marshall is a testament to his legacy. I have learnt that not only was he a great scientist but also an amazing and inspirational man. It is a great honour to receive the award inspired by his legacy, and inspiration for my career to come.

Timothy Budden receiving the BACR Chris Marshall Prize for Cell Signalling 2022 from Ingunn Holen, BACR Chair

Being invited to present my research at the BACR 60^th Anniversary meeting was a fantastic experience. It was my first conference that I had attended in person since the Covid-19 pandemic had begun. For almost two years conferences were on zoom and it just wasn’t the same experience as in person. One of the highlights of conferences is meeting new scientists, discussing new science, and getting inspired whether at a poster session or over reception drinks, which just isn’t the same on a virtual conference. The anniversary meeting perfectly recaptured this experience. It was also a great opportunity to see exciting new research from scientists and institutes from across the UK.

I used the opportunity to present my research on both the sex bias in skin cancer as well as using collagen as a biomarker in primary melanoma. The best part of the experience was the amount of positive and encouraging feedback that I received for my talk. After presenting, a number of people came to tell me that I did a great presentation and how interesting they found my research. Several had follow-up questions or just wanted to know more about my research with a few potentials for future collaboration. It was very heartening to receive encouragement and praise from my peers. I have to thank the BACR for this opportunity and the enriching experience it brought. Overall, it was an honour to receive the award, present at the anniversary meeting and I look forward to the next BACR conference.

At the BACR 60 Anniversary Meeting in Nottingham, June 2022

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• Female Immunity Protects from Cutaneous Squamous Cell Carcinoma
• Ultraviolet Light-Induced Collagen Degradation Inhibits Melanoma Invasion