Preclinical Molecular Imaging Group

Dr Gabriela Kramer-Marek’s group uses cutting-edge biomedical imaging techniques to gain information about the way particular genes drive cancer progression.

Our group’s long-term goal is to develop specific biomarkers for detecting cancers and to evaluate these biomarkers in pre-clinical cancer models

Notwithstanding the remarkable clinical success of mAb-based treatment regimens, not all patients benefit from them. This can be attributed, at least in part, to the complexity of the tumour microenvironment and its considerable heterogeneity both in terms of the tumour and non-tumour cell components. These phenomena represent a huge challenge in identifying predictive biomarkers and stratifying patient populations for personalised therapy approaches.

Therefore, there is an urgent need to develop assays that will help in three ways:

  1. accurate patient selection
  2. understanding intrinsic resistance mechanisms or the emergence of acquired resistance following treatment initiation and
  3. choosing the most effective combination regimen in circumstances in which single-agent therapies are insufficiently effective.

Currently, the baseline expression level of antigens targeted by therapeutic mAbs can be analysed by methods such as: immunohistochemistry (IHC), flow cytometry, proteomics, or next-generation sequencing of tumour tissues acquired at diagnostic biopsy or intra-operatively. These techniques aid our understanding of how cancer cells adapt to treatment and become resistant, but such methods are inherently invasive, prone to sampling errors caused by inter- and intra-tumour heterogeneity of receptor expression within analysed biopsy specimens and do not lend themselves readily to repeated sampling.

Positron emission tomography (PET), using radiolabelled mAbs, antibody fragments or engineered protein scaffolds (immuno-PET), has the potential to acquire information non-invasively and can be highly complementary to analyses based on tissue acquisition. Accordingly, immuno-PET agents might accurately identify the presence and accessibility of the target and provide a rapid assessment of tumour response to a variety of treatments in a timely fashion (e.g. within 1-2 weeks of treatment initiation).

Furthermore, immuno-PET agents can provide information about the heterogeneity of both target expression and therapeutic response, which are increasingly recognised as key factors in treatment resistance. This especially relates to patients with advanced disease in whom target expression may vary from site to site and a biopsy of a single local or metastatic deposit may not accurately reflect the situation across the entire disease burden. Although introduction of immuno-PET into routine clinical practice may add complexity and increase costs, with appropriate use this imaging modality has the potential to identify patients likely to benefit from therapy and assess the efficacy of novel target-specific drugs.

Against this background, our research focuses on the development and characterisation of targeted-PET radiotracers, including protein-based theranostic agents that enable smart monitoring of immunotherapies and expand opportunities for personalised medicine approaches.

Early diagnosis and individualized therapy have been recognized as crucial for the improvement of cancer treatment outcome. While proper molecular characterization of individual tumour types facilitates choice of the right therapeutic strategies, early assessment of tumour response to therapy could allow the physicians to discontinue ineffective treatment and offer the patient a more promising alternative. Therefore, the role of molecular imaging in elucidating molecular pathways involved in cancer progression and the ability to select the most effective therapy based on the unique biologic characteristics of the patient and the molecular properties of a tumour are undoubtedly of paramount importance.

The mission of this group is to investigate innovative imaging probes and apply them to novel orthotopic or metastatic models that are target driven, to gain information of the way particular oncogenes drive cancer progression through signalling pathways that can be imaged in vivo and, correlate it with target level ex vivo. Such an approach enables non-invasive assessment of biochemical target levels, target modulation and provides opportunities to optimize the drug dosing for maximum therapeutic effect, which leads to the development of better strategies for the more precise delivery of medicine.

The long term goal of our research is to develop specific imaging cancer biomarkers, especially for positron emission tomography (PET) as well as optical imaging and, evaluate these biomarkers in pre-clinical cancer models. Significant efforts are directed towards validating biomarkers for early prediction of treatment response, with the focus on new targeted therapies (such as inhibition of cell signalling pathways).

Our initial portfolio of imaging agents include radiolabelled affibody molecules, TK inhibitors and, conventional tracers that monitor universal markers of tumour physiology.

We are actively supported by other groups from the Division of Radiotherapy and Imaging as well as the Division of Cancer Therapeutics. Moreover, our close association with The Royal Marsden NHS Foundation Trust enables rapid translation of our research to early clinical studies and ensures a fast transition of know-how from the research laboratory to the patient bedside.

Dr Gabriela Kramer-Marek

Group Leader:

Preclinical Molecular Imaging Gabriela Kramer-Marek

Dr Gabriela Kramer-Marek is investigating new ways of molecular imaging in order to predict an individual patient’s response to treatment. Before moving to the ICR, she developed a new approach for non-invasive assessment of HER2 expression in breast cancer.

Researchers in this group

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Phone: 020 3437 6376

Email: Chiara.DaPieve@icr.ac.uk

Location: Sutton

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Phone: +44 20 3437 6785

Email: dawoud.dar@icr.ac.uk

Location: Sutton

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Phone: +44 20 3437 6857

Email: catarina.slobo@icr.ac.uk

Location: Sutton

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Phone: 020 3437 4549

Email: DavidRobert.Turton@icr.ac.uk

Location: Sutton

Dr Gabriela Kramer-Marek's group have written 63 publications

Most recent new publication 2/2025

See all their publications

Recent discoveries from this group

10/03/25

The Institute of Cancer Research, London, is delighted to announce that Professor Paul Workman has been elected as a Fellow of The American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) Academy.  

The AACR, which is the world’s first and largest cancer research organisation, today announced its newly elected Fellows of the AACR Academy for 2025.  

Professor Workman is one of only 33 new Fellows elected into the AACR Academy this year, bringing the total number of Fellows to 375. 

Professor Workman was previously President and Chief Executive of The Institute of Cancer Research (ICR) and Director of what is now the ICR’s Centre for Cancer Drug Discovery (CCDD). He is currently Group Leader in Signal Transduction and Molecular Pharmacology in the CCDD, Harrap Professor of Pharmacology and Therapeutics at the ICR, and Co-director of the Cancer Research UK Children's Brain Tumour Centre of Excellence at the ICR and Cambridge University.

The Centre for Cancer Drug Discovery at the ICR is the world’s most successful academic drug discovery unit – since 2005, researchers at the CCDD have discovered 21 clinical candidates and 13 have entered clinical trials. Most recently, capivasertib, which was discovered by AstraZeneca subsequent to a collaboration with Astex Pharmaceuticals (and its collaboration with the ICR and Cancer Research Technology Limited), was approved by regulators in the UK, Europe and the US.

A global trust of leading experts in cancer 

The mission of the Fellows of the AACR Academy is to recognise and honour extraordinary scientists whose groundbreaking contributions have driven significant innovation and progress in the fight against cancer. Fellows of the AACR Academy constitute a global brain trust of leading experts in cancer science and medicine, working to advance the AACR’s mission to prevent and cure all cancers through research, education, collaboration, communication, advocacy, and funding for cancer research. 

Fellows are nominated for the accolade and elected through a meticulous, peer-reviewed process that rigorously evaluates each candidate’s scientific achievements and their contributions to the global cancer research community.  

A profound and lasting impact

Only those whose work has made a profound and lasting impact on cancer research and related fields are considered for election. 

Professor Workman’s election citation reads: 

“For his instrumental advancements to cancer drug development, including the discovery of the HSP90 inhibitor NVP-AUY922 (luminespib), the PI3K inhibitor GDC-0941 (pictilisib), the AKT inhibitor AZD5363 (capivasertib), and the EGFR inhibitor ZD1839 (gefitinib); and for conceptualising the “Pharmacological Audit Trail,” a biomarker-driven framework that has revolutionised rational decision-making in the establishment of oncology therapeutics.” 

Other ICR scientists who have been made AACR Academy Fellows are Professor Sir Mel Greaves and Professor Terry Rabbitts.  

'Drug discovery and development is a team sport - and I'm hugely grateful to my team'

Professor Paul Workman, Group Leader in the Centre for Cancer Drug Discovery and Harrap Professor of Pharmacology and Therapeutics at The Institute of Cancer Research, London, said:  

“I’m very excited to be elected to the AACR Academy and humbled to join this illustrious group of cancer researchers. Drug discovery and development is a team sport and I’m hugely grateful to all my very many trainees, technical staff, colleagues and collaborators – and also the funders, donors and institutions that have supported me throughout my career – especially, over the last 28 years, the ICR. I thank my family for their fantastic support as well. It’s been a privilege to do exciting science, with wonderful people, that has led to benefits for many cancer patients, and I’d especially like to pay tribute to the patients and their families who have contributed so much to the progress we’ve made in the lab and in the clinic.” 

Professor Kristian Helin, Chief Executive of The Institute of Cancer Research, London, said: 

“Being elected a Fellow of the AACR Academy is a fantastic achievement and recognises researchers who have made an outstanding contribution to cancer research. We are extremely proud to see Paul’s achievements in drug discovery and development being celebrated in this way.  

“This tribute also acknowledges the high quality of cancer research taking place at the ICR. However, it’s also important to recognise that the advances we’ve made in cancer research would not have been possible without our funders, donors and collaborators, who so generously and graciously donate money and time to support our research.”