Translational Research Collaborations Unit (TRCU)
Group Leader:
Dr Valeria Pavet
The Translational Research Collaborations Unit (TRCU) plays a central role within the CRUK Scotland Institute by accelerating the translation of discoveryled research into clinically actionable cancer therapies. As an integral component of both the CRUK Scotland Institute and the CRUK Scotland Centre, the TRCU supports investigators by providing translational expertise, access to advanced experimental platforms, and strategic partnerships with biotech and pharmaceutical organisations. Positioned at the interface between fundamental science, preclinical modelling, and industrydriven drug development, the TRCU strengthens the Institute’s capacity to deliver patientfocused translational impact.

Lab Members

Recent Publications
Recent Publications
2026
Pardo, L., Moore, M., Deshmukh, R., Powley, I., Waldron, J.A., Kruspig, B., McGarry, L., Dolma, L., Campos, A.V., Wood, C., Leslie, H., Hughes, M., Jeldes, E., Munro, J., Mitchell, L., Officer-Jones, L., Baird, R., Coquelet, H., Jamieson, N.B., Sumpton, D., Strathdee, D., le Quesne, J., Bushell, M., Murphy, D.J., Norman, J.C., 2026. Increased mRNA translation delays tumour initiation and exposes a therapeutic vulnerability in lung cancer. Mol Cancer.
Williams, H.L., Poulain, N., Powley, I., Martinelli, S., Bielik, R., Leslie, H., Nixon, C., Wilson, C.R., Sereno, M., He, Z., Officer-Jones, L., Ballantyne, F., Pennie, R., Wood, C.S., Lewis, D.Y., Jamieson, N.B., Le Quesne, J., 2026. Spatial Molecular Plasticity Underpins Lethal Morphologies in Lung Adenocarcinoma. Mod Pathol 100960.
2025
Baird, R.L., Mason, D., Rakovic, K., Ballantyne, F., Powley, I.R., Georgakopoulou, A., Hillary, L., Bird, T.G., Officer-Jones, L., Le Quesne, J., 2025. PixlMap: A generalisable pixel classifier for cellular phenotyping in multiplex immunofluorescence images. PLoS One 20(12), e0317865.
Kanellos, G., Giacomelli, C., Raven, A., Vlahov, N., Jin, H., Herviou, P., Malla, S.B., Nasreddin, N., Centeno, P.P., Alexandrou, C., Gilroy, K., Baird, R.L., Pennel, K., Munro, J., Waldron, J.A., Hall, H., Officer-Jones, L., Bryson, S., Strathdee, D., Lilla, S., Zanivan, S., Morrison, V., Nixon, C., Ridgway, R.A., Miller, C., Knight, J.R.P., Campbell, A.D., Dunne, P.D., Le Quesne, J., Edwards, J., Park, P.J., Bushell, M., Sansom, O.J., 2025. Nucleophosmin supports WNT-driven hyperproliferation and tumor initiation. Nat Genet 58, 100–115.
Müller, M., May, S., Hall, H., Kendall, T.J., McGarry, L., Blukacz, L., Nuciforo, S., Georgakopoulou, A., Jamieson, T., Phinichkusolchit, N., Dhayade, S., Suzuki, T., Huguet-Pradell, J., Powley, I.R., Officer-Jones, L., Pennie, R.L., Esteban-Fabró, R., Gris-Oliver, A., Pinyol, R., Skalka, G.L., Leslie, J., Hoare, M., Sprangers, J., Malviya, G., Mackintosh, A., Johnson, E., McCain, M., Halpin, J., Kiourtis, C., Nixon, C., Clark, G., Clark, W., Shaw, R., Hedley, A., Drake, T.M., Tan, E.H., Neilson, M., Murphy, D.J., Lewis, D.Y., Reeves, H.L., Le Quesne, J., Mann, D.A., Carlin, L.M., Blyth, K., Llovet, J.M., Heim, M.H., Sansom, O.J., Miller, C.J., Bird, T.G., 2025. Human-correlated genetic models identify precision therapy for liver cancer. Nature.
Seyedshahi, F., Rakovic, K., Poulain, N., Claudio Quiros, A., Powley, I.R., Richards, C., Uraiby, H., Klebe, S., Moore, D.A., Nakas, A., Wilson, C.R., Sereno, M., Officer-Jones, L., Ficken, C., Teodosio, A., Ballantyne, F., Murphy, D., Yuan, K., Le Quesne, J., 2025. A histomorphological atlas of resected mesothelioma discovered by self-supervised learning from 3446 whole-slide images. Nat Commun 16(1), 8891.
White, M., Mills, M.L., Millett, L.M., Gilroy, K., Hong, Y., Zeiger, L.B., Simpson, R.J., Corry, S.M., Ligeza, A., Lannagan, T.R.M., Susanti, S., Ridgway, R.A., Yazgili, A.S., Grzesiak, L., Amirkhah, R., Ford, C.A., Vlahov, N., Tovell, H., Officer-Jones, L., Ficken, C., Pennie, R., Najumudeen, A.K., Raven, A., Nasreddin, N., Chauhan, E., Papanastasiou, A.S., Nixon, C., Morrison, V., Jackstadt, R., Graham, J.S., Miller, C.J., Ross, S.J., Barry, S.T., Pavet, V., Wilson, R.H., Le Quesne, J., Dunne, P.D., Tejpar, S., Leedham, S., Campbell, A.D., Sansom, O.J., 2025. MAPK-driven epithelial cell plasticity drives colorectal cancer therapeutic resistance. Nature.
2024
Williams, H.L., Poulain, N., Powley, I., Martinelli, S., Bielik, R., Leslie, H., Nixon, C., Wilson, C.R., Sereno, M., He, Z., Officer-Jones, L., Ballantyne, F., Pennie, R., Wood, C.S., Lewis, D.Y., Jamieson, N.B., Le Quesne, J., 2024. Spatial resolution of transcriptomic plasticity states underpinning lethal morphologies in lung adenocarcinoma. bioRxiv.
Xavier, V., Martinelli, S., Corbyn, R., Pennie, R., Rakovic, K., Powley, I.R., Officer-Jones, L., Ruscica, V., Galloway, A., Carlin, L.M., Cowling, V.H., Le Quesne, J., Martinou, J.C., MacVicar, T., 2024. Mitochondrial double-stranded RNA homeostasis depends on cell-cycle progression. Life Sci Alliance 7.
Group Leader
Valeria Pavet*
Lab Members
Translational Scientist
Nikola Vlahov*
Translational Officer
Xue Hui Tan*
Scientific Officer
Rohan Dravid*
Contracts Manager

