Professor John Bartlett studied for his BSc at Bath University and for his PhD at the Reproductive Biology Unit at Edinburgh University.
In 2000 Professor Bartlett developed his research interests in endocrine cancers and established the Endocrine Cancer Group at Glasgow University, Department of Surgery. In 2006 he took up the post of Reader in Molecular Pathology at Edinburgh University, with a major focus on translational science in breast cancer.
Professor Bartlett is an active translational researcher, a member of the steering committees on a number of phase III clinical trials and chairman of the pathology sub-committee of the TEAM trial, now the largest trial of adjuvant endocrine therapy conducted in breast cancer. He is principal investigator for translational research in the SUPREMO, TACT2. NEO-EXCEL and TEAM trials and a member of the translational research committees of Trans-React, Trans-IES and Trans-TACT. He is author of over 125 published papers.
Professor Bartlett's research strategy recognises that therapeutic advances in treatment of endocrine cancers require the identification of key genetic targets in the growth regulatory pathways of these tumours in the clinical setting. He has identified key components in the interaction between hormone receptors and growth factor signal transduction pathways, in breast, prostate and ovarian cancer, which mediate hormone resistance and tumour progression. His team has concentrated on the understanding of the clinical role of the type I receptor tyrosine kinase family as mediators of breast cancer growth and proliferation. Recently they have been focusing on the role of AKT signalling pathways downstream of these growth factors and their impact on chemotherapy and steroid resistance in breast cancer. These studies are linked to pre-operative, neo-adjuvant and phase III trials with embedded translational research in the context of a number of national and international clinical trials.
