Flaviu Bulat

Short biography

I am a Research Associate in Prof. Kevin Brindle's lab at the Cancer Research UK Cambridge Institute. I have completed my PhD in the University of Cambridge Chemistry Department, co-supervised by Prof. Finian Leeper and Prof. Kevin Brindle.  My PhD research is supported by Cancer Research UK.  

Before arriving in Cambridge, I completed a 4-year Pharmaceutical Chemistry MChem degree at the University of Leicester. I have spent my third year as an industrial trainee at Novartis Institutes for BioMedical Research in Horsham, UK and two summers during my undergraduate degree as a Research Intern with Dr Paul Jenkins. 

Research

My research is in the area of Cancer Imaging, with a specific focus on early detection of treatment response. Current interests and projects include:

• Imaging of cell death as a method of early treatment response in cancer

• Imaging sialylation of glycans with applications in monitoring treatment response in cancer. More details can be found in the following in our Featured Angewandte Chemie 2016 publication.

My PhD research in 100 words

Currently, cancer patients undergo therapy for 4-8 weeks before its outcome can be measured and evaluated. A non-toxic protein, called C2Am, conjugated to novel targeted molecular imaging agents can be used to monitor tumour cellular death and reduce this timeframe down to 48 hours. This imaging method has immense potential to cut healthcare costs and minimise the deleterious side effects of ineffective chemotherapy. The protein has a wide range of potential applications besides oncology. For example, in cardiology it can be used to assess the extent of heart ischemia following a heart attack.

Email

fb419 (a t) cam (dot) ac. uk

Contact

Cancer Research UK Cambridge Institute

Robinson Way

Cambridge

CB2 0RE