| Dear Voornaam, Welcome to your May newsletter. To celebrate International Clinical Trials Day later this month, we’re holding a webinar to explore some of the positive lessons learned from cancer clinical trials delivery during COVID-19. With a brilliant line-up of speakers from our clinical research nurse and trials community, the session will capture the innovations that will further shape the future of cancer clinical trial delivery and optimise care for people with cancer.
In other news, we've decided to sell the British Journal of Cancer (BJC) to our publishing partner, Springer Nature, while keeping an ongoing collaboration in place. The sale will not only release funds for Cancer Research UK (CRUK)'s vital research activities, a major consideration in the current climate, but as part of a larger publishing group, the BJC will be in a better position to grow and respond to changes in the publishing world. Through the affiliation, there will be little change for the research community, and we’ll continue to benefit from the international scientific reach and impact it brings us and our funded researchers. Finally, a big congratulations to the CRUK Cambridge Institute's recent PhD students: Sigourney Bell (co-founder of Black in Cancer), Marcel Gehrung (CEO of Cyted Ltd) and Jonathan C. M. Wan (academic physician at Guy's and St Thomas' Hospitals and Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Centre), who feature in this year's Forbes Under 30 for their excellence in science and healthcare in Europe. I’m inspired by your ground-breaking work, and I look forward to many more achievements from our network of young people in the future.
Kind regards, Iain Foulkes Executive Director, Research & Innovation Cancer Research UK |
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 DIGGING FOR EARLY DETECTION SUCCESS IN OUR SANDPIT WORKSHOPS Together with Pancreatic Cancer UK and the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council, we’re funding 5 new research projects to drive forward the earlier detection of pancreatic cancer. The projects were co-created and funded during a sandpit-style workshop, which we held online last year. Researchers spent 3 days in virtual activities, embracing creativity and honing their ideas.
We asked a robotic engineer, a biologist, a chemist and a research funder what it was like to take part. |
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|  CAN WE CREATE A CERVICAL CANCER-FREE FUTURE? The World Health Organization plans to create a 'cervical cancer-free future'. If successful, cervical cancer will become the first cancer to be eliminated on this scale. Currently, someone in the world dies from this disease every 2 minutes. But why cervical cancer in particular? And how do we achieve this goal? Professor Peter Sasieni talks about the reason behind the plan and the commitment and innovation needed to make this important milestone a reality. |
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| | CHANGES IN SCOPE FOR PREVENTION AND POPULATION RESEARCH FUNDING Our prevention and population awards now have a more holistic remit. We’re now accepting innovative applications on classical, clinical and molecular epidemiological approaches to increase understanding of risk and disease aetiology. We also welcome applications for exploratory and confirmatory clinical trials seeking to test the efficacy and safety of preventative approaches (including behavioural, pharmacologic, immunologic and nutritional interventions). Policy-focused research on primary preventions including tobacco, obesity and physical activity are also now within scope. There are two upcoming funding deadlines: 22 July – Prevention and Population Research Project Awards 23 September – Prevention and Population Research Programme Awards |
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 WEBINAR: THE FUTURE OF FUNCTIONAL GENOMICS Last chance to register for 'The Future of Functional Genomics' webinar on 11 May at 1–3pm BST. Learn about new technologies in functional genomics, how they could accelerate progress in cancer research and how you can access the Functional Genomics Centre to advance your work. Hear from our expert speakers: Mathew Garnett (Wellcome Sanger Institute), Saverio Tardito (CRUK Beatson Institute), Greg Hannon (CRUK Cambridge Institute), Michelle Garrett (University of Kent) and Rachel Grimley (CRUK Therapeutic Discovery Labs). |
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|  HARNESSING THE IMMUNE SYSTEM AGAINST CANCER BY TARGETING CD25 For years, CD25 was written off as a cancer drug target. But then Sergio Quezada's team, together with Karl Peggs from University College London, discovered a new way to target the receptor. Sergio spoke to us about how he collaborated with CRUK and industry to develop an anti-CD25 antibody and progress this major cancer immunotherapy breakthrough. |
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| | THE MICROBIOME AND ASPIRIN’S POTENTIAL IN PERSONALISED PREVENTION New findings from the OPTIMISTICC Cancer Grand Challenges team reveal aspirin’s antibacterial activity against Fusobacterium nucleatum, an oncomicrobe known to drive colorectal cancer (CRC). Caitlin Brennan, postdoctoral fellow at the Harvard TH Chan School of Public Health, talks about how the team’s findings build on a contentious history of aspirin’s association with CRC and contribute to understanding the disease. |
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 APPROACH YOUR RESEARCH LIKE AN ENTREPRENEUR IN THE ONCOSTARS ACTION PROGRAMME If you have a research idea or start-up that could diagnose, treat or prevent cancer, applications are open for our OncoStars Action programme with Panacea Stars. It's a programme that will inspire you to think about your research differently, enabling you to approach your work with an entrepreneurial mindset and support you to commercially develop your ideas to benefit people with cancer. You'll receive entrepreneurial training, access to CRUK's and Panacea Stars' professional networks and mentoring from industry experts. Applications close on 21 May. |
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|  PODCAST: TRANSLATING YOUR TECH TO BENEFIT PEOPLE WITH CANCER The Cancer Tech Accelerator is the latest addition to our entrepreneurial programme. It’s designed to equip you with the entrepreneurial and technical skills required to translate your innovations in diagnostics, data, medtech or AI into a start-up that will advance the early detection, diagnosis, monitoring or treatment of cancer.
On the Cancer Tech Accelerator podcast, CRUK’s Matthew Burney and Joseph Day talk about the Accelerator and how tech-based and data-driven innovations might detect cancer earlier and inform diagnosis and treatment decisions. |
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| | CRUK CLINICAL TRIAL FELLOWSHIPS OPEN Following a pause last year due to COVID-19, our Clinical Trial Fellowship scheme is now open for submissions until 2 September. If you’re a clinician with an interest in clinical trials and would benefit from further training with a Clinical Trials Unit, you can apply for up to £50,000 per year for up to 3 years.
Eligibility: - You should be clinically trained, have completed your foundation programme and be within your speciality and run-through training period.
- Applications should be made in collaboration with a UKCRC registered Clinical Trials Unit.
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 WEBINAR: LESSONS FROM COVID-19 ON THE DELIVERY OF CANCER CLINICAL TRIALS During the COVID-19 pandemic, clinical research nurses and delivery teams nationwide have shown unwavering resilience, adapting how they deliver clinical trials to ensure their patients’ safety. We now have an opportunity to capture lessons from this period. Join us on International Clinical Trials Day (20 May) for a webinar to explore the positive lessons we’ve learned from the last year and discover how these insights can be applied to improve cancer trial delivery in future. |
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|  FREE COURSE ON TARGETED CANCER TREATMENTS Do you work with patients on clinical cancer trials and want to gain a deeper understanding of how targeted treatments work? Join our free online course, ‘Demystifying Targeted Cancer Treatments’, to learn how ground-breaking research over the past 20 years has changed cancer treatments. Structured over 5 weeks, the course covers some of the latest targeted treatments and immunotherapies in a range of cancers, including checkpoint inhibitors, CDK and PARP inhibitors and CAR-T cell therapy.
From 10 May, the lead educators and mentors will be online for 5 weeks to support your learning. |
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| | BEST3 TRIAL – ONLINE TALKS AND Q&A SESSIONS The BEST3 trial looked at whether a Cytosponge approach to identifying Barrett's oesophagus was effective when used in a primary care setting. In a series of online talks, the teams associated with the trial share their insights on topics including: how it can be implemented in primary care settings, the implications for oesophageal cancer screening, the pathology of BEST3 and how artificial intelligence was used, and how practice nurses administer the procedure. |
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 DEVELOPING A NEW CLASS OF DRUG FOR LEUKAEMIA Scientists that are part-funded by CRUK are developing a new approach to treat acute myeloid leukaemia (AML). The team, led by Cambridge-based researchers Konstantinos Tzelepis and Tony Kouzarides, published their pre-clinical study in Nature which demonstrated the new drug, STM2457, as a first-in-class catalytic inhibitor of METTL3.
Based on their results, the research team hope to begin clinical trials early next year, and it's expected to be the first RNA epigenetic drug programme in the world to do so. Read the full paper below (£). |
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|  THE ART OF PRACTISING SUSTAINABLE SCIENCE Is there a way to reduce waste in labs without compromising the research? Biomedical and agricultural labs could be accountable for approximately 5.5 million tonnes of waste every year, as well as a large expense of energy resources. Over on the Science blog we spoke to 3 researchers working in CRUK labs and on CRUK-funded trials across the country, who have been looking at ways to drastically reduce the use of plastic and energy in their facilities without compromising on innovation. |
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| | | A conference for all healthcare professionals working in the field of oncology. 15 May 2021 |
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| | | Register your interest for the 2021 event. You'll be first in line to know when registration opens. 06 October 2021 |
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