Mohammad Aarif Siddiqui

Mohammad Siddiqui, Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, University of Southern Denmark, has been awarded a postdoc research grant from Lundbeck Foundation worth DKK 1,700,000.

His project seeks to develop a new treatment strategy to prevent metastasis in the brain in cancer patients. Metastasis – when the cancerous tumour spreads – to the brain can be difficult to spot, because these types of tumours can be present for a long time before being discovered. Furthermore, brain tumours are often difficult to treat.

The project will study whether it is possible to use a specific class of molecules to lower the level of an enzyme called thymidylate synthase (TS) – thereby inhibiting the growth of the cancerous cells.

Part of the project will be conducted in the UK at the School of Medicine, St. James Hospital, University of Leeds.