The Jack Birch Unit currently comprises some 16 personnel. The group is mainly investigating bladder cancer, which is the 5th most common cancer in adults. Causes of bladder cancer include exposure to carcinogens excreted in the urine which are derived from tobacco smoke and occupational or environmental carcinogens.
Bladder cancers develop from the lining of the bladder, which is called urothelium.
Urothelium is highly specialised to act as a urinary barrier and we are using cell and molecular biology techniques to study how the barrier functions, what happens when the barrier is damaged or urothelium is exposed to carcinogens, and what causes bladder cancers to develop and spread. The aim of our work is to contribute to the knowledge of how bladder cancer develops so that preventative measures and more effective treatments may be devised in the future. All our work is based on human cancer and we collaborate extensively with clinical colleagues working in oncology, urology and pathology at York District Hospital and St James s University Hospital in Leeds.