Amelia Guest first learnt about the long-term impact of cancer treatment on children and young people during a module of her undergraduate degree in Biomedical Sciences, also at Newcastle.
Amelia, 24, is now working on her PhD in childhood medulloblastoma, an aggressive form of brain cancer, where she and her colleagues are using samples from clinical trials to attempt to identify biomarkers that could help identify the different levels of risk in patients.
By identifying which children may respond better or worse to treatment, doctors will be able to reduce the amount of treatment needed for low-risk children and minimise the long-term effects on them.
She explained:
I’m interested in researching childhood cancer because of the impact of treatment on children. With medulloblastoma, for example, you see treatment causing cognitive defects or neurological issues, things that reduce quality of life for children, and even cause neuroendocrine deficiencies. Children have the most life to live [after treatment], so childhood cancer research is not only about curing the disease, but it’s also about lessening the impact of treatment or the disease and making things better and improving that life for them.
Amelia said she wanted to fundraise for CCLG because of its commitment to driving progress and funding a broad range of research, which includes finding kinder, more effective treatments, with fewer long-term effects, for children and young people’s cancer.
She also praised CCLG’s Early Career Researcher Network, for bringing together researchers early in their careers, like herself, and creating a space for them to share insights, benefit from learning opportunities, and receive mentorship and guidance from established experts.
Amelia said:
Not only does this charity do amazing work for children and young people with cancer and their families, but they also have a long-standing history of collaboration with research in Newcastle. It seems like a great charity to support because they support researchers like me, so it seems a great fit to be fundraising for CCLG. It brings [early career] researchers together. It’s nice to be able to talk about your research and experiences with people at a similar level, as it can be quite daunting. We’re all working to the same goal, whether that’s in medulloblastoma or leukaemia.
Amelia said that she’s looking forward to the challenge of running what will be her second marathon, having been limited in what she’s been able to do until recently due to injury.
She explained: “I love running but haven’t really run much since I did my first marathon in Sweden in 2024.
“I was injured, with my hip first and then my ankle. Even though I’ve not been able to start training as early as I’d have wanted, I’m finally getting to the stage I can start running pain-free.
“Training’s going well and I’ve joined the Collective Run Club in Newcastle, which has been good socially.
“It’s going to be fun.”
