Our Researchers
How long have you been working in research?
It’s hard to believe but it has been 40 years now! Time really flies when you are passionate about your work.
What drew you to this field?
There’s still so much to discover so it’s an incredibly stimulating area to work in as a scientist. I also wanted to help people struggling with cancer, in a way that was different to looking after them clinically.
Why did you select inflammatory breast cancer as your research study?
I took a sabbatical in 2011 where I spent 3 months at the MD Anderson Cancer Centre in Texas, and it was then, for the first time, that I came across inflammatory breast cancer. I started to read more about it and realised how understudied this disease is, especially in the UK. I wanted to change that.
What is your role?
I run a lab at the University of Birmingham. We study different questions related to inflammatory breast cancer.
What question or challenge were you setting out to address when you started this work?
We’re trying to understand how cancer cells communicate with the defence systems of patients with IBC as tumours are developing.
Why is your research important and what are the real-world applications?
By understanding these communication mechanisms, we can open a new avenue for developing novel treatments that help to boost the immune responses of patients.
What do you want to achieve with your research?
At the moment, there aren’t any treatments developed specifically for patients with IBC. We would like to change this and hope that our work will result in new therapies that address this gap.
How does your work in IBC differ from other work in the field?
There are labs in other countries who are working on the genetics of IBC. They mostly look at how and why cancer cells grow. Our work, on the other hand, looks at the interaction between these cells and what we call “the host environment”. As far as I know, we’re the only lab in the UK working on IBC and definitely the only ones working on the communication mechanisms between cancer cells and patients’ immune response. I hope this changes in the future!
Where is your work being published/presented?
The most recent publications have been in the academic journals: Journal of Pathology and Pathobiology. I’ve regularly presented our work at the international IBC conferences and most recently I have been invited to give a talk at the International IBC Conference which will take place in Texas in December.
Do you have any collaborators on this work, and what are their affiliations?
This work wouldn’t be possible without close collaboration with clinicians. I’m currently working with professors Abeer Shaaban, Daniel Rea and Mr Naren Basu at University Hospital Birmingham. It was this collaboration that led to the opening of the first dedicated IBC clinic in the UK. We also have colleagues based in Belgium, Netherlands and France. IBC is rare so it’s very important to combine efforts across borders.
Which IBC type does your research relate to?
We don’t focus on a particular subtype of IBC. The communication mechanisms we work on are general and could apply to different types.
Which stages of IBC does your research apply to?
We’ve studied communication mechanisms in many different sample tissues. These are donated by patients in different stages of IBC, from early to more advanced cancer.
Would the treatment of your research result in chemotherapy or immunotherapy?
Our research is more relevant to future immunotherapies.
What, if any, breakthroughs or information have you gained from your research?
We’ve discovered an entirely new way of communications between cancer cells and patients’ immune cells. Cancer cells produce vesicles which control recruitment of a type of immune cell called B cells into cancerous tissues. B cells have many different functions, and we still don’t understand exactly why they’re being recruited and what form. But discovering the communication pathway is the first step in this process. It means that in future experiments we can try to block or enhance the pathway and then measure the impact this has on the development of the tumour.
On behalf of The Inflammatory Breast Cancer Network UK and its members, we would like to take this opportunity to thank Dr Berditchevski for his time and continued work into inflammatory breast cancer.
Dr Fedor Berditchevski
Institute of Cancer & Geomic Sciences, University of Birmingham
by Fiona (Autumn) Morris, ChairpersonEarlier in July 2022, we had the opportunity during an organised tour for members of the charity’s support group at the University of Birmingham, to catch up with inflammatory breast cancer researcher, Dr Fedor Berditchevski, and ask him some questions from our support group members about himself and his work.
Our first question is a little about the man behind the research.
Could you tell us a little about yourself?
I was born in Frunze in the Central Asian part of the Soviet Union and spent my childhood in Tashkent before moving to Moscow to study Biology at the Moscow State University. I first came to the UK in 1989. I used to take a dictionary to the pub with my lab members to try and understand what they were talking about! I was in London for 2.5 years and managed to learn English as well as doing some science.
Then I was working as a post-doctoral fellow at Harvard in the US for a while before finally settling at the University of Birmingham in 1997. I’ve been there ever since.
I live with my wife, Lena, and our little cat, Nika.
Mr Steve Hayward MSc
Institute of Cancer & Geomic Sciences, University of Birmingham
by Fiona (Autumn) Morris, ChairpersonCould you tell us a little about yourself?
Hi, my name’s Steve and I am the research associate for the lab here at the University of Birmingham. I’ve worked here for just under 5 years now and look forward to continuing to work here for the foreseeable future.
I have been into science since a young age and always wanted to go into something within the medical/scientific field.
In my spare time I enjoy watching and following the NFL where I support the Green Bay Packers, go to the gym 4-5 times a week and have moved into our first home with my girlfriend Lana.
We also have a rescue Lurcher called Lily. I am also a big fan of Metal music and try to go to as many gigs as I can.
My aspirations for my work here are to continue to find out fascinating discoveries and support the amazing work of the charity!
How long have you been working in research?
During my undergraduate and post graduate degrees I undertook small research projects lasting 3 months which gave me my first taste of how research works. Following on from this, I started full time research straight after my master’s degree and have worked with Fedor on IBC for nearly 5 years now.
What drew you to this field?
My interest in cancer and immunology came from meeting my Undergraduate lecturer. He has a passion for cancer immunology and we got chatting, and I soon realised I had a fascination in the intricate pathways regarding how cancer cells and immune cells interact with each other, I knew I wanted to pursue a career in this field. This then led me to applying for my master’s degree in Immunology and Immunotherapy (here at the University of Birmingham), which then lead me to where I am now.
Why did you select inflammatory breast cancer as your research study?
I have been interested in cancer biology since university and was open to exploring various types of cancer. However, what specifically drew me towards this field is that IBC was/is extremely poorly studied with not much known about how the immune system is involved. This means there is a lot for us to explore within our studies leading to exciting and promising findings (findings published for the first time ever in some cases).
What is your role?
So my role is the research associate for the lab. What this entails is I perform a large portion of the experiments surrounding our field of study, with my main focus being on how the immune microenvironment of IBC functions and controls how IBC develops. From these experiments I collect the data and perform the analysis which allows us to write up manuscripts which then get sent off to journals for publication. I also have a prominent role in training and supervising new students we have in our lab multiple times a year and I am always available to lend a hand if they are struggling with something, be it experimentally or information surrounding their topic. On top of this I am also in charge of maintaining the smooth running of the lab, making sure supplies and materials are in stock and available for our members to use. I am also in charge of writing and maintaining risk and safety assessments for the lab making sure we are adhering to the university policies for lab work.
We know you have been able to contribute to some IBC research papers and one of your own too, does this make you more determined to find answers?
Absolutely!
What we have been able to publish over the years has been great, findings which will allow us to build upon in further studies, having more fascinating experiences discovering world firsts and ultimately trying to find a way to end this disease. The beauty of publishing papers is the more that our research is shared, the more minds we can have on the topic. With academia, we all try to share knowledge and the more it is shared, the better we can piece it all together to try to understand it. Especially having some first discoveries in this area, it makes me more determined to put out another so as a team, we can be the leaders in this research field.
We often see you at our meet-ups, how important is it for researchers to meet IBC patients?
I always look forward to the meet ups with the IBC patients and I try to make as many as I can. It allows me to get to know people suffering with this disease and whose lives are being massively impacted by the research that we do. I believe it is extremely important for researchers to meet up with patients as it puts everything we do in the lab into perspective and gives us more drive to help.
On behalf of The Inflammatory Breast Cancer Network UK and its members, we would like to take this opportunity to thank Steve Hayward for his time and continued work into inflammatory breast cancer.