Over 40,000 people are diagnosed with colorectal cancer each year in the UK, with a worrying rise amongst younger adults. For patients in England diagnosed with metastatic colorectal cancer, the 5-year net survival rate is only ~10%. For metastatic patients, there are only a few drugs recommended for anti-cancer treatment. High amounts of certain proteins can predict response to these treatments. Single molecule localisation microscopy (SMLM), a relatively new technique, can locate individual proteins in cancer samples.

In my project I will image colorectal cancer samples using SMLM. From these images, I will then see if we can better predict response to treatment using the organisation of these proteins. This will use both machine learning and more traditional models.