Welcome to the August 2019 ICS Newsletter
It’s your Newsletter so please remember to send information to the newsletter team for publication.
Suggestions on topics and content for future issues are most welcome.
Professor Owen Sansom
Director
Thank You!
Institute News
The Autophagy UK Network conference took place on 21-22 May 2019
Dr Vignir Helagason welcomed everyone to the 5th Annual UK Autophagy Network meeting held in the Sir Charles Wilson Building (UofG) on the 21_22 May 2019
ICGC-ARGO Conference 27-29 May 2019
Delegates were welcomed by Prof Sir Anton Muscatelli and the event was hosted by Prof Andrew Biankin
ICGC-ARGO is an international network of cancer clinicians, researchers and clinical trials groups
that aims to provide a million patient-years of precision oncology knowledge in a manner that
allows for broad, but ethically responsible, data sharing and research. Clinical and genomic data
generated by ICGC-ARGO members will be exclusively available to its membership for a short
period of time before being released to the broader research community.
ICGC Argo Committee
As part of TEDx 2019 Prof Andrew Biankin and Chiara Braconi were in one of the discussion labs at the SEC along with cancer patient Lesley who discussed her experience of clinical trials
Professor Tessa Holyoake Memorial Lecture – 27 June 2019
Professor Tony Green, Head of the Wellcome Trust/MRC Cambridge Stem Cell Institute, delivered the Inaugural Tessa Holyoake Memorial Lecture at the CRUK Beatson Institute. He spoke fondly of Tessa recounting career highlights with some funny stories along the way. Tony lectured engagingly about "Myeloproliferative neoplasms: JAK/STAT signalling and stem cell subversion” which was appreciated by the large audience that filled the auditorium.
POG Fundraising
Congratulations to Fiona Mackenzie, who is a member on our POG Fundraising Committee, for organising another fantastic golf day to raise funds for POG
Lizzie Malloch, Heather Morrison, Lucy Ferguson and Sally Kirkpatrick completed the Edinburgh half marathon in May raising over £1500 for POG in memory of Lizzie’s aunt, Professor Tessa Holyoake – well done girls!
Everyone at POG would like to give huge thanks and congratulations to Dr Vignir Helgason for organising the recent “Raise the Roof” event in June. The event was very successful and raised an amazing £20,000 for our funds.
The Munro Challenge 25-27 May 2019 raised over £2,000 for cancer charities including POG, Beatson Pebble Appeal and Brain Tumour Research.
Wendy Page, an artist who carried out work for Jose Carreras, donated part of her payment of £150 to buy a mini-centrifuge for the Paul O’Gorman Leukaemia Research Centre.
Future POG Events:
Thursday 26 September - the POG Gin tasting event is back by popular demand! It will be held in the Charles Rennie Mackintosh Church on Maryhill Road. There are still a few tickets left (£30 each) available on a first come first served basis. If interested please contact Alison.Michie@glasgow.ac.uk
Sunday 17 November - Waitrose Craft Fair/ Waitrose Community Rooms 10am-6pm.
Sunday 24 November - The Christmas craft fair will be held in the Knightswood Community Centre at 1pm.
McGuigan Family Charity Night – details to follow
If you would like to help out or attend any of these events, please contact the Development & Alumni Office – Susanne.hill@glasgow.ac.uk or rosie.munro@glasgow.ac.uk
POG Grants
Dr Karen Keeshan was awarded a 3 year Bloodwise funded project grant to work on "Targeting ERBB signalling in AML" which will commence by the end of 2019.
Professor Mhairi Copland was awarded a 3-year Cure Leukaemia funded extension to the Trials Acceleration Programme which will commence in January 2020.
GPOL Update 
Both Andrew Biankin and Susie Cooke spoke at the Biotexcel Genomic Medicine conference in Edinburgh in May.
Susie has been accepted onto the GenQA External Quality Assessment (EQA) Specialist Advisory Group (SAG) for Next Generation Sequencing (NGS).
Susie also spoke in a satellite session sponsored by Agilent at ESHG 2019 in Gothenberg, on the pan-cancer panels GPOL have been developing for clinical trials.
Concorde NSCLC: Platform study of novel agents in COmbinatioN with COnventional RaDiothErapy in locally advanced disease grant awarded. The project is being led from the University of Leeds and Prof Anthony Chalmers is a co-investigator and GPOL are collaborators.
Dr Daniel Murphy news
New Industrial collaboration:
2019 – 2021 Puma Biotechnology “Neratinib treatment of KRAS-driven Lung Cancer.” £200,856.
Conference lecture:
2019 Genes & Cancer, Cambridge, UK. “Evolution and treatment of KRAS-driven lung cancer: critical insight from GE mouse models.”
Invited seminars:
2019 University of Lyon, France. “NUAK at the crossroads of stress & survival.”
2019 Technical University of Munich, Germany. “Mechanisms of KRAS mutant lung cancer progression – translational insight from GE mouse models.”
2019 Medical University of Vienna, Austria. “Mechanisms of KRAS mutant lung cancer progression – translational insight from GE mouse models.”
SAVE THE DATES!
11th International ICAPS Conference: Cancer Prevention:Targeting Infection, Inflammation and the Immune System
The meeting will take place on 9-10 September 2019 in Charterhouse Square (QMUL) London UK
The online regitration is open. Further information here: ICAPS Conference September 2019
You are cordially invited to an Immuno-Oncology Colloquium on Monday 16th September at the Beatson Institute, Garscube Estate, Bearsden, Glasgow. The renowned Professor Drew Pardoll (John Hopkins University, Maryland USA) will be the keynote speaker.
Dr. Pardoll is the Abeloff Professor of Oncology, Medicine, Pathology and Molecular Biology and Genetics at the Johns Hopkins University, School of Medicine. He is the Director of the Bloomberg~Kimmel Institute for Cancer Immunotherapy and Co-Director of the Cancer Immunology Program at the Sidney Kimmel Comprehensive Cancer Center at Johns Hopkins.
Further details will follow shortly but please put this date in your diary now and we look forward to your attendance at what will be a fantastic opportunity to exchange best practice, to share up-to-the minute research and to connect with acquaintances old and new.
Contact: Seth Coffelt & Iain McInnes
The 5th Human Cancer Immunology Course for Oncologists and Scientists 10-11 October 2019, Brussels BE
The intended audience is health care professionals including physicians trained as medical oncologists, pathologists, radiation oncologists, surgeons and allied scientists who wish to update their knowledge on cancer immunology and/or current trends in immunotherapy.
This course will take place over 2 days (a detailed program is attached but not final) beginning with a short refresher course designed for physicians and scientists needing to review their basic knowledge in immunology and how the immune system is subjugated by cancer. This will be followed by a series of talks covering recent advances and developments in cancer immunotherapy, presented by invited speakers who are experts in their field. The course is designed to review the principles and provide an update of current knowledge on various immunotherapeutic approaches and their clinical consequences.
Updates from the MVLS Engagement Team
MVLS Public Engagement Gathering - Event Opportunities 2019/20
Updates on forthcoming public engagement opportunities that will help build your skills and experience.
Tuesday 20 August 2019 at 2:00 – 3.30pm
Room 222/223 BHF Glasgow Cardiovascular Research Centre
Learn about the successful Cell Block Science, Explorathon 2019 - Europe’s biggest research-fuelled festival, and details of the exciting new University wide Impact in 60 Seconds competition. Together with a calendar of key Glasgow events and some top tips on selecting and applying to attend. Presentations will be followed by an open Q&A with refreshments. This networking event is open to MVLS Researchers, staff and post graduate students currently involved in public engagement or those who wish to learn more - plus anyone participating in Explorathon 2019.
Book to attend at MVLS Public Engagement Gathering - Event Opportunities
ScotPEN Wellcome Engagement Award now open
This Scotland-wide collaborative pilot scheme helps Wellcome grant holders engage the public with their research. Awards of between £5,000 and £100,000 are available. The pilot scheme is being hosted by the MVLS Engagement Team at the University of Glasgow and is designed to improve the number and quality of successful research engagement projects. Post-docs and PhD students are eligible as named co-applicants and Inter-institutional collaborations are encouraged.
This call will close on Friday 25 October 2019 at 5pm
A second call will open in early January and close on Friday 27 March 2020.
Full details available at www.scotpen.org/swea
Application must be submitted via institutional public engagement teams so please contact the MVLS Engagement Team at an early stage to discuss your proposal - MVLS-Engage@glasgow.ac.uk
MVLS Engagement Team
The MVLS Engagement team of Alison Caldecott and Dr Becky Hothersall is helping MVLS staff and students share our research and work with public audiences. Visit www.gla.ac.uk/mvls-engage to learn more.
MVLS Engagement Team gla.ac.uk/mvls-engage
0141 330 2134
Staff and students are invited to join the MVLS Engage Yammer group
Staff News and Awards
Staff News and Awards
A warm welcome to all of our new staff
Chiara Braconi, MD, PhD
Chiara Braconi is a Lord Kelvin Adam Smith Reader in the Institute of Cancer Sciences and holds an honorary contract as Consultant Medical Oncologist at the Beatson West of Scotland Cancer Centre. Her research is focussed on hepato-pancreatico-biliary tumours, and aims at delineating novel treatment strategies for these cancers by integrating genomics, epigenomics and patient derived models for the identification of novel therapeutic targets and biomarkers.
Dr Braconi received her MD degree from the University of Ancona in Italy, and completed her fellowship in Medical Oncology in 2006. She then enrolled in a joint PhD program between the University of Ancona and The Ohio State University, which was followed by post-doctoral training at the Ohio State University, USA. She worked at the University of Glasgow between 2012 and 2014 supported by a Scottish Senior Clinical Research Fellowship, where she continued her work on the role of non-coding RNAs in hepatobiliary cancers. In 2014 she joined the Institute of Cancer Research / Royal Marsden Hospital in London as a clinician scientist where she integrated the study of molecular biology with clinical research to sustain a patient-oriented programme in biliary-pancreatic cancers. She combined the study of transcriptional and post-transcriptional modifications with patient derived organoids to inform drug discovery and biomarker development.
She joined the Institute of Cancer Sciences in May 2019 where she will develop a research platform on biliary cancers, connecting laboratory research and early clinical development in order to accelerate the field of predictive biomarkers and therapeutics. She is currently working within national and international consortia (European Network for the Study of Cholangiocarcinoma, COST-action 18122, and Cholangiocarcinoma-UK) to support a collaborative international research programme in biliary cancers.
Email: Chiara.Braconi@glasgow.ac.uk
Jacqueline Coutts – Head of Professional Services, ICS
It’s such a pleasure to return to Cancer Sciences, some years after the completion of my PhD on this site back in the mid-90’s.
My background is in molecular biology, although I strayed to the dark side of the commercial sector after a short spell as a Postdoctoral scientist at the Paterson Institute for Cancer Research in Manchester. I worked for a Manchester University spin-out, Tepnel Life Sciences, moving across to their first acquisition, Tepnel BioSystems, where I applied DNA methods to the analysis of foodstuffs, including genetically modified foods, animal and fish species confirmation and food adulteration. I was at Tepnel BioSystems for over 10 years, ultimately becoming General Manager and attempting a management buyout, before sadly seeing it sold to a competitor. I remained in the food-safety sector for a couple more years, before moving back to Glasgow in 2015 to the role of Senior Project Coordinator as part of the ‘Transforming Research Management’ project. I love being back at the University, surrounded by amazing research and inspirational academics. My time in Research Support has provided me with valuable experience of University systems and processes as well as a broad range of contacts across the University. It’s very early days for me in Cancer Sciences, but I’m really looking forward to getting to know everyone and the many and varied challenges that I’m sure lay ahead!
Picture shows me with one of the true loves of my life – my appaloosa, Monty, who has owned me since he was 6 months old.
Email: Jacqueline.Coutts@glasgow.ac.uk
Pooyeh Farahmand
Pooyeah has two masters’ degrees. The first is in biotechnology and the most recent in cancer cell and molecular biology. In 2019 she earned a PhD in cancer biochemistry from the University of Leicester where she studied the role of MAPK and WNT signalling pathways in serrated colorectal cancer. She is currently a postdoctoral researcher based in the Beatson Institute, in Daniel Murphy’s lab; here she investigates the role macrophages play in initiation and development of malignant pleural mesothelioma, using GEMs.
Email: pooyeh.farahmand@glasgow.ac.uk Ext:6755
Wilma Hoevenaar
Hi, I’m Wilma and I started in Seth Coffelt’s lab as a postdoc in May. I did my PhD in the Hubrecht Institute in the Netherlands where I worked on the role of chromosomal instability in (mostly intestinal) tumorigenesis. I did a lot of organoid work and live cell microscopy there. Now, I’m switching to the cancer immunity field and I will try to find out more about how gamma-delta T cells exert a pro-metastatic role in metastatic breast cancer and if there is a way to prevent them doing so.
Email: wilma.hoevenaar@glasgow.ac.uk
Prof Andrew Biankin – Australia award – Queen’s New Year’s Honours List
June 2019
Congratulations to Professor Andrew Biankin, Regius Chair of Surgery/Director of Wolfson Wohl Cancer Research Centre, on being awarded an Order of Australia (AO) in the Australian Queen’s Birthday Honours.
The award is for distinguished service to medical research and to the treatment of pancreatic cancer as a clinician-scientist.
Dr Karen Oien
Dr Karen Oien featured in this news story announcing £6.2m of funding in Scotland, to transform clinical research training and help women scientists to stay in research.
Karin is a clinician scientist and mum-of-three. An Honorary Consultant in Liver and Gastro-Intestinal Pathology at the Queen Elizabeth University Hospital and also the Clinical Reader in Pathology at ICS.
Read the full story here
Congratulations to David Vetrie on his recent promotion to Professor
Technicians Commitment Launch
Our amazing ICS Technicians attended the UofG Technicians Commmitment Launch on 20 May at the Sir Charles Wilson Building
Read more about the Technicians Commitment
Huge congratulations to Nigel Jamieson and his wife on the birth of their beautiful daughter Sienna, born 24th July and weighing just over 6 pounds.
PhD/MSc Students News
PhD/MSc Student News
PhD Student News
The prize giving for the best Clinical PhD thesis (Thomas Smellie Prize) went to Selina Tsim for her thesis titled "Diagnostic and Prognostic Biomarkers of Pleural Malignancy”.
Congratulations to the following students on graduating in June… good luck for the future!
Nikolaos Panagiotou, Tony Cousins, Lynsey Carroll, Eduardo Castaneda, Silvia Halim, Dominika Kowalczyk, Evdokia Michalopoulou, Marisa Nacke, Mate Naszi, Ashley Ann Newcombe, Koji Nomura, Evgenia Sarrou
Congratulations also to Stephan Dreyer who has been awarded his PhD and will graduate in the Winter.
Leena Mukherjee defended her PhD in May and passed.
Natasha Malik defended her PhD in June and passed.
Eilidh McCulloch a PhD student in the Translational Pharmacology Laboratory (supervisor Fiona Thomson) was selected to present a lightning talk at the CRUK International Symposium of Oesophageal Cancer at the prestigious Royal Institution in London.
She spoke about her project ‘Identification and development of blood-based biomarkers for disease prognosis and prediction of treatment response in gastro-oesophageal cancer patients’. (photo credit Greg Allen Photography)
PGR Annual Review
Very well done to all of our 1st, 2nd and 3rd year students who recently presented talks and posters as part of their annual reviews
1st year PGR students
2nd year PGR students poster presentations
3rd year PGR student talks
The winners were Kathryn Pennel (Edwards Lab) for best poster and Amy Dawson (Helgason Lab) for best talk.
Congratulations to Ysaline and Sophie, intercalated medical students hosted at the POG for their project placements, who graduated on 20 June.
Ysaline presented her work at the 6th Laboratory Medicine Poster Meeting at the QEUH and won the prize for best poster! Well done on your achievements, we're all super proud of our POG alumni!
Three Minute Thesis Competition – Narissa Parry
This year I took part in the University of Glasgow’s Three Minute Thesis competition, presenting my research without props, prompts or PowerPoint in under three minutes. We were allowed one figure, projected onto the board behind us, and were judged by both an audience and a panel made up of senior academics. Having not done much public speaking before, the event was a challenge in a number of ways! For my own presentation, I was talking about my work on chronic myeloid leukaemia, a type of blood cancer, and the drugs that I’m currently testing in the lab. I made it through the MVLS heats and into the finals, which were held in the Senate Room. Hearing about people’s research from across the four Colleges was incredibly interesting and the presenters were impressive in their sheer enthusiasm for their work. From learning about microscope magnets to music therapy for dogs, the whole experience left me with a greater appreciation for the vast scope of work carried out within the University. I would recommend taking part in the competition to all PGRs! Mhairi Copland Lab
Congratulations to Ailsa Holroyd, Eduardo Gomez Castaneda and Lorna Jackson who graduated Doctor of Philosophy on 24 June. Everyone at POG/ICS is extremely proud of you all.
Here are some photos from EHA 2019 in Amsterdam. POG postdoc Chinmay Munje presented his work in a talk and POG PhD student Caroline Busch has had a busy time during her poster session
POG welcomed Jack and Erin who are 4th year secondary school students who joined them this summer for work experience.
Love is in the air at POG! - Post Doc Chinmay Munje got married at home in India in April and PhD student Mike Moles popped the question whilst away over Easter!! Congratulations to Chinmay and Ruta and to Mike and Nora from everyone at POG/ICS
29 May NERD Event – International Lunch – Tennis Club, Garscube
Mariana Cendejas Orozco (PhD student) organised an international lunch on 29th May 2019, at the tennis club, Garscube. There were about 20 people who attended and brought food from the following countries; Pakistan, Cambodia, Scotland, France, India, Italy, Mexico, Canada, Bulgaria. All the students and staff who participated got to socialise over the lunch and were all left with happy faces and overfilled bellies.
PhD Forum – Looking Back and Moving Forward - Liam Hayman
Allow me to introduce myself: I am Liam Hayman and as the nearest fresh faced first year with a naïve idea of the next 3.5 years of my life and an inability to take anything seriously, I recently took over as the lead for the PhD Forum. I would like to take this opportunity to look back at the last year of events, but also to look towards the future and how you can get involved. In the last year, we have seen a variety of events including medical writers, industry representatives and a patent attorney. These are just some of the many possible career paths that we can follow as PhDs, but there are yet more to discover. We also enjoyed two fantastic social events, including a murder mystery which called into question our collective intelligence. All of this has been to fulfil three aims; to widen our view of careers after a PhD, to encourage interaction between students and to consume copious amounts of pizza and alcohol. All three aims have been soundly met. Student involvement has been good and our most recent speakers, Ashfield Healthcare, specifically highlighted how mature and thoughtful some of the questions posed to them were. Keep it up!
Looking to the future, we have a few changes taking place. Firstly, the PhD Forum committee has shrunk as Amy (second from left) and Judith (second from right) near the end of their PhDs, hence my being handed the reins by Amy. A huge thank you to Amy and Judith! The committee will thus consist of; Hannah Craven (not in photo), Liam Hayman (middle), Ognian Neytchev (not in photo), Ilaria Puoti (far right) and Youhani Samarakoon (far left). Speaking of which, I’m looking for some amenable PhD students to lure into joining the committee, so please let me know if you’re interested. University students, you get a credit, but only if you actually arrange a speaker during your PhD, you don’t get one for being in the photograph.
We are hoping to bring in some great speakers in the future in line with our previously mentioned aims. However, if there is a particular area that you are interested in then please do let us know and we can try to arrange a speaker from that field. We are now pursuing a fourth aim, which is to inspire. To this end we will be arranging inspirational speakers, typically themed around national and global events such as Women in Science, Pride and various cancer awareness months, to name but a few.
I hope to see you at our events in the future, eating our pizza and drinking our beer, but with an emphasis on developing and networking, of course. Remember, this is your PhD Forum, make the most of it! Liam
POG Summer Students news
Laura Ramirez Finn (completed 2nd Year at University of Glasgow) – funded by Wellcome Trust Biomedical Vacation Scholarship – Alison Michie Group.
Elizabeth Yan (completed 3rd Year at University of Toronto, Canada) – funded by Mitacs Globallink Research Award – Alison Michie Group.
Sophie Mathew (completed BMed Sci at University of Glasgow) – funded by Michael Harrison Summer Studentship – Alison Michie Group.
Erasmus students Maria Jesus Baena Moreno and Alicia Torres Garcia from the University of Granada, Spain visiting the lab for July and August – Karen Keeshan Group.
PhD student Hamish Macmillian from University of Otago, New Zealand visiting the lab for July – Karen Keeshan Group.
MSc Cancer Research & Precision Oncology
We welcomed a new cohort of students in September 2018 from countries such as Greece, Spain, Turkey, Hong Kong, the Philippines, Iraq, Oman, Thailand, India, Malaysia, China, Algeria, Canada, Saudi Arabia as well as students from the UK. Here are some notes on their experiences.
Antigoni Kokkinopliti
I chose to do this MSc because I realized there was a lot more learning to do if I wanted to achieve my dream of being a cancer scientist. This course delivered exactly what it advertised: a deeper more detailed understanding of the biology of cancer followed by a selection of courses for you to delve more into what you think is interesting. The selection of research projects was wide and there was something for everyone. In the future, I hope to work on research involving diagnostic, prognostic, and predictive biomarkers in solid tumours. Sara Samir Al-Badran
My choice of attending this Master's was influenced by my interest of switching from the general field of biology to a more human-centralised one. The course really helped me to improve my knowledge on cancer, the formation and the progression of the disease. Furthermore, I improved my skills on writing scientific documents, and read papers. Finally, during my project I gained some important experience in laboratory work, which will be vital for my future, although I realised how much I would love to follow a pathway towards genetic counselling.
However, participating in a course abroad should not only improve our knowledge but also broaden our horizons. During this year, I have made amazing friends and we have spent a lot of time learning from each other about different cultures, food and traditions. So, in a few months I am leaving Glasgow with lots of knowledge but also lots of experiences with my international Glaswegian family to remember!
Megan Quince
I came to the Cancer Sciences Masters from a forensic science/analytical chemistry background. Over the years of my undergrad I became increasingly fascinated with molecular biology and cancer. During the masters I have learned of the vastness and interconnected nature of all the facets of cancer oncogenesis, progression and metastasis.
Having delved deeply into the hallmarks of cancer I have further developed an interest and appreciation of the complexity of the disease and how to apply this knowledge to the development of precision medicine to improve patient survival. Journal clubs attended have been hugely insightful as to building on critical analysis skills, understanding laboratory techniques and the data produced from them. Practical laboratory work that I opted into was greatly useful in improving my confidence with multiple techniques, proper instrument use, data analysis, troubleshooting experiments and thorough laboratory note book upkeep.
All of the skills and knowledge gained from the course thus far have helped me towards my dream career path of becoming a cancer researcher fighting at the frontier of cancer science. I have already been accepted into the MVLS DTP program here at Glasgow University through which I will continue to work within the Institute of cancer science for a further 3.5 years.
Irene Caldera Quevedo
There are not so many universities in Europe in which you can find a master programme focused on cancer biology and research. It is even less common to be part of a world recognised university which collaborates with world-leading researchers. These are the main reasons why I chose MSc Cancer Sciences at the University of Glasgow.
During this programme we learn the basic principles of the disease, together with important skills absolutely necessary for our Final Project and future careers. This Masters programme has prepared us to start a PhD program and to work as part of the cancer biology field in many enterprises.
Publications and Publicity
Publications and publicity
“Identification of a clinically relevant signature for early progression in KRAS-driven Lung Adenocarcinoma”. Neidler, S., Kruspig, B., Hewitt, K., Monteverde, T., Gyuraszova, K., Braun, A., Clark, W., James, D., Hedley, A., Nieswandt, B., Shanks, E., Dick, C. & D. J. Murphy. 2019. Cancers. 11, 600; doi:10.3390/cancers11050600.
“The A.L.A.N. score identifies prognostic classes in advanced biliary cancer patients receiving first-line chemotherapy”. Massimiliano Salati, Francesco Caputo, David Cunningham, Luigi Marcheselli, Andrea Spallanzani, Margherita Rimini, Fabio Gelsomino, Luca Reggiani-Bonetti, Kalliopi Andrikou, Francesca Rovinelli, Elyzabeth Smyth, Chiara Baratelli, Kyriakos Kouvelakis, Ria Kalaitzaki, Angela Gillbanks, Vasiliki Michalarea, Stefano Cascinu, Chiara Braconi
Journal: European Journal of Cancer (the official journal of EORTC)
The work is a collaboration between the University Hospital in Modena, IT and the Royal Marsden Hospital in London, UK and was co-led by Prof Cascinu and Dr Chiara Braconi, who has recently moved to Glasgow as reader in the Institute of Cancer Sciences and consultant medical oncologist at the Beatson WoSCC. Authors identified a clinical score based on variables routinely assessed in the clinics, to estimate the prognosis of patients with advanced biliary cancers who receive chemotherapy. This is a fast and cost/effective tool that can be easily applied in the clinic to better inform clinical decisions about patients’ treatment management. Funders: NIHR (BRC RMH/ICR) and LILT Modena.
“Changes in the Multidisciplinary Management of Rectal Cancer from 2009 to 2015 and Associated Improvements in Short-Term Outcomes”.
Roxburgh CSD, Strombom P, Lynn P, Cercek A, Gonen M, Smith JJ, Temple LKF, Nash GM, Guillem JG, Paty PB, Shia J, Vakiani E, Yaeger R, Stadler ZK, Segal NH, Reidy D, Varghese A, Wu AJ, Crane CH, Gollub MJ, Saltz LB, Garcia-Aguilar J, Weiser MR.
Colorectal Dis. 2019 May 20. doi: 10.1111/codi.14713.
“Mitochondria and pathogen immunity: from killer to firestarter”.
Riley JS, Tait SW.
EMBO J. 2019 May 17. pii: e102325. doi: 10.15252/embj.2019102325.
“Feasibility and clinical utility of endoscopic ultrasound guided biopsy of pancreatic cancer for next-generation molecular profiling”.
Dreyer SB, Jamieson NB, Evers L, Duthie F, Cooke S, Marshall J, Beraldi D, Knight S, Upstill-Goddard R, Dickson EJ, Carter CR, McKay CJ, Biankin AV, Chang DK.
Chin Clin Oncol. 2019 Apr;8(2):16. doi: 10.21037/cco.2019.04.06.
“Screening by changes in stereotypical behavior during cell motility”. Tweedy L, Witzel P, Heinrich D, Insall RH, Endres RG. Sci Rep. 2019 Jun 19;9(1):8784. doi: 10.1038/s41598-019-45305-w.
“γδ T cells: Pleiotropic immune effectors with therapeutic potential in Cancer”.
Silva-Santos B, Mensurado S, Coffelt SB.
Nat Rev Cancer. 2019 Jun 17. doi: 10.1038/s41568-019-0153-5.
“Is There a Role for Dose Modification of TKI Therapy in CML”? Copland M.
Curr Hematol Malig Rep. 2019 Jun 14. doi: 10.1007/s11899-019-00524-w.
“The Downstaging approach to irresectable oesophageal and gastric cancer: a single centre experience”. Bradley NA, Wilson C, Graham J, Evans J, Fullarton G, Mackay CK, Craig C, McIntosh D, MacDonald A, Grose D, Forshaw M.
J Gastrointest Oncol. 2019 Jun;10(3):499-505. doi: 10.21037/jgo.2019.01.32.
“Use of the Child-Pugh score in anticancer drug dosing decision making: proceed with caution”.
Palmieri C, Macpherson I.
Lancet Oncol. 2019 Jun;20(6):e289. doi: 10.1016/S1470-2045(19)30296-7.
“Different shades of pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma, different paths towards precision therapeutic applications”.
Martens S, Lefesvre P, Nicolle R, Biankin AV, Puleo F, Van Laethem JL, Rooman I.
Ann Oncol. 2019 Jun 4. pii: mdz181. doi: 10.1093/annonc/mdz181.
“Artificial intelligence in digital pathology: A roadmap to routine use in clinical practice”.
Colling R, Pitman H, Oien K, Rajpoot N, Macklin P, Snead D, Sackville T, Verrill C; CM-Path AI in Histopathology Working Group.
J Pathol. 2019 May 29. doi: 10.1002/path.5310.
“AKT/mTORC2 inhibition activates FOXO1 function in CLL cells reducing B cell receptor-mediated survival”. E. Cosimo, A. Tarafdar, M.W. Moles, A.K. Holroyd, M.A. Catherwood, N. Malik, J. Hay, K.M. Dunn, A. Macdonald, S.M. Guichard, D. O’Rourke, M.T. Leach, O.J. Sansom, S.C. Cosulich, A.M. McCaig & A.M. Michie (2019).. Clinical Cancer Res. 25: 1574.
Further coverage was featured in an interview for BBC Radio Scotland Drivetime, and newspaper coverage in The Herald, The Scotsman, Scottish Daily Mail and the i.
“De-escalation of tyrosine kinase inhibitor therapy before complete treatment discontinuation in patients with chronic myeloid leukaemia (DESTINY): a non-randomised, phase 2 trial”. Clark RE, Polydoros F, Apperley JF, Milojkovic D, Rothwell K, Pocock C, Byrne J, de Lavallade H, Osborne W, Robinson L, O'Brien SG, Read L, Foroni L, Copland M. Lancet Haematol. 2019 Jul;6(7):e375-e383
A paper has been accepted for publication from work that Kourosh Hayatigolkhatmi completed when he was a Master’s student at POGLRC. Title; An investigation of targeted inhibition of transcription factor activity with pyrrole imidazole polyamide (PA) in chronic myeloid leukemia (CML) blast crisis cells. It acknowledges Eduardo Gomez-Castaneda and Lorna Jackson as co-authors (both former ICS PhD students) as well as Ya-Ching Hsieh who is currently working with Kristina Kirschner, and Glenn Burley and his team at Strathclyde as part of the wider Glasgow Cancer Centre.
Hayatigolkhatmi, K., Padroni, G., Su, W., Fang, L., Gómez-Castañeda, E., Hsieh, Y.C.,
Jackson, L., Pellicano, F., Burley, G.A., Jørgensen, H.G., Bioorganic & Medicinal Chemistry Letters (2019), doi: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.bmcl.2019.07.049
“Loss of p53 triggers WNT-dependent systemic inflammation to drive breast cancer metastasis”.
Wellenstein MD, Coffelt SB, Duits DEM, van Miltenburg MH, Slagter M, de Rink I, Henneman L, Kas SM, Prekovic S, Hau CS, Vrijland K, Drenth AP, de Korte-Grimmerink R, Schut E, van der Heijden I, Zwart W, Wessels LFA, Schumacher TN, Jonkers J, de Visser KE.
Nature. 2019 Jul 31. doi: 10.1038/s41586-019-1450-6
ICS Social Committee
Events update
It was great to see so many staff and students attend our 5th year anniversary event and to celebrate the submission of the Athena Swan Silver Award application. There were speeches from Andrew Biankin, Chris Halsey and Laura Machesky.
ICS Social Committee dates for your diary:
Friday 16 August – Join us to celebrate the 50th anniversary of Gay Pride and chat about establishing an LGBTQIA+ network at Garscube campus, whilst enjoying a cuppa and some delicious cake in the WWCRC café at 10.30am. All welcome.
Tuesday 19 November – Movember/International Men’s Day – details to follow.
The Social Committee welcome new ideas and suggestions for the events calendar. Events can only run through the support of our ICS colleagues. If you enjoy attending the ICS social events and can spare half an hour or so a few times per year, why not consider joining the committee and help keep our events fun & fresh for all.
cancersci-ins-social@glasgow.ac.uk
Useful Information
Garscube Hosts World-Changing Glasgow Transformation Events
In July, colleagues from the Institute attended World-Changing Glasgow Transformation (WCGT) engagement events, led by Emma Pickard and Jessica Watson from the WCGT team, here on the Garscube Campus. The WCGT Team is working in partnership with staff to improve the staff and student experience at the University of Glasgow.
The events covered some of the key information and exciting projects that the WCGT Team is currently working on with colleagues from across UofG, as well as offering a chance to discuss things that would make a real difference to our day-to-day lives at the University. Attendees also learned about the Change Network which is a growing cross-University group of staff who are helping to embed and sustain change.
All University of Glasgow Staff have the opportunity to join the Change Network so please contact Karen Christoforou if you would like more information on how to join.
If you have any questions about World-Changing Glasgow Transformation, or more detail on what was covered in the engagement session, please email Jessica Watson.
Recruitment Process Review - Project Update from World-Changing Glasgow Transformation
In April, we provided you with a summary of the results from our HR Recruitment Process survey and committed to improving certain elements of recruitment based on your feedback. Today, we have an update on how we are working to shorten the time it takes to recruit, and the next steps, so that you can see how your input is directly driving positive change.
What’s going to be different?
The goals of the project are to:
- Further enhance the “How To” guides and tools that help us embed the change
- Configure, test and implement the new recruitment system
- Investigate the opportunity to automate non-value transactional work
- Provide better visibility so that Hiring Managers can see where their vacancy is in the process
- Provide meaningful reports so that we can identify where we need to focus efforts
- Launch a refreshed communication and training programme
How are we going to design the new ways of working?
The future UofG recruitment process must:
- Be consistentacross all Colleges and University Services
- Reduce timescales and red tape to fill resourcing needs
- Minimise manual processing and data entry, through the exploration of automation
- Manage all processes and approvals via CoreHR
- Simplify processes for both new and replacement posts
- Set clear timescalesexpectations for service delivery
What’s happening next?
We are working with Colleges and University Services to create an easier way to recruit that removes as many layers of approval as possible and be viewed on CoreHR. Our next update will be in August with visuals to show what this will look and feel like for the Hiring Manager, candidate and staff supporting the recruitment process.
In the meantime, please do not hesitate to contact Craig Chapman-Smith with any questions.
Want to learn a little bit more about Garscube Estate? Take a look at this: A Short History of Garscube Estate
(Compiled by George MB Brady BSc, CEng, MICE, MIHTE)
https://www.yumpu.com/en/document/view/62746064/garscube-estate
Athena SWAN News
Institute of Cancer Sciences Athena SWAN News
Athena SWAN Silver submission
After lots of hard work our ICS Silver Award application went in on Tuesday 30th April. Thanks especially to our V.O.I.C.E. Committee (formerly SAT - pictured) but also everyone in ICS who participated in the process. The 94% return rate for our staff survey and 77% for the student survey was one of the enormous strengths of the application and demonstrated a real enthusiasm and commitment to promoting equality, diversity and inclusion amongst all the ICS staff and students.
We were delighted to celebrate the submission alongside the 5-year anniversary for WWCRC on the 1st May – we have come a long way in 5 years!
The VOICE Committee:
As mentioned in the last newsletter, the overall aim of our committee is to help ICS to represent a world-class working environment which values team science, work-life balance, well-being and maximising the potential of all staff regardless of background or job family.
We hope you agree that this is a good aspiration! We look forward to working with all staff and students to achieve this over the coming years. One of our key initiatives to support this was to expand the Athena SWAN committee to create a new committee called the VOICE (Visibility, Opportunity, Inclusion, Career development and Equality). We had our first meeting in June 2019 and already have several new members. Please get in touch (chris.halsey@glasgow.ac.uk) if you would like to join us – all welcome
Get in touch
Everyone is encouraged to participate in building a positive working culture in ICS. If you have any suggestions or want to flag up any issues we now have a dedicated AthenaSWAN/VOICE mailbox;
cancersci-ins-wwcrc-ics-voice@glasgow.ac.uk (ICS VOICE)
Alternatively, there is a pigeon hole in WWCRC so please address any mail to “The AS Mailbox, WWCRC”
Confidentiality will be ensured by either route.
If your enquiry is of a more general Human resources nature please note that College HR have recently set up an HR enquiries inbox for all general HR queries (e.g. around annual leave queries, simple policy enquiries, wanting to update personal details etc.)
mvls-hr-enquiries@glasgow.ac.uk
Get to know your colleagues
We are delighted to announce the launch of the WWCRC who’s who guide – containing pictures of staff and students on all floors as well as telephone numbers and twitter addresses. We hope that will help everyone get to know each other better and keep in touch. The link is;
http://intranet.tcrc.gla.ac.uk/
If you would like to add or update any details/photos then please contact Susanne - Susanne.Hendry@glasgow.ac.uk
LGBTQIA+ network
We are delighted to announce the inaugural Garscube LGBTQIA+ coffee hour. All welcome
Research Culture is Changing!
The University is promoting a positive research culture and backing this up with changes to academic promotion criteria, new awards and incentive schemes. If you want to find out more there is a helpful video:
https://www.gla.ac.uk/myglasgow/ris/researchculture/
Make the most of your 2019 P&DR
P&DR can sometime seem like a lot of form filling, but it is actually meant to be a useful opportunity to reflect on your achievements and set motivating objectives for the year ahead. The ICS-SAT has produced a short information leaflet on getting the most out of P&DR – it can be downloaded here…
https://www.gla.ac.uk/media/Media_627362_smxx.pdf
New Pre-submission Grant Review Support Scheme
To help support grant applications, the ICS is rolling out a pre-submission grant review scheme - this has been developed by Karen Keeshan, Stephen Tait together with others in the ICS.
The details of this scheme have been emailed to recently. In short, it will require notification to the research office of intent to submit a grant at least 2 months prior to deadline and mandatory peer review of a draft application by two colleagues, minimum 4 weeks prior to the grant deadline. It is expected that reviewers will be arranged by the applicant - however Karen and Stephen, together with the research office, will help with reviewer assignment wherever needed.
The scheme is primarily aimed at project/programme type funding (see doc for details), covering multiple stages where relevant (e.g. preliminary, full application). This will be implemented for grants with a submission deadline October 2019 onwards.
We really hope that everyone engages with this, it is put in place to help maximise the chance of grant success rate. Please get in touch with Karen and Stephen regarding questions or suggestions for improvement. Together with the Research Office, they will provide oversight of the scheme and monitor its (hopefully positive) impact on grant funding success.
Coming Soon – ICS Wellbeing week
We are delighted to announce that we will be holding the first ever ICS Wellbeing week after the summer holidays – watch out for more details in the next few weeks.