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Sheffield Cancer Research Centre Newsletter
Issue 4 – September 2013
Welcome to the SCRC Newsletter
The newsletter is for sharing information on activities and developments. There are sections on news;
awards, achievements; and events. We hope you find the newsletter informative and useful. If you have
any information or news you would like to share with colleagues in the Centre then please contact
Lance Burn ([email protected]) or Deborah Reid ([email protected])
Deadlines
Children’s projects deadline – Friday 6th September 2013
SCRC Studentships – Project Submissions –Deadline extended to Monday 9th September 2013
http://www.sheffield.ac.uk/sheffield-cancer-research-centre/studentships-jobs/project-call
News
Charities Join Forces to Fund Sheffield Brain Tumour Project
YORKSHIRE Cancer Research has joined forces with Weston Park Hospital Cancer Charity, Sheffield,
to fund a three-year investigation into the treatment of brain tumours. Brain cancer is one of the
biggest killers of people aged under 40 in the UK and the brain is the most common place for solid
tumours to occur in children. Patients with the most aggressive, fastest growing type of brain tumour
called glioblastoma have an average survival of just over a year. Despite this, less than 1% of national
cancer funding is awarded to brain tumour research and current treatment strategies remain ineffective.
The two charities have awarded Dr Spencer Collis and colleagues at the University of Sheffield and
Royal Hallamshire Hospital a grant of £218,671 to investigate ways to improve treatments that are
already in use.
Dr Spencer Collis
Dr Collis, from the University of Sheffield's Department of Oncology, said: “As chemotherapy works by
damaging a cell’s DNA, this study aims to assess whether a specific mechanism used by brain tumour
cells to protect their DNA can be inactivated through the use of novel drugs. This could improve the
effectiveness of current chemotherapeutic treatments, especially as normal brain tissue should
hopefully not be affected by these drugs.”
Kathryn Scott, Head of Research Funding at Yorkshire Cancer Research, said: “This project is a
fantastic example of charities working together to advance our knowledge of cancer. Cancer tends to
be a disease of old age, but brain tumours often hit people in the prime of their life so it is incredibly
important that we fund more research in this area.”
Tina Harrison, Acting Deputy Director at Weston Park Hospital Cancer Charity, added: “Statistics show
that by 2020, 1 in 2 people will be directly affected by cancer, so we are pleased to be working with
Yorkshire Cancer Research to fund this crucial research into brain cancer.
“If together we are able to help lead the way to improving the low survival rates associated with brain
cancer, it can only be a positive thing and something that will ultimately help to keep more families in
our area together for longer.”
Yorkshire team offers hope in fight against asbestos cancer.
World-leading specialists in Yorkshire have launched a ground-breaking trial harnessing a common
virus to target an incurable cancer which claims the lives of thousands of people in the UK every year.
Experts in Sheffield are among only a handful of investigators at centres around the globe examining
state-of-the-art viral treatments which could offer hope to patients diagnosed in the future with the
deadly asbestos-related condition mesothelioma. Three patients have so far been given infusions of the
herpes simplex virus engineered in the laboratory to kill tumours and leave normal cells unharmed.
Once checks to test its safety have been completed, experts hope to expand the programme to find out
if the unique approach can extend the lives of patients or even cure the disease. Latest figures show
more than 2,300 people die from the condition each year in the UK, usually many decades after they
were exposed to asbestos. Average life expectancy is only nine months following diagnosis and
symptoms are often severe. It is estimated another 70,000 people in the UK will develop mesothelioma
in coming decades. Viral treatments are among a new generation of potential therapies being explored
to treat a range of cancers.
Chief investigator Prof Penella Woll, from the Sheffield Experimental Cancer Medical Centre at
Weston Park Hospital, said: “We are really desperate for new treatments for mesothelioma. For us it is
terrifically exciting and the patients are very engaged in using this to target tumours rather than the
blunderbuss approach of chemotherapy. This is something that is unique. If it does what we hope, then
I think it could be a major step forward. For those patients who can get really severe symptoms the
prospect of improving their quality of life will also be really important.”
Professor Penella Woll
Co-investigator John Edwards, an internationally-recognised expert on mesothelioma and thoracic
surgeon at the Northern General Hospital in Sheffield, said only a “select band” of research teams were
looking at the approach around the world. “It’s been a big effort and hence for Sheffield to join the likes
of the other centres world famous for cancer research in this work is a real landmark,” he said. “The
beauty of this treatment it seems is that it is very well tolerated. We don’t know yet if it works but it
seems suitable also for those who cannot tolerate chemotherapy as it doesn’t have the toxicity.”
Around 100 patients with the condition are treated in Sheffield each year, mainly people who have
worked in heavy industries around South Yorkshire and the north Midlands.
Mr John Edwards
“It’s a devastating disease – completely incurable, resistant to most treatments and it’s progressive,”
Me Edwards added. “It’s frequently extremely painful and it’s something that is not the fault of those
that get it. Treatments don’t cure the disease and there is an urgent need for research to develop better
therapies. The ultimate end point is to improve length of life as well as quality of life and find something
that makes an incurable disease a curable disease.”
The initial trial involves 12 patients to test the safety of the therapy in different doses. Researchers want
to find out too if the virus is reproducing in cancer cells and killing them. Patients are also being
scanned to see what impact the therapy has on tumours.
The virus has been developed by biotechnology firm Virttu Biologics and has already been used in
trials on patients in the United States with brain and liver cancers, as well as in children with cancer.
Its chief executive officer Steven Powell said: “This study is an important step in our efforts to both
develop a new treatment option for mesothelioma and demonstrate the safety of regional delivery of
oncolytic viruses. We are delighted that the first patients have been treated successfully and we are
looking forward to future data as the study continues.”
Tri-Centre Networking Event: Translational cancer research – from lab to clinic
On Friday 5 July 2013 the CRUK Centres in Sheffield and Leeds and the Experimental Cancer
Medicine Centres (ECMC) in Sheffield, Leeds and Leicester, for the first time, brought together nearly
100 clinicians and scientists for a networking workshop on how to translate cancer research from the
lab to the clinic.
Event organiser Professor Penella Woll said, “The day was an opportunity for our top researchers to
show case their world class research and discuss with representatives of the CRUK Drug Development
Office and the pharmaceutical industry how this process can be accelerated.
Through their ECMCs each centre has translated basic scientific research from the laboratory bench to
the hospital clinic, bringing new treatments to patients in their area and beyond.”
Professor Penella Woll
Delegates
Professor Rob Coleman, Director of the Sheffield Centre, described how Sheffield had contributed to
the development and worldwide use of the RANKL inhibitor, denosumab in breast and prostate cancers
that have, or are likely to, metastasise to the bone.
Professor Alan Anthoney showcased Leeds’s recently completed early phase clinical trial of an aurora
kinase inhibitor to treat patients with solid tumours unresponsive to standard treatments that had been
carried out as part of CRUK’s Clinical Development Partnership with GlaxoSmithKline.
The Leicester ‘case study’ from Professor Will Steward told the story of a compound called, curcumin
which comes from turmeric, the yellow spice used in Asian cooking. Professor Steward said
“Curcumin, as well as entering clinical trials to explore its benefit in preventing cancer development,
has been shown in the laboratory to increase the effectiveness of some chemotherapy drugs in
advanced diseases and a trial is now underway in Leicester to test this.”
Left to right: Will Steward, Rob Coleman, Alan Anthoney
Scientists and Clinicians were also educated in the role of the CRUK Drug Development Office headed
up by Dr Nigel Blackburn. Dr Blackburn described the help available to researchers from CRUK to
develop cancer chemotherapy drugs.
Industry collaborators also took part in the networking event with Dr Val Baker and Dr Jill Walker
discussing how AstraZeneca was partnering with universities to develop new anti-cancer drugs and
biomarkers of cancer progression or successful treatment. Dr Baker said that “Pharma-Academic
oncology clinical partnerships are really a win-win-win situation, bringing benefits not only to the
company and academic group, but most importantly to patients by providing access to new therapies at
an earlier timescale”.
Left to right: Jill Walker, Nigel Blackburn, Val Baker
Highlights from the early afternoon session included how Leicester has set up a phase 1 trials unit. Dr
Sarah Brown from the Leeds CTRU described how they could help to set up and run early phase
clinical trials based on their experience as the national co-ordinating centre for the Myeloma UK Clinical
Trial Network. The patients’ perspective and the patients’ potential to advise clinicians on conducting
early phase cancer trials was passionately communicated by Mr Dave Ardron.
Left to right: Anne Thomas, Sarah Brown, Dave Ardron
The final session examined how different cancer biomarkers were being developed at the three
centres. Some fabulous examples of where the three Centres’ researchers were already working
together to pool expertise and push the use of newly discovered biomarkers into routine clinical
practice were described by Naveen Vasudev, Jacqui Shaw and Martyn Paley.
Event organiser Rob Coleman commented “Networking events like this allow CRUK Centres to come
together and achieve a critical mass of expertise in highly specialised and focused areas of research –
today has made a real impact on our collective ambition to treat cancer patients with better drugs and
new treatment regimes.”
Networking in the Sun
The weather on the day was a scorcher and all were delighted to finish the day networking on the patio
with ice lollies and ice cream.
It is hoped that in the future this will develop into an annual networking event with a rotating host
centre.
Head and Neck Cancer Patients Welcomed into Centre
On the 19th July, members of the Sheffield Head and Neck Cancer support group visited the School of
Dentistry to find out more about the Centre’s research. They heard presentations from leading
researchers in head and neck cancer and then toured the laboratories to see the work at first-hand.
Entertaining the ladies at Meadowhall
On 4th July, ‘Ladies Night’ drew eager customers to Meadowhall looking for a bit of pampering as well a
chance to shop. In support of Race For Life, Centre researcher Prem Yugandhar was on hand to speak
shoppers about his research and to provide health information.
Diary Dates
Seminar Series – for information, please see: http://www.shef.ac.uk/sheffield-cancer-researchcentre/news-and-events/seminar-series
13th September 2013 - Sheffield Neuro-Oncology Workshop - 13:00 - 17:00 (lunch will be provided) Sheffield Institute for Translational Neuroscience, 385A Glossop Road, S10 2HQ
The CR-UK/YCR Sheffield Cancer Research Centre is currently defining a neuro-oncology research
strategy and sees this as an important future strategic growth area. As part of our future strategy and
within our CR-UK Centre application and YCR Endowment spending plans we have proposed:
1. A potential senior academic appointment in neuro-oncology
2. A potential 3 year post-doctoral fellowship in neuro-oncology
3. 2 research PAs in neuro-oncology
4. Fully-funded biobanking of brain tumours, body fluids and patient data
5. Pump-prime funding opportunities
6. Well-funded clinical and non-clinical PhD studentships
7. Funding for ACF, Academic F2 and BMedSci projects
8. CR-UK Strategic Funding call available from September 2014
You can register for this event at: (http://www.sheffield.ac.uk/sheffield-cancer-researchcentre/workshops/neuro-oncology)
If you have any thoughts or comments to make on this subject please get in touch with Lance Burn
([email protected]) before the event so that your ideas can be incorporated.
2nd October 2013 – Extraordinary Seminar by Dr James Bradford – fellowship for Cancer Centre
bioinformatician. To be held at 1pm, Lecture Theatre 3 of the Medical School.
8th October 2013 – Extraordinary Seminar by Dr Sebastien Serres – to be held at 1pm, Lecture Theatre
3 of the Medical School.
16th October 2013 – Extraordinary Seminar by Dr Vladimir Teif from BioQuant & German Cancer
Research Cente, Neuenheimer Feld, Germany – Interplay between nucleosome repositioning, DNA
methylation and transcription factor rearrangement during stem cell development’ to be held at 1pm,
Lecture Theatre 3 of the Medical School.
11th October 2013 - SCRC - INSIGNEO Workshop – This workshop, which is run jointly between
Insigneo and CR-UK/YCR Sheffield Cancer Research Centre, is to be held at The Edge Conference
Centre, Sheffield from 9.00am to 16.20pm. Details can be found at: http://www.shef.ac.uk/sheffieldcancer-research-centre/workshops.
In silico modelling has enormous potential in several aspects of cancer research, including
understanding the development of the disease and optimising its treatment. Data/areas of interest
could include molecules through organelles, cells, tissues, organs, individuals to populations. Although
they currently have relatively few researchers working in this field in Sheffield, it is an area that is
obviously ripe for development, and the Insigneo Institute and the CR-UK/YCR Sheffield Cancer
Research Centre are particularly well placed to lead this.
The primary aim of this event is to kick-start collaborations between cancer biologists/clinicians and
those working in the computational domain using methods that could be applied to cancer. External
keynote speakers include Professor Helen Byrne from the University of Oxford and Georgios
Stamatakos from ICCS in Athens.
They are looking for:
• Clinicians and Scientists who are working with data sets that may be applicable to in silico
modelling. Presentations should focus on the data available and describing the issues of
complexity.
• Academics who are working with tools or models currently applied in other fields that COULD be
applied to cancer who would be interested in giving a brief 10 minute presentation of their work to a
mixed audience.
• Anyone who may already be applying their methods in the cancer research domain. Presentations
should focus on methodology, rather than specific results, and should be accessible to a non
specialist audience.
If you are interested there is a 10 minute TED Lecture by Professor Marco Viceconti, Director of
Insigneo, on the Virtual Physiological Human http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aZyEPXYmZ-8.
As well as oral presentations, there will also be opportunities for networking, displaying posters relating
to your research, and of course, lunch will be provided!
28th February 2014 – Annual Cancer Research Forum – please save the date, details to follow.
Funding Opportunities
Invitation to Bid - 2013 Grant Funding Round, Weston Park Hospital Cancer Charity. – Deadline 20th
September 2013.
The Cancer Charity raises funds to support cancer research and improve cancer treatments and cancer
care. These funds are allocated through a grant application process.
Areas of work
Applications are invited to fulfil any of the following three areas of work:
1. Cancer Research Projects
2. Cancer Treatments
3. Cancer Care
Application Procedure
This will be the only Grant round this year. The maximum amount that will be considered for any
individual application will be £100,000. Applications for Restricted Funds will be dictated by the
amounts in those funds. Funding will be available to drawdown 1 January 2014. Please note that you
need to make your application now for that funding.
All applications should be submitted electronically on the Large Grant Programme Forms (LGF1).
Please email your request for the form to [email protected], as it is important that the latest
version of the form is used. Applications must be completed in Microsoft, and not on Apple Mac, due to
formatting problems with the Cancer Charity software. Completed Forms LGF1 should then be emailed
back to Anne Price.
The Cancer Charity Trustees decision on funding will be made in December 2013.
All applications will be evaluated in full and this process will involve external and internal peer reviews.
Applications should be time limited to three years, other than in exceptional circumstances. Please give
consideration to both the revenue implications of the project for Weston Park Hospital and to the
sources of funding for projects which are likely to continue once the Cancer Charity funding has
ceased. In exceptional circumstances, applications for a further follow-up grant may be considered.
Evaluation Standards
As a major funding body Weston Park Hospital Cancer Charity need to ensure the highest standards of
assessment of applications and be equally accountable to their supporters for the expenditure of their
gifts and donations.
Weston park Hospital Cancer Charity evaluation process includes both external and internal peer
review of all applications and assessment by the Cancer Charity Advisory Panel comprising clinicians,
WPHCC Trustees and interested lay people, as well as submission to Hospital Management.
You may also be invited to answer questions on your application from the Cancer Charity Advisory
Panel. If this is the case you will be given sight of the Peer Reviewers’ comments and advised of the
meeting date so that you can prepare in advance
Applications need to have a clinical relevance and at least one WPH/Clinical Oncology co-applicant.
Completed applications need to be emailed Anne Price, Administrator, Weston Park Hospital Cancer
Charity [email protected] by the 20 September 2013.
BACR/CRUK Student Awards
British Association for Cancer Research, GB
These enable students to attend scientific meetings in cancer research. Up to £1,000 is available for
overseas meetings and up to £500 for meetings in the UK.
Award amount max: £1,000 Closing date: 31 Oct 13
http://www.bacr.org.uk/fellowships-and-bursaries/student-awards/
Job Opportunities
Clinician Scientist Fellowship and Research Bursaries for Clinicians
CRUK is currently accepting applications for its Clinician Scientist Fellowships. These are four-year
postdoctoral fellowships available to clinicians and other health professionals who have completed a
higher research degree and are committed to combining research with their clinical practice. These
awards will enable successful fellows to make the transition from doctoral research training to an
independent clinical academic post. The fellowship provides funding for running expenses, the salary of
the applicant, and the salary for a research technician or graduate research assistant. The deadline
date for applications is 29th November 2013, and the interviews will be held in London on 15th and
16th May 2014. For further information and details of how to apply, please see our website:
www.cancerresearchuk.org/clinicalcareers - www.cancerresearchuk.org/science/funding/find-grant/allfunding-schemes/clinician-scientist-fellowship. For any queries please contact: Dr Paul Wilcock [email protected] - 020 3469 8082.
CRUK are also accepting applications for their Research Bursaries. These provide short-term support
for clinicians or those in professions allied to medicine to gain experience of research prior to a higher
research degree (PhD/MD). The application deadline is 11th September 2013 and the Committee
meeting will be held in November 2013. For more information and details of how to apply please go to:
http://www.cancerresearchuk.org/research-bursaries-for-clinicians-and-professions-allied-to-medicine
For any queries please contact: Dr Paul Wilcock - [email protected] - 020 3469 8082.