High quality healthcare driven by cutting-edge research
Professor Rajan leads a team of research scientists at Barts Cancer Institute (BCI), which is a world-class cancer research institute based at Queen Mary University of London. He studies prostate cancer genetics to find new drug therapies and molecular tests to improve cancer diagnosis, monitoring and treatments. In his research, he strives to gain a better understanding of patient outcomes after existing treatments, and runs clinical trials of new therapies for prostate and testicular cancers. His ultimate research goal is to improve the lives of urological cancer patients. Professor Rajan has been almost £2.5 million of research funding and published over 80 articles, book chapters, and reviews.
Mr Rajan's team is using artificial intelligence methods to find new genetic tests for prostate cancer patients on active surveillance to delay treatment and also after surgical treatment. These tests will help to determine which patients on surveillance need immediate treatment, and those who require an additional therapy "boost" after surgery to reduce recurrence risk.
Researchers in Professor Rajan's group are studying an important genetic process called alternative splicing, where bits of a gene is shuffled to create different proteins from one gene. Cancers can hijack this process to produce proteins which cause cells to grow and spread to other parts of the body, or become resistance to drug treatments.
Outcomes of robotic "keyhole" prostate cancer surgery 10 years after treatment
There are very few studies on longer term outcomes of robotic prostate cancer surgery as the technique is relatively new. Professor Rajan examined the outcomes of almost 900 patients at 10 years after robotic prostate cancer surgery at the Karolinska University Hospital, Sweden, where it was pioneered. He found that surgery is still very effective after many years, and very small (<3mm) amounts of cancer at the cut edge of the removed prostate at the time of surgery do not affect cancer recurrence. The results from this study help him and others advise patients on their cancer recurrence risk.
