Minchinton, Andrew
BSc (Hons), PhD
Academic Rank(s): Associate Professor, Distinguished Scientist, Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, UBC
Affiliation(s): BCCA/BCCRC
Research and Scholarly Interests: Biomaterials, Cancer, Clinical Applied Research
Clinical Interests:
Andrew Minchinton obtained a PhD in Radiation Biology at University College London & Gray Laboratory. After a post-doctoral fellowship in Vancouver he was recruited by J. Martin Brown to work as a staff scientist in the Cancer Biology Research Laboratory at Stanford University.
After 3 years in California, and bored with life in Palo Alto, he was recruited back to Vancouver and is now a Distinguished Scientist in the Department of Integrative Oncology and Head of the Radiation Biology Unit at BC Cancer. He is an Associate Professor in Pathology and Laboratory Medicine and also teaches a Radiation Biophysics course in the Department of Physics and Astronomy at UBC.
Major interests include how the tumour microenvironment influences radiotherapy outcome with particular interest in oxygen and the electron transport chain, extravascular drug distribution, DNA damage repair and drug discovery. Most recently, focus has been on translational developments to discover a cancer targeted inhibitor of a pivotal DNA repair protein as well as fundamental experiments on FLASH radiotherapy
Dr. Minchinton has received over $20M in peer-reviewed operating grants, has published over 100 peer-reviewed articles (which have been cited over 6000 times). He has 6 patents including a library of over 1000 new chemical entities related to DNA-PK inhibitors and currently holds three CIHR operating grants and a Pancreas Centre BC IDEAS grant. His recent accolades include the Robert F. Kallman award for academic leadership, scientific excellence, service to the profession and commitment to colleagues, students and Stanford University.
Academic Background
- Medical Biophysics Unit, BC Cancer Research Centre. Post-doctoral Fellow. 1989
- University of London, Middlesex Hospital Medical School & CRC Gray Laboratory, Northwood, UK. PhD (Radiation Biology). 1986
- University of Hertfordshire, United Kingdom. BSc (Biochemistry Hons, Biochemistry). 1978
Awards and Recognition
Publications
Research Interest
Dr. Andrew Minchinton Laboratory is working to address multiple key topics in cancer research. One such area is how the tumour microenvironment can influence the effectiveness of treatments like radiation and chemotherapy. The tumour microenvironment refers to the area occupied by a given collection of tumour cells and all its surrounding cells, vessels, and supporting structures. This microenvironment can have a significant impact not only on how rapidly a tumour can grow and whether it can spread to other parts of the body, but also on whether a given treatment will be effective. For example, the relative amount and arrangement of blood vessels associated with a tumour can affect how chemotherapy targeting that tumour is delivered – and how effective it will ultimately be in killing cancer cells. Dr. Minchinton’s group has developed tools to analyze how effective this delivery is for different drugs in different cancer types.
“Hypoxia” refers generally to a lack of oxygen and can be observed in tumours that are growing so quickly that they are exhausting their oxygen supply. Interestingly, tumour cells that are hypoxic can have relatively lower responsiveness to chemotherapy or radiation. Dr. Minchinton’s group has developed ways to measure tumour oxygen levels and is devising new drugs that can be applied to work against tumour hypoxia and thus increase the effectiveness of radiation and chemotherapy treatments.
To address the above cancer research topics, Dr. Minchinton’s team also developed new models of the tumour microenvironment that can be evaluated in a lab setting. These models are three dimensional in nature and can be used to measure changes in the concentration of cellular oxygen or anticancer drugs (thus determining how effectively a given drug is distributed across an entire collection of tumour cells).
The combination of these tools and expertise make the Minchinton lab world leaders in the field of radiation biology research.
Clinical Service
Current Projects In My Lab Include
Teaching Interest
- Radiation biology is a rarely taught discipline with enormous socioeconomic importance. Public understanding of the nature of ionizing radiation, its uses in medicine and its dangers to the public are woefully inadequate and result in media misrepresentation and public skepticism to official announcements when radiation related accidents occur. Through my lectures I attempt to provide a balanced picture of the importance of ionizing radiation to society and via a basic understanding of the effects of ionizing radiation on DNA, cells and tissues provide students with the tools to interpret radiation risk and the beneficial effects such as diagnostic tools and cancer treatment.
- Radiation biology is a rarely taught discipline with enormous socioeconomic importance. Public understanding of the nature of ionizing radiation, its uses in medicine and its dangers to the public are woefully inadequate and result in media misrepresentation and public skepticism to official announcements when radiation related accidents occur. Through my lectures I attempt to provide a balanced picture of the importance of ionizing radiation to society and via a basic understanding of the effects of ionizing radiation on DNA, cells and tissues provide students with the tools to interpret radiation risk and the beneficial effects such as diagnostic tools and cancer treatment.