Magnus Dillon, The Institute of Cancer Research

Dr Magnus Dillon is a consultant clinical oncologist in the gastrointestinal unit at the Royal Marsden and leader of the Biological Enhancement of Radiotherapy Group at the Institute of Cancer Research, London, UK.

His research focuses on the immune effects of radiation, and modulation of the radiation response.  He use preclinical models of gastrointestinal cancers, combined with novel radiation technologies and drug-radiation combinations to observe the effects on anti-tumour immunity.  His research spans preclinical, translational and clinical studies.  Recent work has included a phase I study of the ATR inhibitor ceralasertib with radiation, and studies showing the activation of immunity with this combination. His current work is exploring the use of novel radiotherapy technologies including ultra-high dose rate irradiation and spatially-fractionated radiation and the effect that they have on the tumour microenvironment and anti-tumour immune responses, as well as translational projects looking at the immune response to standard-of-care radiation in rectal, oesophageal and pancreatic cancers.

Professor Laure Marignol, Trinity College Dublin

Laure Marignol is Professor in Radiation Biology and Head of Discipline of Radiation Therapy at Trinity College Dublin, Ireland. She leads an internationally recognised radiobiology laboratory, with over 120 publications addressing the global challenge of improving cancer outcomes after radiotherapy. Her research spans tumour hypoxia, molecular drivers of radioresistance, radiomics, and the integration of sex as a biological variable (SABV) in oncology, with a strong focus on developing prognostic algorithms and novel therapeutic strategies to prevent tumour regrowth. An active leader in the international radiobiology community, she has served on the Radiobiology Committee of ESTRO, as past president of the Irish Radiation Research Society. She is an examiner for the UK Royal College of Radiologists. She also contributes as an editorial board member for specialist oncology journals and teaches on ESTRO courses.

Dr Sarah Gulliford, University College London Hospitals

Dr Sarah Gulliford completed her PhD Thesis entitled ‘Artificial Neural Networks applied to Radiotherapy’ in 2003 at the Institute of Cancer Research (ICR).  After completing her Clinical Scientist HCPC registration whilst working at Ipswich Hospital, she returned to the ICR as a Post-Doc.  Her principal area of research is the response of normal tissues to radiotherapy.  Studies include dosimetric analysis of clinical trials, representing the spatial characteristics of dose to organs at risk and considering dosimetric changes from on-treatment imaging. Dr Gulliford joined the Proton Beam Therapy (PBT) physics team at University College London Hospital in 2018, helping to commission the PBT centre.  She is currently the lead for PBT Treatment Planning and an Associate Professor at University College London.  

Navita Somaiah MBBS, MD, FRCR, DPhil, The Institute of Cancer Research

Dr Navita Somaiah is a Clinician Scientist and Group Leader (Translational Breast Radiobiology) in the Division of Radiotherapy and Imaging at the ICR and an Honorary Consultant Clinical Oncologist in the Breast Unit at The Royal Marsden NHS Foundation Trust. Her research focuses on biological optimisation of radiotherapy by improving tumour response whilst minimising normal tissue toxicity, using forward and reverse translational approaches.

She graduated from University of Delhi, India in 2002 and was awarded Fellowship of the Royal College of Radiologists, UK in 2005. She was then awarded a Breast Cancer Campaign funded PhD studentship to study the molecular mechanisms underpinning sensitivity to radiotherapy fraction-size in normal and tumour tissues, at the University of Oxford. After completing her DPhil in radiation biology, she became the first recipient of an ICR Clinician Scientist Fellowship award. She has been part of the ICR/RM team that led international practice-changing RT fractionation trials in early breast cancer and is the radiobiology and translational research lead for the FAST-Forward Boost trial, due to launch in April 2025.

Her team leads innovative, biology-driven clinical trials in patients with high-risk breast cancers, with linked translational research. She is the chief investigator of the international Phase I/II KORTUC trial that is looking at innovative approaches to tackling tumour hypoxia and radiosensitisation. She is the translational lead for two UK neoadjuvant breast radiotherapy trials aimed at characterising the radiation-induced changes in the tumour immune microenvironment for optimal radio-immunotherapy combinations. Alongside this, her team are involved in developing more sensitive imaging technologies and novel biomarkers to monitor response to therapy, pick up early relapse/resistance and predict treatment responsiveness in high-risk breast cancers.

Robert Rulach, Oxford University Hospitals

I graduated from the University of Bristol in 2007 in medicine and completed general medical training in London and New Zealand. I joined the West of Scotland clinical oncology training programme in 2014 and obtained Fellowship of the Royal College of Radiologists in 2018. Post-fellowship, I read for a PhD in cancer sciences supervised by Dr Stephen Harrow and Prof Anthony Chalmers. This work assessed the safety of thoracic re-irradiation and novel radiotherapy planning approaches. I started my consultant post at the Churchill Hospital in Oxford in October 2023 specialising in lung and thyroid cancer. My research focuses specifically on three main areas: the use of advanced radiotherapy techniques in complex clinical situations (e.g. re-irradiation), providing a bridge from pre-clinical research to clinical trials, prediction of toxicity using modelling.

Alison Craig, The Royal Marsden

Samantha Terry, Kings College London