My Breakthrough
Team leaders
- Dr Tim Crook
- Professor Mitch Dowsett
- Dr Spiros Linardopoulos
- Dr Pascal Meier
- Dr Jorge Reis-Filho
- Dr Matthew Smalley
- Dr Marketa Zvelebil
Dr Tim Crook
Team Leader of the Cancer Genetics and Epigenetics laboratory
Tim Crook studied for his BSc, PhD and medical degree(MBBS) at the University of London. He then moved to the Imperial Cancer Research Fund in London to work as a postdoctoral researcher. In 2005, Dr Crook moved to the Chester Beatty Laboratories in the Institute of Cancer Research, to take up an appointment as Team Leader of the Cancer Genetics and Epigenetics Laboratory in the Breakthrough Research Centre. He is also a Specialist Registrar in Medical Oncology.
Professor Mitch Dowsett
Joint Team Leader of the Molecular Endocrinology laboratory and Translational Research laboratory
Mitch Dowsett studied for his BSc at Imperial College, London University and for his PhD at the Chester Beatty Cancer Research Institute at London University. In 1990 Mitch was appointed Head of the Academic Department of Biochemistry at The Institute of Cancer Research and Royal Marsden NHS Trust. In 1994 he took up the post of Professor of Biochemical Endocrinology.
In 2004, Mitch was appointed as a Team Leader of the Molecular Endocrinology laboratory at the Breakthrough Research Centre, jointly with the Royal Marsden Hospital. In 2006, he was appointed team leader to another Breakthrough research group - the Translational Research laboratory.
Mitch is an active member of numerous cancer committees, a member of the steering committees on four chemoprevention trials and co-chairman of the pathology sub-committee of the ATAC trial, the largest trial of adjuvant therapy conducted in breast cancer. He is co-chair of the Translational Research Committee of the HERA Trial, and has recently become chairman of the NTRAC Translational Research Committee that aims to markedly enhance the value of translational research in the UK's national portfolio of phase III clinical trials in cancer. He is author of over 350 published papers related to breast cancer.
Dr Spiros Linardopoulos
Team Leader of the Drug Target Discovery laboratory
Dr Spiros Linardopoulos pursued his graduate studies at the Biotechnology Laboratory of the National Hellenic Research Foundation and obtained his PhD in Cellular and Molecular Biology from the Faculty of Biology at the University of Athens, Greece (1989-1993). During this period he was also awarded a Research Fellowship by the Arthritis and Rheumatism Council of Great Britain for studies at Guy's and St. Thomas' Hospitals, London (1990-1991).
Spiros joined the Breakthrough Research Centre as Team Leader of the Drug Target Discovery laboratory in 2000.
He is currently a member of several professional organisations, including the Marie Curie Fellowship Association, the Greek Chemical Society and the Hellenic Biochemical and Biophysical Societies.
Dr Pascal Meier
Team Leader of the Apoptosis laboratory
Dr Pascal Meier studied for his Diploma (Swiss equivalent to MSc) in Developmental and Molecular Biology and PhD in Molecular Biology at the University of Zürich, Switzerland. He then moved to the Imperial Cancer Research Fund in London to work as a postdoctoral researcher. In 2000, Pascal moved to the Chester Beatty Laboratories at the Institute of Cancer Research in London to take up an appointment as Team Leader of the Apoptosis laboratory at the Breakthrough Research Centre. He is a member of the Cell Death Society.
Dr Jorge Reis-Filho
Team Leader of the Molecular Pathology laboratory
Dr Jorge Reis-Filho holds a joint medical degree from University of Porto, Portugal and Universidade Federal do Parana, Brazil. After finishing his histopathology training at the Institute of Molecular Pathology and Immunology, University of Porto, Portugal, he did his PhD on breast cancer molecular pathology at the Breakthrough Research Centre where he was appointed Team Leader of the Molecular Pathology Laboratory in 2006. Jorge is the associate editor for molecular pathology of The Journal of Clinical Pathology and is a member of the editorial board of The Journal of Pathology. Dr Matthew Smalley
Team Leader of the Mammary Stem Cells laboratory
Dr Matthew Smalley carried out his PhD research on mammary gland cell biology under the supervision of Mike O’Hare at The Institute of Cancer Research, London. He spent five years as a post-doctoral researcher in the laboratory of Trevor Dale at the Institute of Cancer Research working on mammary stem cells and mammary gland development. He then spent one year at the Netherlands Cancer Insititute, Amsterdam, supported by an EMBO Long-Term Fellowship. Matt was appointed as a Team Leader at the Breakthrough Research Centre in January 2006.
Dr Marketa Zvelebil
Team Leader of the Cancer Informatics laboratory
Dr Marketa Zvelebil studied for her BSc at the University of Sussex, before carrying out her PhD at Birkbeck College. She has carried out several research positions at Imperial Cancer Research Fund, the National Institute of Medical Research. In 1993, Marketa joined the Ludwig Institute for Cancer Research (University College London) to set up a Bioinformatics team and became a Group Leader of the expanding Bioinformatics group as well as Reader in Bioinformatics University College London. In 2007, Marketa was appointed Team Leader of the Cancer Informatics laboratory at the Breakthrough Research Centre.
