Simon Langdon graduated from Oxford University in 1979 with a BA in Chemistry (MA in 1983), and undertook his PhD in the CRC Experimental Chemotherapy Group at Aston University. While at Aston, he was part of the research team that developed Temozolomide, an anticancer drug used to treat several types of brain cancer.  In 1985, after completing a CRC post-doctoral fellowship in Birmingham, he moved to the Edinburgh ICRF Medical Oncology Unit, first as a post-doc and then as an ICRF staff scientist. In 2007, he was appointed to a Senior Lecturer post in the Division of Pathology, and to Reader in 2013. His current research interests are in the evaluation of new therapeutic strategies for the treatment of ovarian and breast cancer.

Our research is focussed on defining key cell signalling pathways and metabolic pathways that are used in breast and ovarian cancers. Individual cancers have differing degrees of dependency on these pathways and we are investigating the associations between cell signalling and cell fate; specifically linkage between pathway activation and outcomes such as growth, apoptosis and migration. Current studies are focussing on HER receptor tyrosine kinases, ER, DNA repair and metabolic pathways modified in cancers that might prove useful as targets for new agents. Our goal is to improve and optimise the use of new therapies in these diseases.

Division of Pathology

Research in a nutshell - Targeting cancer pathways