what you will find on this page
Understanding brain and spinal tumours, treatment options, and emerging research can feel overwhelming, especially when much of the information is aimed at medical professionals. Our patient-focused seminars are designed to bridge that gap - giving you clear, balanced explanations in plain language.
Whether you’re newly diagnosed, supporting a loved one, or exploring additional care options, these seminars provide reliable insights you can trust.
Clear, accessible information - whenever you need it
Patient-Focused Seminars and Archive
for live sessions, giving you the chance to have your questions answered directly
from understanding clinical trials to managing treatment side effects
Focusing on what the information means for you and your options
Including oncologists, surgeons, researchers, and supportive care specialists
- A short summary of the key points covered
- Time stamps for major topics, so you can skip to the sections most relevant to you
- Links to additional resources for deeper reading
This seminar focuses on key findings from the BRITER study, which aims to identify specific MRI features that may predict poorer quality of life in older patients with glioblastoma undergoing radiotherapy.
This seminar, “I am faking it – have I got your attention?”, explores how the brain can tolerate high doses of radiation with relatively few obvious adverse effects. It looks beneath the surface to examine the more subtle neurocognitive difficulties experienced by patients with brain tumours, including challenges with short-term memory, fatigue, task switching and sustained attention.
Professor Jena is undertaking early work using synthetic MRI to build maps of white matter connectivity, alongside auto-segmentation algorithms to identify key processing areas of the brain, known as ‘attention networks’. This approach aims to improve our understanding of the relationship between radiation dose and neurocognitive outcomes for patients.
This seminar, “Meningioma: the good, the bad and the ugly”, explores a condition often considered benign and readily treatable with surgery, yet one that has remained a Cinderella subject for decades. It examines the impact of increased brain imaging, which has led to a rise in incidental meningioma diagnoses and growing patient anxiety.
The seminar considers how best to manage these patients and avoid harm from unnecessary treatment, which patients undergoing surgery may benefit from post-operative radiotherapy, how seizure risk can be reduced, and what the future may hold for the small group of patients who experience multiple recurrences and treatments, including the potential for new systemic therapies.
This seminar focuses in particular on her work on neo-antigen peptide vaccines. It draws on recent research published in Nature Communications, "A real-world observation of patients with glioblastoma treated with a personalized peptide vaccine"
This seminar focuses on CoSyne’s approach to systematically identifying vulnerabilities in brain tumours using primary, patient-derived tumour spheres from both newly diagnosed and recurrent glioblastoma cases. To support translation, the team performs single-cell Perturb-seq, generating a dataset of over seven million perturbed single cells, one of the largest of its kind.
This approach enables the identification of predictive genetic biomarkers and the prioritisation of targets shared across all tumour cells, helping to minimise the potential for rapid treatment resistance.
This seminar focuses on how 3D patient-derived tumour models and AI-driven approaches can be used to predict treatment response and improve decision-making in cancer care.
Before her current role, Eleonora completed a PhD in Bioengineering and Medical Oncology at Barts Cancer Institute, where her research focused on 3D in vitro models for pancreatic and ovarian cancer. She joined Pear Bio as a Tumour Engineer, specialising in patient tissue processing and clinical trial management, and progressed into strategic roles including Product Manager in Biology, leading the validation of tumour models for clinical and diagnostic applications.
This seminar draws on Helen’s unique perspective as both a cancer patient and caregiver. She leads the brainstrust Support Team and is passionate about using her lived experience to support the thousands of people affected by brain cancer. Her 360-degree view allows her to understand the perspectives of patients, caregivers and healthcare professionals, which informs her work and daily interactions. Her ethos, “none of us is as smart as all of us”, sits at the heart of her approach.
His work focuses on DNA damage repair, particularly the role of PARP and the use of PARP inhibitor drugs. He has led a number of clinical trials in brain tumours, including the PARADIGM trials, which explore the addition of PARP inhibitors to radiotherapy.
This seminar focuses on advances in PARP inhibition in brain tumours and the clinical trial evidence supporting these approaches. Professor Chalmers also helps lead the Glasgow RADNET Centre and the Scottish Brain Tumour Research Centre of Excellence.
In 2018, he founded and now directs the Ivy Brain Tumor Center, a not-for-profit drug development programme specialising in Phase 0 trials and other pharmacokinetic- and pharmacodynamic-driven studies for brain tumours. Dr Sanai has authored over 200 peer-reviewed publications and delivered more than 100 national and international lectures in neuro-oncology.
This seminar focuses in particular on his pioneering work developing “window” trials in neuro-oncology. These trials provide a way to study the effects of drugs in patients with brain
This seminar draws on his extensive experience in brain banking and clinical neuropathology. As Professor Roncaroli explains, “Even after working in brain banking for 20 years, I still find it very interesting, challenging and fascinating work.” While brain bank teams do not interact directly with patients, “the work we do is part of the clinical pathway – we’re just not on the stage.”
The seminar focuses in particular on the pre-analytical phase in neuro-oncology, covering everything from tissue removal in theatre to the generation of multi-omics data, and highlighting how strongly research outcomes depend on tissue quality.
Patients family
Access to a website like this would have been a breath of fresh air during the chaos and confusion that followed my husband’s diagnosis. Having clear, specialist-led information in one place would have helped us better understand what was happening, what options existed and how to navigate decisions with more confidence. At a time when everything felt overwhelming, clarity and compassion in how information was presented would have made a real difference. I’m really glad that this website now exists for others facing a similar situation.
Patients family
Tackling a GBM diagnosis is extraordinarily overwhelming, the stats bulldoze you & researching treatment options online is sole destroying. Having one consolidated place to connect with other patients, understand additional treatment options & potential trials & follow others journeys is incredibly comforting and very much needed. Thank you. It’s a tough journey and we only get through it by all sharing our discoveries to make each others experiences that little bit easier.
Thank you for putting the time aside for this website. Being a caregiver to a 10momths in GBM patient I can honestly say that this website will benefit future patients enormously.
Patient
When everything changed, I didn’t want medical jargon or endless links. I just wanted clear, honest information I could actually understand.
Having it all in one place helped. Finding the information together was a huge relief. We could stop Googling and start getting a clearer picture of what was going on.
I could come back when I was ready. Some days I read a lot. Some days I couldn’t read anything at all. Knowing I could come back without pressure really helped.
Knowing more made things feel less chaotic. Understanding my options didn’t fix everything, but it helped things feel a little less out of control.
This was about more than treatment. This affected my whole life - not just my health. Seeing emotional and practical support included made me feel like that was understood. I didn’t feel like I was doing this alone. It felt like someone had already done the hard work of pulling this all together for me - and that meant a lot!
This website is an independent resource, developed by the Horizons in Neuro-Oncology (HINO) team in the UK. Initial development was supported by Dr Matt Williams and Lillie Pakzad-Shahabi, with grant funding from Novocure to support ongoing work.
HINO maintains editorial independence. While the team collaborates with a range of healthcare organisations and receives grant support from Novocure, all content is created and reviewed by the HINO team and reflects their combined clinical expertise, professional experience, and lived experience as patients and caregivers.
While content is based on UK clinical practice, much of the information may be relevant to international readers. It is provided for general guidance and should not replace medical advice from your own healthcare team.
Please use this information to support discussions with your local oncology team, or see our advice on obtaining a second opinion.
