Newsletter - January 2018

 

Welcome to the first edition of the Glasgow Molecular Pathology Node newsletter!

Our MRC/EPSRC Glasgow Molecular Pathology Node has enjoyed a fantastic 2 years since its inception and I want to thank everyone who has contributed to the success of the Node. This success has been enabled by working together with our many partners, including NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde, industry colleagues, as well as MRC, EPSRC and our sister Molecular Pathology Nodes networked across the UK.

The aim of the Glasgow Molecular Pathology Node is to transform the management of cancer and chronic disease by accelerating biomedical research, high quality healthcare provision and economic growth.

Our investigators and collaborators include global opinion leaders with major roles in international and academic studies and industry efforts at the forefront of diagnostics and precision medicine. Our excellent training in molecular pathology, genetics, informatics and stratified medicine is addressing national skill shortages and contributing to a workforce capable of developing, undertaking, interpreting and applying the results of novel molecular diagnostics.

The Node is part of a UK-wide network and we continue to engage with the other Nodes to share expertise and best practice. Glasgow is leading on a number of cross Node network activities and is networking nationally with the Nodes and external bodies to influence national training; to enhance health economic and technology assessment for molecular diagnostics and to enhance bioinformatics capabilities to support the development of molecular diagnostics.

I look forward to sharing our successes, achievements and updates through this newsletter and welcome your thoughts and comments.

Best wishes

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Highlights and achievements

Another successful year for the Glasgow Molecular Pathology Node

Fri, 12 Jan 2018 12:06:00 GMT

Over the past 12 months the Glasgow Molecular Pathology (GMP) Node has continued to make good progress towards addressing the three priorities identified by the MRC in developing molecular pathology for the future: ‘path, proximity and people’.

Cancer research workstrand: progress and updates

PRECISIONPanc – development of a targeted panel for personalised medicine in pancreatic cancer

Fri, 12 Jan 2018 12:30:00 GMT

The cancer workstrand for the MRC Pathology Node has been working on developing an assay that is GCLP approved and of interest to industry. We have focussed this on defining actionable events in pancreatic cancer and other cancer types.

Improving NGS outcomes – a pursuit for optimal biospecimen processing in the anatomical pathology workflow

Fri, 12 Jan 2018 13:03:00 GMT

Leica Biosystems, the University of Glasgow and NHS Greater Glasgow & Clyde have jointly set up a cooperation to optimise and standardise patient tissue sample preparation technologies, improving the outcome of cutting edge molecular diagnostic methods, specifically Next Generation Sequencing (NGS), for use in a clinical diagnostic pathology setting.

Evaluation of potential diagnostics, including health economic assessment, for clinical use

Tue, 16 Jan 2018 10:20:00 GMT

Glasgow’s unique infrastructure provides physical ‘proximity’, which is driving enhanced working relationships between academic, clinical, pathology, biomedical staff and industry, supporting the translation of tests/diagnostics towards translation and adoption.

Cardiovascular research workstrand: progress and updates

Mass spectrometry and nuclear magnetic resonance metabolomics in biomarker discovery

Fri, 12 Jan 2018 13:08:00 GMT

Researchers in the cardiovascular workstrand have developed a new mass spectrometry method for carboxymethyl lysine quantification and identified phenyalanine as a novel predictor of heart failure hospitalisation by NMR spectroscopy

TriMethS – a novel urinary biomarker for minor stroke and transient ischaemic attack

Fri, 12 Jan 2018 13:16:00 GMT

Research into a novel molecule identified as a potential biomarker of acute stroke has led to successful CSO funding for 3 years.

Cardiovascular fibrosis platform

Fri, 12 Jan 2018 13:17:00 GMT

Animal models of fibrosis, aimed at enhancing the understanding of the molecular and pathophysiological mechanisms underlying cardiac, vascular and renal fibrosis are a key focus of research supported by the Node.

Drugomics - untargeted metabolomics as more versatile alternative for untargeted LC-MS/MS drug assays

Fri, 12 Jan 2018 13:18:00 GMT

Non-adherence to cardiovascular medicines is particularly important as there is substantial evidence of harm caused upon non-adherence, whilst an improvement in adherence is associated with improvement in prognosis and reduction of cardiovascular events.

Metabolomics on a chip: multiple metabolomic measurements for precision medicine

Fri, 12 Jan 2018 13:20:00 GMT

Miniaturised techniques to rapidly and simultaneously measure numerous metabolites for point of care implementation are lacking. This project focusses on the creation of a new device that will make it possible, for the first time, to simultaneously measure up to six biomarkers associated with cardiovascular disease (CVD) using a single microchip.

Inflammation research workstrand: progress and updates

ORBIT (Optimal management of RA patients who require biologic therapy)

Tue, 16 Jan 2018 08:53:00 GMT

The ORBIT project is currently focussed on developing an assay that predicts response to biological therapy in patients with rheumatoid arthritis.

NIMA (Neuroimmunology of mood disorders and Alzheimer’s disease)

Tue, 16 Jan 2018 09:00:00 GMT

The mission of this project is to test the proposition that anti-inflammatory drugs could have significant anti-depressant benefits for an immunologically-stratified group of depressed patients.

IMIDBio-UK (Immune Mediated Inflammatory diseases biobanks in the UK)

Tue, 16 Jan 2018 09:10:00 GMT

A consortium led by the University of Glasgow has been awarded a £1.7 million grant to create the world’s largest Immune-Mediated Inflammatory Disease (IMID) Biobank.

Training workstrand: progress and updates

Master’s level training programmes in Molecular Pathology

Tue, 23 Jan 2018 14:33:00 GMT

A new innovative Masters programme, aligned with the evolving RCPath curricula, has been custom-designed, capitalising on the expertise of multiple nationally and internationally-recognised pathologists, clinical scientists and academic staff from the University of Glasgow, including the multi-award-winning Medical Genetics & Genomics teaching team.

Upcoming events

Promoting partnerships meeting February 2018

Tue, 16 Jan 2018 09:17:00 GMT

The Promoting partnerships (PRecision diagnOstics: MOlecular and imagING) network holds regular meetings and events to support the development of molecular diagnostics and associated technologies or software.

Diagnostic development surgery: opportunity for industry advice

Tue, 16 Jan 2018 09:28:00 GMT

Request your appointment now with a panel of industry experts to explore translational development pathways to support tractability of your discovery research.

Informatics for Stratified Medicine and Biomarker Discovery - a molecular pathology informatics network symposium

Tue, 16 Jan 2018 09:49:00 GMT

The Manchester Molecular Pathology Innovation Centre is pleased to host the molecular pathology informatics network symposium on Informatics for Stratified Medicine and Biomarker Discovery.

Annual Node symposium – September 2018 – save the date

Tue, 16 Jan 2018 10:10:00 GMT

The annual Node symposium will be held at the Teaching & Learning Centre, Queen Elizabeth University Hospital in September.