Early Career Researchers

Fay Ismail is a Senior Research Technician in Children’s Cancer Research at the University of Leeds

Fay is a Senior Research Technician, with a Masters in cancer research.

Leeds Hospitals Charity are funding Fay’s work seeking to speed up the introduction of more effective, kinder treatments into clinical trials to improve outcomes for young people with Ewing Sarcoma. Ewing sarcoma is a rare cancer that arises particularly in young people between the ages of 12 and 30 years.

Early diagnosis for Ewing Sarcoma is crucial, and a sub-set of patients will go on to relapse, or don’t respond to treatment at all. Fay’s research is focused on the first step in the drug discovery process, developing new treatment models that can be used to tailor therapy for growing children, who can be at risk of lifelong complications from the treatment alone.

“Radiation, chemotherapy and surgery are demanding on anyone, let alone a child; there haven’t been any groundbreaking changes in treatments for several decades.”

Because it’s rare, the team uses samples from across Europe in its research. “Leeds is a world-leading centre for research, bringing together clinicians, scientists and academics,” Fay says.

“We are at the global forefront, driving the science from the lab to the bedside to get effective treatments from the lab to the patient as quickly as possible, and really improve lives.”

Fay’s work is part of a project called CHORAL (Child Health Outcomes Research at Leeds), a £5 million pioneering partnership between Leeds Hospitals Charity, Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust, and the University of Leeds.

Fay cherishes the opportunity. “To further my research in such a complex, rare cancer, with the opportunity to collaborate, is invaluable. The hope is that our models can fast track more effective less toxic drugs into clinical trials and ultimately, improve the quality of life for young people and their loved ones.”

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