Huile Lim is interested in the role of the microbiome in head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HN-SCC). There is a critical unmet need to improve the effectiveness of treatment for HN-SCC and microbiome research offers a promising and emerging avenue for developing new therapeutic strategies. However, the tumour microenvironment (TME) is highly complex, and conventional 2D cell culture systems, although simple and convenient, fail to recapitulate this complexity. 

Consequently Huile's PhD research will concentrate on devising a more physiologically complex tumour-on-chip model, integrating the use of organoids, to better understand the interactions between the microbiome and HN-SCC . 

She completed her BSc in Life Sciences specialising in Biomedical Sciences at the National University of Singapore, followed by an MSc in Microbiome in Health & Disease at King’s College London. She is studying for her PhD under the CRUK City of London Training Programme within the Neves, Reis Ferreira and Verbruggen laboratories.