Researcher expands work developing new diagnostics and therapeutics to aid in the fight against brain tumours

Dr Mahmoud Labib has spent the past decade developing techniques that harness the potential of microfluidics and biosensors for use in health settings
Dr Mahmoud Labib
A University of Plymouth researcher is exploring the potential for pioneering analytical tools to be used more extensively in the development of cancer diagnostics and therapeutics.
Dr Mahmoud Labib has been working in the South West since April 2023, having secured a Global Talent visa from the UK government that allows talented and promising individuals to work in the UK.
Working with colleagues in Sweden, Canada and the USA, Dr Labib has spent the past decade developing techniques that harness the potential of microfluidics and biosensors for use in health settings.
He has now established a lab in the University’s Derriford Research Facility, where he aims to build on his existing research looking into the most effective ways of diagnosing – and then treating – different forms of brain tumours.

Cancer affects so many people, and their families, all over the world. While there have been huge strides made in recent decades, there is still much more we can do, particularly to treat cancers such as glioblastomas for which there are currently no effective treatments. It is also critical that we develop new means to identify cancer patients at higher risk for brain metastasis and to discover new drugs for prevention of metastasis. A comprehensive analysis of rare tumour cells in a patient’s blood is one way to address this, and my previous research into the development and use of liquid biopsies – which I now expanding on in Plymouth – has shown real potential in that regard.

Mahmoud LabibMahmoud Labib
Lecturer

Prior to his arrival in Plymouth, Dr Labib began his research career at Lund University in Sweden, where he completed his PhD in biotechnology in 2009.
He subsequently moved to Canada, undertaking postdoctoral studies at Western University and the University of Ottawa, before joining the University of Toronto in 2014.
There, he was part of the world-leading research group, created by Professor Shana Kelley, focused on developing new analytical technologies to combat disease and promote wellness and health.
The group has been responsible for a number of high-profile research publications, with three on which Dr Labib is a co-author having been published in Nature journals during 2023.
They have demonstrated, in a study published in Nature Biomedical Engineering, that they can isolate potent circulating tumour-reactive lymphocytes from the peripheral blood through microfluidic immunomagnetic cell sorting, which would advance adoptive cell therapies for cancer.
In addition, they developed an innovative microfluidic platform, referred to as Pro-SELEX, to facilitate the selection of aptamers with programmed binding affinities through a single round. This platform, highlighted in a publication in Nature Chemistry, would speed up the production of diagnostics, particularly during an early stage of a pandemic.
Furthermore, they developed a nanoscale cytometry platform, referred to as NanoEPIC and detailed in a study published in Nature Communications, to enable monitoring of tumour responsiveness to immunotherapy via phenotypic profiling of exosomes.
In Plymouth, Dr Labib will be aligning his expertise with the cutting-edge research being carried out through the University’s Brain Tumour Research Centre of Excellence.
In Plymouth, Dr Labib will be aligning his expertise with the cutting-edge research being carried out through the University’s Brain Tumour Research Centre of Excellence. He added:
“I have been working on this for about nine years, both with other scientists and clinicians at the forefront of cancer care. The process of developing these novel techniques has been far from easy, but it gives me great pride to see the potential benefits and applications of these innovations gaining more appreciation. It is also exciting to think that your work has the potential to make a real difference to people’s lives, and that is something that inspires me in my work every day.”
Dr Mahmoud Labib has spent the past decade developing techniques that harness the potential of microfluidics and biosensors for use in health settings
Dr Mahmoud Labib
 

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