We will use exciting new experimental techniques to grow stomach cells obtained from patients who have atrophic gastritis in the laboratory. We will then test how gastrin (a stomach hormone which is present in higher than normal amounts in patients with atrophic gastritis) affects the growth and behaviour of these cells. Precancerous changes can exist for a number of years and by dissecting the process we can identify points of intervention and treatment. These points could be targeted in clinical trials in the future for the development of personalised medicine or used in screening programmes for early detection of gastric cancer.

We aim to investigate EV-microRNAs as clinically-useful biomarkers in the blood and liver-bile, for patients first presenting with jaundice (yellow skin), and undergoing endoscopy to relieve the bile-duct blockage possibly due to a tumour. New biomarkers will hopefully improve the speed and accuracy of cancer diagnosis, enhance clinical decision-making, and allow more personalised treatment strategies.