RNA and Translational Control in Cancer
Group Leader:
Prof Martin Bushell
The dysregulation of protein synthesis is an emerging hallmark of cancer, where altered translation is essential for the induction of oncogenic gene programmes. Distinct programmes of gene expression drive tumour growth and create the supportive microenvironment in which it flourishes. Our research aims to understand the interplay between two key mRNA regulatory hubs, the eIF4F and CCR4-NOT complexes, which control the fate and expression of mRNA.
These complexes act as master switches, ensuring the necessary proteins are synthesised correctly to support cell growth and survival. When dysregulated these factors can drive malignant programmes.
Lab Reports
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Recent Publications
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Lab Members
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Recent Publications
2026
Albihlal WS, Matia-González AM, Schmidt T, Mayer W, Bryant J, Bushell M, Niessing D, Barberis M, Schmidt A, Heinisch JJ, Gerber AP. The yeast phosphofructokinase β-subunit has RNA unwinding activity and modulates cell cycle progression. Nucleic Acids Res. 2026;54(5).
Bader AS, Bushell M. iMUT-seq mapping of DSB-induced mutations with high sensitivity at single-nucleotide resolution. Nat Protoc. 2026.
Howell L, Brown JP, Forootan SS, Francis B, Jones C, Livoti L, Ressel L, Ricci E, Bushell M, Goldring C. Identification of candidate microRNA biomarkers of mouse cholangiocyte injury by global miRNAome analysis. Toxicol Appl Pharmacol. 2026;516:117998.
Marco S, Walsh PJ, Revenko AS, Schmidt T, Thomason PA, McGarry L, MacLeod AR, Ansel S, Tataran D, Bushell M, Braconi C, Norman JC. EPHA2/CD44-directed trafficking enhances endosomal leakiness and antisense therapy delivery. J Cell Biol. 2026;225(9).
Pardo L, Moore M, Deshmukh R, Powley I, Waldron JA, Kruspig B, McGarry L, Dolma L, Campos AV, Wood C, Leslie H, Hughes M, Jeldes E, Munro J, Mitchell L, Officer-Jones L, Baird R, Coquelet H, Jamieson NB, Sumpton D, Strathdee D, le Quesne J, Bushell M, Murphy DJ, Norman JC. Increased mRNA translation delays tumour initiation and exposes a therapeutic vulnerability in lung cancer. Mol Cancer. 2026.
Raven A, Gilroy K, Jin H, Waldron JA, Leslie H, Munro J, Hall H, Ridgway RA, Ford CA, Gulhan DC, Vlahov N, Mills ML, Hartley A, Anderson E, Bryson S, Sphyris N, Müller M, May S, Cadden B, Nixon C, Waddell SH, Guest R, Boulter L, Barker N, Clevers H, Zhu H, Ivaska J, Strathdee D, Miller CJ, Jamieson NB, Bushell M, Park PJ, Bird TG, Sansom OJ. Hepatic zonation determines tumorigenic potential of mutant β-catenin. Nature. 2026;649(8097):739–748.
2025
Kanellos G, Giacomelli C, Raven A, Vlahov N, Jin H, Herviou P, Malla SB, Nasreddin N, Centeno PP, Alexandrou C, Gilroy K, Baird RL, Pennel K, Munro J, Waldron JA, Hall H, Officer-Jones L, Bryson S, Strathdee D, Lilla S, Zanivan S, Morrison V, Nixon C, Ridgway RA, Miller C, Knight JRP, Campbell AD, Dunne PD, Le Quesne J, Edwards J, Park PJ, Bushell M, Sansom OJ. Nucleophosmin supports WNT-driven hyperproliferation and tumor initiation. Nat Genet. 2025;58:100-115.
Marco S, Walsh PJ, Revenko AS, Thomason PA, McGarry L, MacLeod AR, Ansell S, Tataran D, Bushell M, Braconi C, Norman JC. EPHA2 and scavenger receptor-directed trafficking enhances endosomal leakiness and antisense therapy delivery. bioRxiv. 2025:2025.2002.2005.635637.
Raven A, Gilroy K, Jin H, Waldron JA, Leslie H, Munro J, Hall H, Ridgway RA, Ford CA, Gulhan DC, Vlahov N, Mills ML, Hartley A, Anderson E, Bryson S, Sphyris N, Müller M, May S, Cadden B, Nixon C, Waddell SH, Guest R, Boulter L, Barker N, Clevers H, Zhu H, Ivaska J, Strathdee D, Miller CJ, Jamieson NB, Bushell M, Park PJ, Bird TG, Sansom OJ. Hepatic zonation determines tumorigenic potential of mutant β-catenin. Nature. 2025;649:739-748.
Škapik IP, Giacomelli C, Hahn S, Deinlein H, Gallant P, Diebold M, Biayna J, Hendricks A, Olimski L, Otto C, Kastner C, Wolf E, Schülein-Völk C, Maurus K, Rosenwald A, Schleussner N, Jackstadt RF, Schlegel N, Germer CT, Bushell M, Eilers M, Schmidt S, Wiegering A. Maintenance of p-eIF2α levels by the eIF2B complex is vital for colorectal cancer. Embo j. 2025.
Wicks AT, Buetow L, Suzuki T, Schmidt T, Lilla S, Macmillan-Jones A, Turney J, Gohlke A, Bushell M, Hock AK, Huang DT. CBL ubiquitin ligase targets translation as a degrader E3. Chem Sci. 2025.
2024
Dearlove EL, Chatrin C, Buetow L, Ahmed SF, Schmidt T, Bushell M, Smith BO, Huang DT. DTX3L ubiquitin ligase ubiquitinates single-stranded nucleic acids. Elife. 2024;13.
Ghashghaei M, Liu Y, Ettles J, Bombaci G, Ramkumar N, Liu Z, Escano L, Miko SS, Kim Y, Waldron JA, Do K, MacPherson K, Yuen KA, Taibi T, Yue M, Arsalan A, Jin Z, Edin G, Karsan A, Morin GB, Kuchenbauer F, Perna F, Bushell M, Vu LP. Translation efficiency driven by CNOT3 subunit of the CCR4-NOT complex promotes leukemogenesis. Nat Commun. 2024;15(1):2340.
Pantaleão LC, Loche E, Fernandez-Twinn DS, Dearden L, Córdova-Casanova A, Osmond C, Salonen M, Kajantie E, Niu Y, de Almeida-Faria J, Thackray BD, Mikkola T, Giussani DA, Murray AJ, Bushell M, Eriksson JG, Ozanne SE. Programming of cardiac metabolism by miR-15b-5p, a miRNA released in cardiac extracellular vesicles following ischemia-reperfusion injury. Mol Metab. 2024:101875.
Quintas A, Harvey RF, Horvilleur E, Garland GD, Schmidt T, Kalmar L, Dezi V, Marini A, Fulton AM, Pöyry TAA, Cole CH, Turner M, Sawarkar R, Chapman MA, Bushell M, Willis AE. Eukaryotic initiation factor 4B is a multi-functional RNA binding protein that regulates histone mRNAs. Nucleic Acids Res. 2024.
Sandovici I, Fernandez-Twinn DS, Campbell N, Cooper WN, Sekita Y, Zvetkova I, Ferland-McCollough D, Prosser HM, Oyama LM, Pantaleão LC, Cimadomo D, Barbosa de Queiroz K, Cheuk CSK, Smith NM, Kay RG, Antrobus R, Hoelle K, Ma MKL, Smith NH, Geyer SH, Reissig LF, Weninger WJ, Siddle K, Willis AE, Lam BYH, Bushell M, Ozanne SE, Constância M. Overexpression of Igf2-derived Mir483 inhibits Igf1 expression and leads to developmental growth restriction and metabolic dysfunction in mice. Cell Rep. 2024;43(9):114750.
2023
Arnould C, Rocher V, Saur F, Bader AS, Muzzopappa F, Collins S, Lesage E, Le Bozec B, Puget N, Clouaire T, Mangeat T, Mourad R, Ahituv N, Noordermeer D, Erdel F, Bushell M, Marnef A, Legube G. Chromatin compartmentalization regulates the response to DNA damage. Nature. 2023.
Bader AS, Bushell M. iMUT-seq: high-resolution DSB-induced mutation profiling reveals prevalent homologous-recombination dependent mutagenesis. Nat Commun. 2023;14(1):8419.
May S, Müller M, Livingstone CR, Skalka GL, Walsh PJ, Nixon C, Hedley A, Shaw R, Clark W, Voorde JV, Officer-Jones L, Ballantyne F, Powley IR, Drake TM, Kiourtis C, Keith A, Rocha AS, Tardito S, Sumpton D, Le Quesne J, Bushell M, Sansom OJ, Bird TG. Absent expansion of AXIN2+ hepatocytes and altered physiology in Axin2CreERT2 mice challenges the role of pericentral hepatocytes in homeostatic liver regeneration. J Hepatol. 2023; 78: 1028-1036
Moore M, Pardo L, Mitchell L, Schmidt T, May S, Mueller M, Strathdee D, Bryson S, Hodge K, Lilla S, Zanivan S, Waldron J, McGarry L, Peter-Durairaj R, Kanellos G, Nixon C, Ballantyne F, LeQuesne J, Sansom OJ, Bird T, Bushell M, Norman JC. The eIF4A2 negative regulator of mRNA translation promotes extracellular matrix deposition to accelerate hepatocellular carcinoma initiation. bioRxiv. 2023;Volume:2023.2008.2016.553544.
Munro J, Gillen SL, Mitchell L, Laing S, Karim SA, Rink CJ, Waldron JA, Bushell M. Optimisation of Sample Preparation from Primary Mouse Tissue to Maintain RNA Integrity for Methods Examining Translational Control. Cancers (Basel). 2023;15.
Schmidt T, Dabrowska A, Waldron JA, Hodge K, Koulouras G, Gabrielsen M, Munro J, Tack DC, Harris G, McGhee E, Scott D, Carlin Leo M, Huang D, Le Quesne J, Zanivan S, Wilczynska A, Bushell M. eIF4A1-dependent mRNAs employ purine-rich 5’UTR sequences to activate localised eIF4A1-unwinding through eIF4A1-multimerisation to facilitate translation. Nucleic Acids Research. 2023; 51: 1859–1879
Waldron JA, Kanellos G, Smith RCL, Knight JRP, Munro J, Alexandrou C, Vlahov N, Pardo-Fernandez L, Moore M, Gillen SL, Strathdee D, Stevenson D, Warrander FC, Gilroy K, Nixon C, Cadden B, Powley I, Officer-Jones L, Ballantyne F, Hay J, Pennel K, Edwards J, Campbell AD, Ridgway RA, Coffelt SB, Norman J, Quesne JL, Bushell M, Sansom OJ. eIF4A1 is essential for reprogramming the translational landscape of Wnt-driven colorectal cancers. bioRxiv. 2023:2023.2011.2010.566546.
Whyte D, Skalka G, Walsh P, Wilczynska A, Paul NR, Mitchell C, Nixon C, Clarke W, Bushell M, Morton JP, Murphy DJ, Muthalagu N. NUAK1 governs centrosome replication in pancreatic cancer via MYPT1/PP1β and GSK3β-dependent regulation of PLK4. Mol Oncol. 2023;17: 1212-1227
Collart MA, Audebert L, Bushell M. Roles of the CCR4-Not complex in translation and dynamics of co-translation events. Wiley Interdiscip Rev RNA. 2023:e1827.
2022
Bader AS, Luessing J, Hawley BR, Skalka GL, Lu W-T, Lowndes Noel F, Bushell M. DDX17 is required for efficient DSB repair at DNA:RNA hybrid deficient loci. Nucleic Acids Research. 2022; 50: 10487–10502
Pantaleao LC, Inzani I, Furse S, Loche E, Hufnagel A, Ashmore T, Blackmore HL, Jenkins B, Carpenter AA, Wilczynska A, Bushell M, Koulman A, Fernandez-Twinn DS, Ozanne SE. Maternal diet-induced obesity during pregnancy alters lipid supply to mouse E18.5 fetuses and changes the cardiac tissue lipidome in a sex-dependent manner. Elife. 2022;11:e69078
2021
Bader AS, Bushell M. Damage-Net: A program for DNA repair meta-analysis identifies a network of novel repair genes that facilitate cancer evolution. DNA Repair (Amst). 2021;105:103158.
Bader AS, Bushell M. iMUT-seq: high-resolution mapping of DSB mutational landscapes reveals new insights into the mutagenic mechanisms of DSB repair. bioRxiv. 2021:2021.2012.2008.471781.
Bader AS, Luessing J, Hawley BR, Skalka GL, Lu W-T, Lowndes NF, Bushell M. DDX17 is required for efficient DSB repair at DNA:RNA hybrid deficient loci. bioRxiv. 2021:2021.2010.2014.464298.
de Almeida-Faria J, Duque-Guimarães DE, Ong TP, Pantaleão LC, Carpenter AA, Loche E, Kusinski LC, Ashmore TJ, Antrobus R, Bushell M, Fernandez-Twinn DS, Ozanne SE. Maternal obesity during pregnancy leads to adipose tissue ER stress in mice via miR-126-mediated reduction in Lunapark. Diabetologia. 2021; 64:890–902
Gillen SL, Giacomelli C, Hodge K, Zanivan S, Bushell M, Wilczynska A. Differential regulation of mRNA fate by the human Ccr4-Not complex is driven by coding sequence composition and mRNA localization. Genome Biol. 2021;22:284.
Grosso S, Marini A, Gyuraszova K, Voorde JV, Sfakianos A, Garland GD, Tenor AR, Mordue R, Chernova T, Morone N, Sereno M, Smith CP, Officer L, Farahmand P, Rooney C, Sumpton D, Das M, Teodósio A, Ficken C, Martin MG, Spriggs RV, Sun XM, Bushell M, Sansom OJ, Murphy D, MacFarlane M, Le Quesne JPC, Willis AE. The pathogenesis of mesothelioma is driven by a dysregulated translatome. Nat Commun. 2021;12:4920.
Knight JRP, Alexandrou C, Skalka GL, Vlahov N, Pennel K, Officer L, Teodosio A, Kanellos G, Gay DM, May-Wilson S, Smith EM, Najumudeen AK, Gilroy K, Ridgway RA, Flanagan DJ, Smith RCL, McDonald L, MacKay C, Cheasty A, McArthur K, Stanway E, Leach JD, Jackstadt R, Waldron JA, Campbell AD, Vlachogiannis G, Valeri N, Haigis KM, Sonenberg N, Proud CG, Jones NP, Swarbrick ME, McKinnon HJ, Faller WJ, Le Quesne J, Edwards J, Willis AE, Bushell M, Sansom OJ. MNK Inhibition Sensitizes KRAS-Mutant Colorectal Cancer to mTORC1 Inhibition by Reducing eIF4E Phosphorylation and c-MYC Expression. Cancer Discov. 2021;11(5):1228-1247.
Najumudeen AK, Ceteci F, Fey SK, Hamm G, Steven RT, Hall H, Nikula CJ, Dexter A, Murta T, Race AM, Sumpton D, Vlahov N, Gay DM, Knight JRP, Jackstadt R, Leach JDG, Ridgway RA, Johnson ER, Nixon C, Hedley A, et al. The amino acid transporter SLC7A5 is required for efficient growth of KRAS-mutant colorectal cancer. Nat Genet. 2021;53:16-26.
Smith EM, Benbahouche NEH, Morris K, Wilczynska A, Gillen S, Schmidt T, Meijer HA, Jukes-Jones R, Cain K, Jones C, Stoneley M, Waldron JA, Bell C, Fonseca BD, Blagden S, Willis AE, Bushell M. The mTOR regulated RNA-binding protein LARP1 requires PABPC1 for guided mRNA interaction. Nucleic Acids Res. 2021;49:458-478.
Gillen SL, Waldron JA, Bushell M. Codon optimality in cancer. Oncogene. 2021:10.1038/s41388-021-02022-x.
2020
Rushworth LK, Harle V, Repiscak P, Clark W, Shaw R, Hall H, Bushell M, Leung HY, Patel R. In vivo CRISPR/Cas9 knockout screen: TCEAL1 silencing enhances docetaxel efficacy in prostate cancer. Life Sci Alliance. 2020;3(12).
Valtonen S, Vuorinen E, Kariniemi T, Eskonen V, Le Quesne J, Bushell M, Härmä H, Kopra K. Nanomolar Protein-Protein Interaction Monitoring with a Label-Free Protein-Probe Technique. Anal Chem. 2020; 92: 15781–15788
Bader AS, Bushell M. DNA:RNA hybrids form at DNA double-strand breaks in transcriptionally active loci. Cell Death Dis. 2020; 11: 280
Bader AS, Hawley BR, Wilczynska A, Bushell M. The roles of RNA in DNA double-strand break repair. Br J Cancer. 2020; 122: 613–23
2019
Meijer HA, Schmidt T, Gillen SL, Langlais C, Jukes-Jones R, de Moor CH, Cain K, Wilczynska A, Bushell M. DEAD-box helicase eIF4A2 inhibits CNOT7 deadenylation activity. Nucleic Acids Res. 2019; 47: 8224-8238
Skalka G, Hall H, Somers J, Bushell M, Willis A, Malewicz M. Leucine zipper and ICAT domain containing (LZIC) protein regulates cell cycle transitions in response to ionising radiation. Cell Cycle. 2019; 18: 963-975
Waldron JA, Tack DC, Ritchey LE, Gillen SL, Wilczynska A, Turro E, Bevilacqua PC, Assmann SM, Bushell M, Le Quesne J. mRNA structural elements immediately upstream of the start codon dictate dependence upon eIF4A helicase activity. Genome Biol. 2019; 20: 300.
Wilczynska A, Gillen SL, Schmidt T, Meijer HA, Jukes-Jones R, Langlais C, Kopra K, Lu WT, Godfrey JD, Hawley BR, Hodge K, Zanivan S, Cain K, Le Quesne J, Bushell M. eIF4A2 drives repression of translation at initiation by Ccr4-Not through purine-rich motifs in the 5’UTR. Genome Biol. 2019; 20: 262.
2018
Godfrey JD, Morton JP, Wilczynska A, Sansom OJ, Bushell MD. MiR-142-3p is downregulated in aggressive p53 mutant mouse models of pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma by hypermethylation of its locus. Cell Death Dis. 2018; 9: 644
Lu WT, Hawley BR, Skalka GL, Baldock RA, Smith EM, Bader AS, Malewicz M, Watts FZ, Wilczynska A, Bushell M. Drosha drives the formation of DNA:RNA hybrids around DNA break sites to facilitate DNA repair. Nat Commun. 2018; 9: 532.
Marini A, Rotblat B, Sbarrato T, Niklison-Chirou MV, Knight JRP, Dudek K, Jones C, Bushell M, Knight RA, Amelio I, Willis AE, Melino G. TAp73 contributes to the oxidative stress response by regulating protein synthesis. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2018; 115:6219-6224
2017
Fletcher CE, Godfrey JD, Shibakawa A, Bushell M, Bevan CL. A novel role for GSK3β as a modulator of Drosha microprocessor activity and MicroRNA biogenesis. Nucleic Acids Res. 2017; 45: 2809–2828
Hawley BR, Lu WT, Wilczynska A, Bushell M. The emerging role of RNAs in DNA damage repair. Cell Death Differ. 2017; 24: 580-587
Bastide A, Peretti D, Knight JR, Grosso S, Spriggs RV, Pichon X, Sbarrato T, Roobol A, Roobol J, Vito D, Bushell M, von der Haar T, Smales CM, Mallucci GR, Willis AE. RTN3 Is a Novel Cold-Induced Protein and Mediates Neuroprotective Effects of RBM3. Curr Biol. 2017; 27: 638-650
Halliday M, Radford H, Zents KAM, Molloy C, Moreno JA, Verity NC, Smith E, Ortori CA, Barrett DA, Bushell M, Mallucci GR. Repurposed drugs targeting eIF2α-P-mediated translational repression prevent neurodegeneration in mice. Brain. 2017; 6: 1768–1783
Chernova T, Murphy FA, Galavotti S, Sun X-M, Powley IR, Grosso S, Schinwald A, Zacarias-Cabeza J, Dudek KM, Dinsdale D, Le Quesne J, Bennett J, Nakas A, Greaves P, Poland CA, Donaldson K, Bushell M*, Willis AE*, MacFarlane M*. Long-Fibre Carbon Nanotubes Replicate Asbestos-Induced Mesothelioma with Disruption of the Tumour Suppressor Gene Cdkn2a (Ink4a/Arf). Curr Biol. *corresponding author. 2017; 27: 3302-3314.e6
2016
Chernova T, Sun XM, Powley IR, Galavotti S, Grosso S, Murphy FA, Miles GJ, Cresswell L, Antonov AV, Bennett J, Nakas A, Dinsdale D, Cain K, Bushell M*, Willis AE*, MacFarlane M*. Molecular profiling reveals primary mesothelioma cell lines recapitulate human disease. Cell Death Differ. 2016; 23: 1152–1164 *corresponding author
Martin-Gronert MS, Fernandez-Twinn DS, Bushell M, Siddle K, Ozanne SE. Cell-autonomous programming of rat adipose tissue insulin signalling proteins by maternal nutrition. Diabetologia. 2016; 59: 1266-75.
Hall AE, Lu WT, Godfrey JD, Antonov AV, Paicu C, Moxon S, Dalmay T, Wilczynska A, Muller PA, Bushell M. The cytoskeleton adaptor protein ankyrin-1 is upregulated by p53 following DNA damage and alters cell migration. Cell Death Dis. 2016; 7: e2184.
Sbarrato T, Horvilleur E, Pöyry T, Hill K, Chaplin LC, Spriggs RV, Stoneley M, Wilson L, Jayne S, Vulliamy T, Beck D, Dokal I, Dyer MJ, Yeomans AM, Packham G, Bushell M, Wagner SD, Willis AE. A ribosome-related signature in peripheral blood CLL B cells is linked to reduced survival following treatment. Cell Death Dis. 2016; 7: e2249.
Alfaradhi MZ, Kusinski LC, Fernandez-Twinn DS, Pantaleão LC, Carr SK, Ferland-McCollough D, Yeo GS, Bushell M, Ozanne SE. Maternal obesity in pregnancy developmentally programs adipose tissue inflammation in young, lean male mice offspring. Endocrinology. 2016; 157: 4246–4256
Associate Scientist
Tobias Schmidt
I am Associate Scientist in Martin’s lab developing my own research projects. Currently, I aim to understand what information resides within the “dark matter” of mRNA molecules that tells the cell which proteins need to be produced when and where to maintain the cellular fitness. To explore the kinetic and spatial landscape these processes, I combine in vitro enzymology with next generation sequencing and proteomics and integrate the data using bioinformatic modelling by machine learning and large language models. Outside of work, I run and cycle daily, praise the sun \[T]/ and have never known defeat.
Associate Scientist
Joseph Waldron
I’m an Associate Scientist in the Bushell group and my current research is focused on mRNA translation (protein synthesis) and how this is dysregulated in cancer. I’ve been developing advanced transcriptomics approaches, such as Selective Ribosome-footprinting and Disome Profiling, to ask fundamental questions about how translation is regulated, to ensure that the correct amount of functional proteins are produced in the right place at the right time. In collaboration with several groups here at the CRUK Scotland Institute, we use these techniques in cancer models to better understand how this is dysregulated following oncogenic transformation and how this could be targeted therapeutically.
Postdoctoral Researcher
Axel Arthur*
Information about this team member’s research interests, experience, and background will be added soon. Please check back for updates.
Postdoctoral Researcher
Hugo Coquelet
I am currently a postdoctoral researcher studying the mechanisms of protein synthesis in the context of cellular senescence. More specifically, my research focuses on how cells reorganize their metabolism and translational machinery to meet the specific demands for protein synthesis imposed by the senescent state. I completed my PhD in France, where I investigated the non-canonical role of tyrosyl-tRNA synthetase in chemotherapy-induced senescence stability, particularly in breast and colorectal tumor models.Outside the lab, I enjoy exploring the Scottish landscapes, playing board games, and reading.
Postdoctoral Researcher
David Gay
ORCID ID: 0000-0002-7407-1245
I first came to the CRUK Scotland Institute to do a PhD with Professor Owen Sansom focussing on models of colorectal cancer. I then undertook a Post-Doc with Professor Anders Lund at the Biotech Research and Innovation Centre, University of Copenhagen where I looked at ribosome heterogeneity in colorectal cancer. I returned to the CRUK Scotland Institute to do a Post-Doc with Professor Martin Bushell. My work in the Bushell group focusses on codon optimality in cancer to try and understand why cancer cells adopt a particular codon bias and whether this can potentially be used to further stratify patients and uncover novel therapeutic approaches.
Postdoctoral Researcher
Pauline Herviou
I am a postdoctoral researcher working on mRNA translation control in cancer. I am interested in how altered translation elongation dynamics in cancer can impact protein subcellular localization, folding and function. Before joining the lab, I completed a PhD at the Cancer Research Centre of Toulouse in France, investigating the role of RNA G-quadruplexes in mRNA translation linked to therapy resistance in glioblastoma. Outside of the lab, I enjoy hiking, cycling and cooking.
Postdoctoral Researcher
Pooja Mukherjee*
Information about this team member’s research interests, experience, and background will be added soon. Please check back for updates.
Principal Scientific Officer
Lisa Neilson*
Information about this team member’s research interests, experience, and background will be added soon. Please check back for updates.
Senior Scientific Officer
Max Bone
I began my career in cancer sciences as a PhD student in Gareth Inman’s lab, where I studied the role of long non-coding RNAs in cancer biology. I am now a Senior Scientific Officer working across the Bushell and Miller laboratories, where my research focuses on the application of artificial intelligence to cancer research, particularly biological language models for DNA and RNA. My current work includes training and evaluating new models, exploring model distillation and fine-tuning strategies, and applying these approaches to uncover biological insights from coding and non-coding regions of the genome and transcriptome. Outside of the lab, I enjoy rock climbing, football, running, and tennis, while doing my best to offset any health benefits at the pub.
PhD Student
Mortiz Knickel
Originally from Germany, I moved to Scotland in 2018 to study genetics at the University of Glasgow. After a brief dip into Malaria research, I joined the Bushell group as a PhD student in October 2024. My work focuses on understanding how tRNA availability and co-translation enable colorectal cancer cells to produce crucial oncoproteins. I'm particularly excited about integrating large omics datasets to improve existing AI tools on RNA and protein structures and advance our understanding of translation dynamics in cancer. Outside the lab, you'll find me powerlifting, bouldering or playing DND with friends.