Oncological Engineering

About the Project

Approximately 2 million people are living with cancer in the UK and this number is set to rise considerably over the next decade to 3.2M. A significant complication of late stage cancer is metastases or secondary tumours which are caused by tumour cells spreading to different locations in the body. Metastases are associated with breast cancer, which is the most common cancer in females and the leading cause of cancer deaths in this group. Figures vary but some studies put a figure of about 50-60 % of patients will have bone metastases in late stage cancer. The tumours weaken the bone and lead to a variety of problems for the patients at a time when quality of life is a paramount consideration, especially as the prognosis is usually terminal. Significant issues include severe pain and spinal fracture which made lead to spinal cord injury.

The PhD project aims to mitigate the effects of the cancer to weaken bone through insertion of a novel device using keyhole surgery. The project is aligned with the flagship EPSRC funded Programme Grant, Oncological Engineering, which focuses on secondary cancer (metastases) in the bone, as described above, principally of the spine, where it occurs most frequently. The PhD project will focus on areas associated with the novel implant development and the testing of the device using cadaveric and surrogate tissues.

Further details of the Oncological Engineering Programe grant can be found at https://oncoeng.org/

Funding Notes

The PhD project is funded through a University of Birmingham, School of Engineering PhD scholarship which provides maintenance at the standard PhD rate and is available for 3.5 years.

References

Introductory papers on engineering for cancer and bone metastases:
Keshari KR, Heller DA, Boltyanskiy R, Hricak H, Magaldi T, Overholtzer M. Engineering focusing on cancer. Cancer Cell. 2024;42(7):1138-1141. doi:10.1016/j.ccell.2024.04.013
Basu S, Sasikumar S, Sur S, et al. From lab to life: technological innovations in transforming cancer metastasis detection and therapy. Discov Oncol. 2025;16(1):1517. Published 2025 Aug 10. doi:10.1007/s12672-025-02910-8
Richard M Hall, Innovative approaches to cancer treatments oncological engineering, Open Access Government January 2023, pp.94-95.