More Research Success at the MATTU | Research News

Nabeel Merali, surgical research fellow at the Minimal Access Therapy Training Unit (MATTU), has been awarded a Royal College of Surgeons of England Research Fellowship.

The research Nabeel is carrying out is focussed on the bacteria found in pancreatic cancer tumours. While pancreatic cancer can kill very quickly, some patients can live disease-free for more than two years after diagnosis. Nabeel is looking at types of bacteria present in the tumours of those long-term survivors and comparing it to the types found in short-term survivors. His aim is to see whether the microbiome has an influence on the aggressiveness of the cancer and develop “biomarkers” able to diagnose and stratify this disease, and ultimately improve patient outcomes.

Nabeel’s award is funded by the Clare Marx foundation. Dame Clare Marx was President of the Royal College of Surgeons of England and subsequently Chair of the General Medical Council, and is currently undergoing treatment for pancreatic cancer. She was personally keen to support this project on the influence of the microbiome on pancreatic cancer.

The fellowships support costs associated with research in any aspect of surgery or surgical care including basic science, diagnosis, treatment, surgical technology, logistics or audit. All applications are rigorously assessed by a panel of experts and successful applicants go to an interview panel.

The MATTU and Royal Surrey have had notable success in recent years, with successful applications in 2020 (Charles Rayner), 2021 (Clare Hammer and James O’Brien), and again in 2022 (Nabeel Merali and Madhavi Naratajan). Between 2015 and 2019, three other fellows from the MATTU (Vanessa Brown, Rish Singh and Will Maclean) also received the award.

Royal Surrey has a long history of producing innovative and important research within the fields of surgery, oncology and enhanced recovery, and the fellowships recognise the quality of projects undertaken in the Trust, despite stiff competition from larger, longer established research departments across London and the rest of the country. 

The MATTU has supported and trained 23 research fellows since 2004 all of whom have published or are in the process of publishing MD or PhD theses with Surrey University. In addition the MATTU has received a £70,000 grant to support a further MD research fellow looking at sustainability in the operating theatres currently being undertaken by Siya Lodhia.

Professor Tim Rockall, Director of the Minimal Access Therapy Training Unit, said:

“Nabeel’s award is the latest in a string of great successes at MATTU. These are all great achievements by our fellows that reflects extremely well on the Royal Surrey and are examples of how we punch well above our weight in this area.

“The six research fellows currently at the MATTU all manage to deliver their research work, while remaining committed to delivering excellent patient care as surgeons. In addition to their research, they each undertake the majority of the night time surgical on call rota, six days each week, which is critical to the functioning of the surgical department.

“I would like to recognise the outstanding support our fellows receive from the co-supervisors of the research programme, including Iain Jourdan, Adam Frampton, Alex Stewart, Loui Forni, Chris Pring, Mike Scott, Bill Fawcett, Ben Creagh-Brown, Martin Whyte, Fernando Martinez Estrada, Denise Robertson, Barbara Fielding, Bruce Griffin, Karen Ballard, Chris Fry, Hardev Pandah, Roberta La Reggione, Sally Benton, Julie Hunt, Heather Gage and others."