What an incredible weekend at the Great Exhibition Road Festival it was for the team! Our stand, Breath, Bark & Predict Seizure, was buzzing with curious minds of all ages. So many wonderful people stopped by to learn about epilepsy and try our "Make Your Own Wearable of the Future" activity. The conversations, the questions, the enthusiasm, it was exactly why we do public engagement.
We hosted Professor Georg Zeller, Professor at the Leiden University Center for Infectious Diseases (LUCID) and Head of the Microbiome Systems Biology Group at Leiden University Medical Center, for a visit to The Hanna Group. The visit included talks and discussion focused on the microbiome elements of our research — spanning early detection, treatment response, and survivorship in oesophagogastric cancer, as well as our work on paediatric lung infections and neurological diseases, alongside a guest presentation and tour of our VOC lab.
The Department of Surgery & Cancer welcomed Sir Peter Ratcliffe, Professor of Clinical Medicine at the University of Oxford and the Francis Crick Institute, and 2019 Nobel Laureate in Physiology or Medicine. As part of a wider departmental visit including the Division of Cancer Seminar, tours of research groups, and a networking event, Sir Peter spent an hour formally visiting The Hanna Group, giving our team a valuable opportunity to showcase our VOC research.
We hosted Professor Andreas Güntner, Assistant Professor for Human-Centred Sensing at ETH Zürich, for a visit to The Hanna Group. The visit included a tour of our VOC lab, talks on our VOC research with a focus on GC-MS analysis (including urine VOCs), and a presentation from Professor Güntner
We welcomed Alan Lockley and Mark Parkins from Da Vinci to The Hanna Group, who presented on the past, present, and future of SIFT-MS
We welcomed Stuart Andrew MP, Shadow Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, to The Hanna Group. The visit included a tour of our VOC laboratory and an overview of our research programme and ongoing clinical trials.
We hosted Professor Simona Cristescu, Head of the Life Science Trace Detection Laboratory at Radboud University, alongside Dr Joris Meurs of the same laboratory, for a visit to The Hanna Group. The visit included a tour of our VOC laboratory and talks on our work using breath tests to detect gastrointestinal cancers and our biological investigations, along with a guest presentation from our visitors.
We hosted Professor Fabio Di Francesco, Professor of Analytical Chemistry at the University of Pisa, for a visit to The Hanna Group. The visit included a tour of our VOC lab, an overview of our research.
The Hanna Group's VOC team came together to celebrate the holiday season in festive style. Colleagues gathered to share the joy of Christmas, marking a well-deserved break from their research endeavors.
We hosted Dr David Riglar, Assistant Professor in Engineering Biology at Imperial College London, for a visit to The Hanna Group. The visit included a tour of our VOC lab and an overview of our ongoing research and clinical trials, followed by a presentation from Dr Riglar on engineering bacterial biosensors to detect disease signals.
The Hanna Group joined colleagues from across the Department of Surgery & Cancer to celebrate the festive season together.
We hosted Professor Marc Gunter, Chair in Cancer Epidemiology and Prevention at Imperial College London, for a visit to The Hanna Group. The visit included a tour of our VOC lab, talks covering our VOC research programme, clinical trials and approaches to implementation and scale-up, followed by open discussion and feedback. Professor Gunter also presented his own work on identifying novel causes and biomarkers of cancer development using large-scale cohorts.
The Hanna Group attended the IABR Breath Summit in Innsbruck, represented by Prof. George Hanna, Aaron Parker, Michael Fadel, Caoimhe Walsh, and Mohammed Abulazayem. Highlights included Michael Fadel's oral presentation on the COBRA2 study, Caoimhe Walsh's award-winning poster on using SIFT-MS and GC-MS to optimise measurement of volatile organic compounds from organoid headspace, and Mohammed Abulazayem's poster on the HOPE study. Prof. Hanna delivered a plenary talk on breath testing for the diagnosis of gastrointestinal cancers, and was elected Chair-Elect of the IABR, beginning a two-year term on 1 October 2025.
The Hanna Group came together outside the lab for an evening of ten-pin bowling
We hosted Professor Martin Wagner, Attending Surgeon (Visceral, Thoracic and Vascular Surgery) and Professor of AI-based Assistance Systems in Surgery, for a week-long visit at The Hanna Group. His time with us included shadowing in theatre alongside our surgical team, as well as in-depth presentations and discussions covering the full breadth of our research and clinical trials.
Professor George Hanna and team hosted long-term supporters Ramesh and Sheena Dewan and the rest of the Dewan Foundation, to share updates on our clinical trials and future directions on early cancer detection.
Professor George Hanna and team hosted Sir Peter Barnes from the University of Cambridge to share our work on VOCs for early cancer detection, and benefited from his insights on future research directions.
We were delighted to host Professor Graham Cooke, Vice-Dean for research in the Faculty of Medicine at Imperial College London, at The Hanna Group. During his visit, our team presented our clinical trial work. Professor Cooke's expertise in infectious disease research, made for a valuable exchange.
Professor George Hanna and team hosted Prof. Jimmy So from the National University Singapore to share our work on VOCs for early cancer detection, and learned from his insights on treatment strategies for gastric cancer with peritoneal metastasis.
Professor George Hanna and team hosted the NIHR HealthTech Research Centre in In Vitro Diagnostics (HRC IVD) launch event, presenting the centre's exciting research that will support the development and adoption of diagnostics in healthcare.
The PANACEA team was invited to present at the 'Innovation in the early diagnosis of cancer' event at the BMA House, London, hosted by NHS Cancer Programme.
The VAPOR team joined Pancreatic Cancer UK at the Association of Medical Research Charities showcasing event at the House of Commons, discussing the urgent need for earlier detection in pancreatic cancer with ministers and MPs, and demonstrating our breath test in action.
