Timothy’s research in prostate cancer prognostics

Timothy Brendler-Spaeth

Timothy Brendler-Spaeth is in his final year at Norwich Medical School, University of East Anglia. His journey into cancer research began long before his PhD, driven by a love for biology, his favourite subject at school. This developed in him a curiosity that took him beyond conventional career paths.

“I wanted to push the limits of medicine,” Timothy says. “But being a medical doctor wasn’t for me. I wanted to build a deeper scientific curiosity, so I took a different path.”

After earning a bachelor’s degree in genetics followed by a master’s, Timothy took on a position at the Wellcome Sanger Institute as a research assistant. It was here that his interest in research deepened. With a desire to learn more, he began teaching himself computer programming through YouTube videos. This marked the beginning of his shift toward bioinformatics – using computational approaches to analyse biological data.

“Taking on research positions helped me build the experience and motivation to do a PhD,” he explains.

When he came across a bioinformatics PhD project to improve prostate cancer prognostics, it felt like the perfect fit.

“I said to myself, the project is aimed at building prognostic tests for prostate cancer. Why not be a part of something which could provide a huge benefit to patients?”

Research: Aiming for better prognostic tests

Prostate cancer can progress very differently from one patient to another. Some cases are aggressive and require urgent intervention, while others may not need immediate treatment. Current prognostic tests often fall short in accurately differentiating between aggressive and unaggressive cancer at time of diagnosis, which can lead to excessive treatment of an indolent case of the disease.

Timothy’s research is focused on addressing this clinical need. The goal? A test that enables clinicians to more accurately distinguish between the different forms of the disease. His project is using AI to better predict how prostate cancer will progress by looking at a much wider picture of biomolecular changes which occur in cancer cells than more narrowly focused prognostic tools currently available.

“Treatments can have severe side effects that really impact a person’s quality of life. A better test means we can treat patients more appropriately and avoid unnecessary harm.”

Support from Big C has played an important role in his journey. Participating in Big C research events reminded him of the real-world impact behind the data he analyses.

“Sometimes, as scientists, we get so focused on the research that we forget who it’s for. Presenting my work gave me a good reflection on that. This research is for the patients.”

Challenges and reflections

Now at the final stages of analysis and building AI models, Timothy has completed his data preparation, having come a long way in the steep learning curve involved in transitioning to bioinformatics.

“The thrill of learning something new, discovering new patterns is amazing,” he says. “But even more so is getting to tell someone about it.”

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