BSc, MSc, PhD
My research focuses on how cancers develop and evolve, with the aim of improving prevention and early detection. I am particularly interested in how inherited genetic factors interact with lifestyle exposures to shape cancer risk and tumour evolution. My PhD involved combining genetic epidemiology, clinical trial data, and in vitro models to improve our understanding of how obesity increases the risk of developing cancer.
My current research draws on both cancer epidemiology and evolutionary biology to study how inherited traits influence tumour behaviour and progression. Using large-scale epidemiological cohorts and deeply sequenced tumour datasets, I investigate how germline variation interacts with somatic changes to determine the evolutionary trajectory of cancers, with a particular focus on lung cancer. Through this work, I aim to uncover biological mechanisms and biomarkers that could improve risk stratification, enable earlier diagnosis, and inform more effective treatment.
Hazelwood E, Vincent EE, Albanes D, Bishop DT, Le Marchand L, Ulrich CM, Peters U, Murphy G, Samadder NJ, Anderson L, Murphy N, Van Guelpen B*, Papadimitrou N*. Plasma ghrelin and risks of sex-specific, site-specific, and early-onset colorectal cancer: a Mendelian randomization analysis. (2024) Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers and Prevention https://doi.org/10.1158/1055-9965.epi-24-0926 *These authors contributed equally and are joint senior authors.
Bull CJ*, Hazelwood E*, Legge DN, Corbin LJ, Richardson T, Lee M, Yarmolinsky J, Smith-Byrne K, Hughes DA, Johansson M, McConnachie A, Messow C-M, Welsh P, Taylor R, Lean MEJ, Sattar N, Murphy N, Gunter M, Timpson NJ, Vincent E. Impact of weight loss on cancer-related proteins in serum: results from a cluster randomised controlled trial of individuals with type 2 diabetes. (2024) eBioMedicine https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ebiom.2024.104977 *These authors contributed equally and are joint first authors.
Bull CJ*, Hazelwood E*, Bell JA, Tan V, Constantinescu A, Borges MC, Legge DN, Burrows K, Huyghe JR, Brenner H, Castellví-Bel S, Chan AT, Kweon S-S, Le Marchand L, Li L, Cheng I, Pai RK, Figueiredo JC, Murphy N, Gunter MJ, Timpson NJ, Vincent EE. Identifying metabolic features of colorectal cancer liability using Mendelian randomization. (2023) eLife https://doi.org/10.7554/elife.87894 *These authors contributed equally and are joint first authors.
Hazelwood E, Sanderson E, Tan VY, Ruth KS, Frayling TM, Dimou N, Gunter MJ, Dossus L, Newton C, Ryan N, Pournaras DJ, O’Mara TA, Davey Smith G, Martin RM, Yarmolinsky J. Identifying molecular mediators of the relationship between body mass index and endometrial cancer risk: a Mendelian randomization analysis. (2022). BMC Medicine https://doi.org/10.1186/s12916-022-02322-3