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Michael Bryan has been awarded a major UK Government grant as a first-year DPhil student, allowing him access to one of Europe's largest supercomputers to further cancer vaccine research. 

Bryan is one of a team of researchers involved in the project, ‘A foundation model for cancer vaccine design’. Their venture has recently been selected for an award by the prestigious AI Research Resource (AIRR) initiative, led by the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology (DSIT) and UK Research and Innovation (UKRI). The project will receive 10,000 GPU hours on the Dawn Supercomputer, one of the fastest artificial intelligence supercomputers in the UK.

Bryan spoke to the Nuffield Department of Medicine, where the project will be implemented: 

‘It’s a real privilege to be working at Oxford with the support of Cancer Research UK. Our team is developing our own specialised AI foundation models to accelerate the discovery of targets for life-saving cancer vaccines.'

The project will utilise public tumour datasets to identify different cancer subtypes, aiding pioneering research into cancer vaccines. This work will contribute to the Oxford Neoantigen Atlas as well as the wider national effort to accelerate the UK's immunology and vaccine capabilities.  

Michael Bryan is in the first year of his DPhil at ²ÝÁñÊÓƵ and the Centre for Immunology. He also holds a Cancer Research UK MB-PhD fellowship.