Profile
Thomas Millner completed a BSc in Neuroscience at the University of Sussex, followed by medical training (MBBS) at Barts and The London School of Medicine and Dentistry. After foundation years and histopathology training in NHS Trusts in London and Essex, he was awarded a Clinical Research Training Fellowship (MRC/The Brain Tumour Charity) for a PhD in molecular oncology focusing on epigenetic dysregulation in glioblastoma in Silvia Marino’s lab at the Blizard Institute. He was then awarded an NIHR Clinical Lectureship and undertook diagnostic neuropathology specialty training in London. He has been appointed a Clinical Senior Lecturer in Molecular Neuropathology at the Blizard Institute and as an Honorary Consultant Neuropathologist at The Royal London Hospital (Barts Health NHS Trust) and The National Hospital for Neurology and Neurosurgery (UCLH NHS Trust).
Research
Research Interests:
My research focuses on epigenetic dysregulation in brain tumours and the surrounding brain during tumour initiation, progression and treatment, with an emphasis on human tissue-based techniques. The overarching aim of my research is to use laboratory insights to help develop personalised medicine strategies that could improve treatment for brain tumour patients.
I have a particular interest in how radiotherapy affects the brain tumour micro-environment, epigenetic regulation in low- and high-grade gliomas, as well as spatial -omics and image analysis in human tissue samples.
Publications
Key Publications
The inflammatory micro-environment induced by targeted CNS radiotherapy is underpinned by disruption of DNA methylation, Millner TO*, Panday P, Xiao Y, Boot J, Rahman N, Stevens P, Nicholson J, Badodi S, Marino S*, BioRxiv: https://biorxiv.org/cgi/content/short/2024.03.04.581366v1
*co-corresponding authors
Polycomb-mediated repression of EphrinA5 promotes growth and invasion of glioblastoma, Ricci B*, Millner TO*, Pomella N, Zhang X, Guglielmi L, Badodi S, Ceric D, Gemma C, Cognolato E, Zhang Y, Brandner S, Marino S, Oncogene, 2020 Jan 27, doi: 10.1038/s41388-020-1161-3.
*joint first authors
Direct Image to Subtype Prediction for Brain Tumours using Deep Learning, Hewitt KJ, Löffler CML, Muti HS, Berghoff, AS, Eisenlöffel C, van Treeck M, Carrero ZI, Veldhuizen GP, Weil S, Saldanha OL, Bejan L, Millner TO, Brandner S, Brückmann S, Kather JN, Neuro-Oncology Advances, 2023, vdad139, https://doi.org/10.1093/noajnl/vdad139
Comparative epigenetic analysis of tumour initiating cells and syngeneic EPSC-derived neural stem cells in glioblastoma, Vinel C, Rosser G, Guglielmi L, Constantinou M, Pomella N, Zhang X, Boot JR, Jones TA, Millner TO, Dumas AA, Rakyan V, Rees J, Thompson JL, Vuonovirta J, Nadkarni S, El Assan T, Aley N, Lin YY, Liu P, Nelander S, Sheer D, Merry CLR, Marelli-Berg F, Brandner S, Marino S, Nature Communications, 2021, 12(1):6130, doi: 10.1038/s41467-021-26297-6
Elucidation of the BMI1 interactome identifies novel regulatory roles in glioblastoma, Freire-Beneitez V, Pomella N, Millner TO, Dumas AA, Niklison-Chirou MV, Maniati E, Wang J, Rajeeve V, Cutillas P, Marino S, NAR Cancer, 2021, Vol. 3, No. 1, doi: 10.1093/narcan/zcab009
All publications
Supervision
PhD students
Dr Millner is pleased to consider applications from prospective PhD students.
