Funded by CCLG
Lead investigator: Dr Jodie Bojko, University of Bristol
Award: £14,515.00
Awarded January 2026
The challenge
Our cells run on DNA, which contains genes that provide instructions for making proteins. These genes are turned on and off depending on the patterns of small chemical modifications on the DNA. In cancer cells, these patterns can be dramatically altered, changing the levels of proteins that control cell growth and allowing cancer to grow out of control.
Before proteins are made, DNA instructions are copied into messenger RNA (mRNA) and sent to the cell’s protein‑building machinery. Messenger RNA can also carry hundreds of chemical modifications that affect protein building, and the full collection of these changes is known as the epitranscriptome.
Until relatively recently, researchers didn’t know what impact the epitranscriptome had on cancer. However, new technologies and research have shown that mRNA modifications play a key role in the growth and spread of cancers like neuroblastoma.
The project
Dr Jodie Bojko at the University of Bristol wants to understand how mRNA modifications are involved in neuroblastoma development and following chemotherapy failure. Recent work found that the proteins that control a modification called pseudouridine are regulated by MYCN - a gene that is known to make cancers harder to treat. Dr Bojko will investigate how common pseudouridine and other modifications are in MYCN‑driven neuroblastoma at different stages of the disease, including relapse. They will also use advanced techniques to explore other mRNA modifications present in these cancers.
The impact
Dr Bojko’s findings will show how much mRNA modification occurs in MYCN-driven neuroblastoma and whether these patterns change when treatment stops working. She believes this research will provide understanding about mRNA modifications that could help doctors predict and monitor high-risk or relapsing neuroblastoma and find new drug targets that we can develop therapies for. This could enable patients to be diagnosed more accurately, allow doctors to detect relapses faster and find better therapies.
This project is part of a collaboration with the VIVO Biobank, which offers researchers a chance to test early stage, innovative ideas. The collaboration pairs CCLG funding with the VIVO Biobank’s extensive collection of children and young people’s cancer samples to maximise impact and uncover vital new insights.