| Dear Voornaam, Welcome to your April newsletter. I hope you and your families are all doing well during this challenging time. In a matter of weeks, universities have closed, laboratories have wound down their activities, experiments have stopped. Yet despite these difficulties, we've seen a surge of activity among our research community to help tackle COVID-19. Beyond its impact on researchers and people with cancer, COVID-19 is having an unprecedented financial effect on CRUK and we expect our fundraising income to fall by at least 20-25% in the next financial year as a direct result of this pandemic - a reduction of around 120m. We're reducing our costs as much as possible. Our Executive Board has taken a 20% pay cut, were entering consultation with staff to apply a similar reduction to their salaries and its likely that well have to make more difficult decisions over the coming weeks and months.
Unfortunately, these steps are not enough for us to confidently protect our future. With great regret, weve also had to take immediate action to reduce our spending on research funding. Together with our Chief Scientist, Professor Karen Vousden, and our Chief Clinician, Professor Charles Swanton, I've written an open letter to cancer researchers about this crisis.
We know these funding cuts will be devastating to the work of our scientists and clinicians, and we don't do this lightly. We have worked to ensure the cuts are limited and give our researchers flexibility in how to make them.
Cancer doesnt go away during or after COVID-19, and were incredibly proud of our community of researchers who have been very quick to respond to the crisis, using their kit, skills and talent to support the NHS and the COVID-19 response. Our mission is so important, and by helping the global effort of tackling COVID-19, we hope we can get back to beating cancer as soon as possible.
Kind regards, Iain Foulkes Executive Director, Research & Innovation Cancer Research UK |
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FUNDING UPDATE FOR GRANT APPLICANTS AND GRANTHOLDERS We have made the difficult decision to defer all our panels and committees due to the current COVID-19 situation. All applications submitted for the current funding round will be considered in the autumn. Where an application has been made for the renewal of an existing grant, bridge-funding will be provided.
Where there are additional considerations that require discussion, a member of the CRUK research team will be in touch with the relevant contact if they havent done so already.
We plan to open applications for the autumn funding round as normal, but this is a rapidly developing situation and we will communicate any changes as soon as we can. |
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| SUPPORTING EARLY-PHASE COVID-19 CLINICAL RESEARCH As part of CRUK's contribution to the COVID-19 effort, we are in a position to offer the support of our in-house infrastructure to deliver your early-phase clinical trials via the expertise within our Centre for Drug Development. If you are considering conducting COVID-19 clinical research and would like to collaborate with our Centre for Drug Development, please email drugdev@cancer.org.uk. |
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| | RESOURCE TO AID COVID-19 RESEARCH The UKCRC Tissue Directory and Coordination Centre (TDCC) is coordinating efforts to help find human tissue for COVID-19 research. The demand will be high for accessing samples and knowing which biobanks are operational during this time.
If you are a researcher in need of human tissue samples, or work at a tissue bank who can collect samples, please log your capabilities or needs on the UKCRC TDCC webpage. |
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WHOLE-GENOME DOUBLING PROMOTES CANCER CELL SURVIVAL Scientists working on TRACERx, our 14m project to understand lung cancer evolution, reveal that cancer cells duplicate their genome as a survival mechanism.
Dr Nicky McGranahan (University College London) explains: "When we look across tumours, and lung cancers in particular, we see that many of them have doubled their genome at some point in their evolutionary history. Almost every chromosome appears to have been duplicated so there is far more DNA than in a normal cell."
The team created a computer model to recreate the conditions of caner evolution. Their results showed that natural selection favoured whole-genome doubling and the additional copy of the genome could counteract the negative effects of DNA errors from cell division, promoting cell survival. |
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| A NETWORK FOR INTERPRETING GENOMIC CANCER DATA Genomic analysis has become increasingly valuable in cancer care. Accurate interpretation of the risk associated with specific genetic variants is critical to improving patient outcomes. The Cancer Variant Interpretation Group UK (CanVIG-UK) is a multidisciplinary network of scientists and genetic clinicians who came together in 2017, supported by our Catalyst Award (now merged with the Accelerator Awards). The network now comprises more than 100 representatives from the 25 regional NHS molecular diagnostic laboratories of the UK and Ireland.
In a new article published in the Journal of Medical Genetics, CanVIG-UK summarise the group's activities and achievements to date which includes a data sharing platform. |
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| | THE EVOLUTIONARY DYNAMICS OF CLONAL HAEMATOPOIESIS Researchers at our Cambridge Centre have developed a method of estimating which mutations in healthy tissues could cause them to grow rapidly, posing the greatest risk of progressing into cancer.
Using a quantitative framework, the team estimated the accumulation of mutations in cells in blood and the growth potential of specific mutations at a single nucleotide resolution from sequencing data derived from nearly 50,000 healthy individuals. This enabled them to determine the most pathogenic mutations in blood and the proportion of potential high-risk mutation within a gene.
Combining this framework with studies that track individuals over time will shed light on how mutations drive the development of cancer and will help accelerate the development of risk predictors. |
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RESEARCHERS ADOPT A TRANSLATIONAL MINDSET What are the routes to translating research? Last month, we hosted a meeting for all CRUK-funded early-to-mid-career fellows, discussing the importance of translation, the different approaches of translating research and how best to work with industry to achieve this. The event, chaired by Karen Noble (CRUK Head of Research Careers), Tony Hickson (CRUK Chief Business Officer) and Charles Swanton (CRUK Chief Clinician), provided the attendees with the opportunities to hear and learn from cancer scientists, industry experts and early-career researcher entrepreneurs. |
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| UNIVERSITY SPIN-OUT FOUNDERS SHARE THEIR STORY Spin-out companies created from university research can bring significant benefits to entrepreneurial academics and to the university. Our Ximbio team spoke to the founders of Vertebrate Antibodies Limited, a spin-out from the University of Aberdeen to hear their views on the benefits and challenges of developing a spin-out company from university research and whether they miss the world of academia. |
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GRAND CHALLENGE CO-I RECEIVES AWARD FOR ENTREPRENEURSHIP Grand Challenge Co-Investigator Ed Boyden (Massachusetts Institute of Technology) has been awarded the 2020 Wilhelm Exner Medal by the Austrian Association of Entrepreneurs. Launched in 1921, this prestigious award recognises scientists, inventors and designers whose contributions have had an exceptional impact. Ed's discoveries, particularly in the fields of optogenetics and expansion microscopy, have opened-up exciting new avenues in industry. Ed brings his expertise in expansion microscopy to the Grand Challenge-funded IMAXT team. Led by Greg Hannon (CRUK Cambridge Institute), the team is building 3D tumours which can be studied using virtual reality. |
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| SUPPORTING THE TRANSLATION OF YOUR RESEARCH Our Opportunity Sourcing Team (OST) is your point of contact when you need help in translating CRUK-funded research for patient benefit. We are here to assist you with advice and support around translation, including intellectual property (IP) issues. If you are planning to submit any publications whilst working from home, we would be happy to review these for potential IP protection or translational opportunities. Please get in contact for further information and to talk to the right person in our OST team. |
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| | IDENTIFYING PROSTATE CANCER FINGERPRINT IN BLOOD Researchers at the UCL Cancer Institute have developed a test that enables the identification of prostate cancer DNA in blood plasma.
Published in The Journal of Clinical Investigation, their research used next generation sequencing to determine the methylation profile of circulating tumour DNA. The discovery of distinct 'fingerprints' specific for prostate cancer in blood samples could enable doctors to monitor cancer progression and inform treatment selection.
Professor Gert Attard comments: "We are now testing our new technique in trial patients to see if it can complement or substitute the traditional serum prostate specific antigen (PSA) test for diagnosis, risk assignment and monitoring how well a treatment is working." |
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PEZCOLLER-EACR AWARD GOES TO NITZAN ROSENFELD Nitzan Rosenfeld, Group Leader at the CRUK Cambridge Institute, has been awarded the 2020 Pezcoller Foundation-EACR Cancer Researcher Award. The award celebrates researchers with less than 15 years of postdoctoral experience who have demonstrated academic excellence and achievement in cancer research.
Nitzan is a renowned expert in liquid biopsy and translational cancer research. His group focuses on tracking tumour evolution non-invasively through circulating tumour DNA collected in blood samples. In 2014, he co-founded Inivata, a cancer genomics company that is unlocking the potential for liquid biopsies to transform patient care. The company's innovative InVision platform is used widely for cancer research and clinical diagnostics. |
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| 5 CRUK SCIENTISTS FEATURED IN GLOBAL SHAKERS LIST Global Shakers, a platform that highlights game-changers in their fields from around the world, has included 5 CRUK-funded researchers in its list of 15 Shakers in the Fight to Cure Cancer: Rebecca Fitzgerald (University of Cambridge), CRUK Cambridge Centre Early Detection Programme co-lead Ruth Langley (University College London), Add-Aspirin trial lead Serena Nik-Zainal (Wellcome Sanger Institute), CRUK Advanced Clinical Scientist Matthew Meyerson (Dana-Farber Cancer Institute), CRUK Grand Challenge OPTIMISTICC team Principal Investigator Billy Boyle (Owlstone Medical), a long-time CRUK partner and panellist on our Pioneer Award Committee, also features on the list. We're delighted to see these members of our scientific community celebrated for their exceptional contributions to cancer research. |
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