Sheffield Cancer Research Centre Newsletter Issue 2 – June 2013

Welcome to the SCRC NewsletterThe 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 (l.burn@sheffield.ac.uk) or Deborah Reid (deborah.reid@sheffield.ac.uk)

News

In Sarah's own words 'Process of applying for the CRUK fellowship - As a NIHR funded ACF I knew that I would have a nine month period of dedicated research time during my second year but that we would need to find funding for the laboratory costs. I had heard of the CRUK fellowships for health professionals, found that I was eligible to apply and also checked when the twice yearly deadlines were. I had already decided to continue my work on breast cancer epigenetics for my ACF project and was fortunate to have strong preliminary data from my previous work'.

'I started preparing the application about four months before the deadline as I knew that it would require input from several different people including both my supervisors, other collaborators and administrative staff at the University. The application went through numerous different drafts right up until the deadline and was quite an exhausting process! I was fortunate to be awarded sufficient funds to support both the laboratory costs and some of a research technician’s time. I am grateful to Cancer Research UK for generously supporting this project'.

Congratulations to Dr Sarah Daniels Sarah has received a Training & Career Development Board - Research Bursary for £24,000 from Cancer Research UK. Her project will be 'Epigenetic modification of the BRCA1 promoter and breast cancer phenotype' with Professor Angie Cox.

Sarah received a BSc in Experimental Pathology in 2007 and her MBChB Honours from the University of Edinburgh College of Medicine and Veterinary Medicine in 2010. She then undertook an Academic Foundation Programme based in Sheffield with the year 2 academic research slot being carried out in the Department of Surgical Oncology under Professor Angie Cox and Ms Lynda Wyld looking at Epigenetic Modification of BRCA1 and Triple Negative Breast Cancer.

News cont…

Race for LifeA Team of staff from the University of Sheffield will be running in the Race for Life event in Sheffield on Sunday 9th June 2013 joined by friends and family. The Team is called the Sheffield Cancer Research Centre Runners and they would really appreciate your support. Last year the team took part in the event and raised £1344.00. Please help them to raise even more this year. This is an inspirational event, so for those of you who live in Sheffield, support on race day to encourage, motivate and invigorate our tiring limbs, would be most welcome. The following is the link to the team’s fund-raising page. If you feel able make a contribution to this worthy cause, no matter how small, this would be much appreciated. http://www.raceforlifesponsorme.org/scrc-runners-2013. The current Team members include:

Staff:

Congratulations to Dr Bill NobleDr Bill Noble who has been appointed as the Medical Director of Marie Curie Cancer Care.

The Medical Director of Marie Curie Cancer Care is the medical advisor for the charity, responsible for clinical governance, quality assurance and research. The post holder is responsible for the professional standards of medical staff who work in the nine hospices run by Marie Curie and as an Executive Board member, makes a strategic contribution to ensuring that the charity’s vision and values are realised. The charity plans to increase investment and resources dedicated to research into the ways that Marie Curie’s services can be made more inclusive, effective and efficient and the Medical Director has Board level responsibility for building and directing research programmes.

Susan Bridgeford (Faculty)Bex Clark (Faculty) Nicola Brown (Oncology) Steph Allen (Oncology)Louise Goss (Oncology)Angie Cox (Oncology)Susan Furness (Oncology)Helen Mason (OncologySarah Jackson (Oncology)Lynne Bingle (Dentistry)Jodie Burnham (I & I)

Sarcoma UK Funding Pays OffA Sarcoma UK-funded research team in Sheffield (awarded £75,790 in 2010 to research DNA repair genes and cell cycle regulators as a predisposing cause of sarcomas) have adapted a technique which will allow them to study archived tumour samples in a way they could not be studied previously. Much larger numbers of samples are now available for use in this project, increasing the potential to further sarcoma knowledge worldwide. Researcher Karen Sisley gives us the details.

Little is known about the genetic background of most sarcomas, but for a few types of sarcoma there are specific genetic alterations that are of clinical value. We had done some initial investigations which suggested that even sarcomas with high levels of genetic instability, and considered to have non-specific changes, may actually have consistent alterations that could be clinically relevant. The project was designed to look for specific and characteristic changes in a wide range of sarcoma subtypes, and also to see if any changes were common to all sarcomas.

As we wanted to gain the most complete overall impression of the genetic changes in sarcoma subtypes, we used a technique called array comparative genomic hybridization (array CGH), that looks at the losses and gains of all chromosomes that can occur in cancer. As some sarcoma subtypes are very rare it is often difficult to get large enough numbers to study. To gain sufficient samples of these rare subtypes we needed to analyze material from archival stores of sarcomas. These samples have been preserved using formalin, which is how classically all samples from all tumours are stored. Unfortunately the process of formalin fixation causes problems for genetic studies, as the preservation interferes with DNA. The array CGH technique was therefore previously considered not to be suitable for use on formalin fixed preserved material, and as such could not be used to study archival stores of formalin fixed sarcomas. We set out to address this issue, and Azeez Salawu working with Aliya Ul-Hassan and Dave Hammond were able to successfully adapt the technique, so that array CGH can now be reliably used to analyze formalin preserved tumours.

Azeez Salawu & Aliya Ul-Hassan meet Roger Wilson, Honorary President of Sarcoma UK.

Worldwide most samples taken from tumours are stored as formalin fixed samples, and most pathology laboratories will have samples stored dating back decades. There are therefore large numbers of tumours in these preserved banks that can be used for research purposes. Until now however these samples were not suitable for array CGH. The methodological development by Salawu et al therefore has international implications, with the possibility for all archival samples of cancers to now be analyzed using array CGH. With ethically approval we have already been able to analyze samples approaching 20 years old, but it may be possible to go even further back into the archives. The potential to increase the number of tumours for research worldwide is therefore highly significant. The development of this

protocol is particularly relevant to sarcomas, as the use of archival samples will increase the number of tumours that are available and will help in identifying the genetic changes in these rare subtypes.

The immediate plan will be to search back through the archives of sarcomas, some of which have been stored for more than 20 years, and see if we can expand our series of the rare subtypes for characterization. Similar studies are now possible for any centre investigating sarcomas, so the chance exists now to increase our genetic understanding to the background of these rare and previously difficult to characterize sarcomas. Our next steps are to investigate a candidate gene we have identified in one such subset of sarcomas using this methodology.

Events9th June - Race for Life, Sheffield – this year’s event is to be held at the Meadowhall Shopping Centre starting at 9.30am. If you would like to join the SCRC team, please contact Mrs Louise Goss – telephone 0114 271 3326, email l.goss@sheffield.ac.uk. If you would like to help at any of the following stands: YCR, WPHCC, CR-UK, please contact Mr Andy Wilson – email andy.wilson@cruk.org.uk or Dr Lance Burn – telephone 0114 271 3516, email l.burn@sheffield.ac.uk

Race for Life 2012 Team

Diary DatesSeminar Series – for information, please see: http://www.shef.ac.uk/sheffield-cancer-research-centre/news-and-events/seminar-series

5th July 2013 – ‘Translational Cancer Research – from Lab to Clinic’ Workshop – This workshop is to be held at The Ridge, Ranmoor Student Village, Sheffield from 10.00am to 16.30pm. The aims of this workshop are:1. To educate clinicians and scientists on how to translate laboratory discoveries into the clinic. 2. To showcase Centre / ECMC successes to invited stakeholders (Industry, NCRN, CR-UK, YCR).3. To share best practice and develop collaborative links.Registration can be made at http://www.shef.ac.uk/sheffield-cancer-research-centre/news-and-events/tcr-booking-form

26th July 2013 - CR-UK/YCR Sheffield Cancer Research Centre’s Summer Barbecue – 4.30pm until late. Dam House Restaurant off Mushroom Lane at Crook Valley Park. Open to all staff/students CR-UK/YCR Sheffield Cancer Research Centre and friends, family and kids. Adult tickets £5.00, Children under ten, £2.50. Starting at 4.30pm with kids disco and bouncy castle with Crooks Valley Park outside and its playground. Barbecue & Hog Roast from 5.30pm-7.00pm. Burgers, hot dogs, chicken skewers, vegetable skewers, chips, salad, coleslaw. A selection of desserts including cheesecakes, cakes, gateaux and profiteroles. Halal, vegetarian and other requirements will be catered to if advance notice is given. Band (TBA) from 7.00pm-9.00pm. Light snacks/nibbles 9.00pm. Disco 9.00pm – late. Bar until 12.30am. Optional dress code of American tourist in Hawaii (loud shirts, ridiculous shorts/skirts, prize for best/worst dressed tourist). For further information and to book, please contact Toby Holmes, tel 0114 271 3454, email t.holmes@sheffield.ac.uk.

13th September 2013 - Neuro Oncology – This workshop is to be held at SiTraN from 12.30pm to 17.30pm (details to follow). Please save the date: http://www.shef.ac.uk/sheffield-cancer-research-centre/workshops

11th October 2013 - SCRC - INSIGNEO Workshop – This workshop is to be held at The Edge from 10.00am to 17.00pm (details to follow). Please save the date: http://www.shef.ac.uk/sheffield-cancer-research-centre/workshops

28th February 2014 – Annual Cancer Research Forum – please save the date, details to follow.

External Events23rd – 28th June 2013 - 2nd Summer School on Computational Oncology – This event is to be held at Schloss Dagstuhl in Wadern, Germany. This summer school will provide basic training in the new research dimension of computational oncology in the context of the fast evolvingcancer modeling and validation advances within personalized medicine. For further information regarding the registration process, the venue and the programme, please visit www.computationaloncology.org

25th – 28th June 2013 – EACR Summer Conference: Cancer Genomics – This conference is to be held at Churchill College, Cambridge. Keynote speakers include Sam Aparicio – Canada, Shankar Balasubramania – UK, Ann-Lise Borresen-Dale – Norway. The objective of the conference will be to cover recent and exciting developments in Cancer Genomics, as well as to provide an overview of the field. It will bring together scientists from different disciplines, such as cancer biology, translational research, bioinformatics, and epigenomics. For further information please click www.eacr.org/cancergenomics2013

4th July 2013 - Academy of Medical Sciences Run Workshop - Want to present your research and ideas effectively in front of an audience or funding panel? Want to get better at balancing your clinical and academic responsibilities? Do you need to take a step back and remind yourself what you want from your career? The workshop is especially aimed at postdoctoral researchers. Places are free. For more information and o book, please contact: Selda Boztepe, Programme Officer, Academy of Medical Sciences, selda.boztepe@acmedsci.ac.uk or 020 3176 2162.

Internal Funding OpportunitiesThe CR-UK/YCR Sheffield Cancer Research Centre has a funding scheme to support consumables for Academic F2 and Academic Clinical Fellow Projects - http://www.sheffield.ac.uk/sheffield-cancer-research-centre/funding-opportunities/af2-acf-project-funding The Scheme will provide a consumable budget for Academic F2s and Academic Clinical Fellows doing research projects - £6,000 maximum. There is no deadline for this call. Please submit your application to Dr Lance Burn (l.burn@sheffield.ac.uk).

Further Funding OpportunitiesCR-UK Career Establishment Awards. This Award supports the best new non-clinical and clinical investigators to develop their independent career in cancer research. Successful applicants will have shown scientific excellence and originality in their career to date, but will not have had the core support to establish their own research group in a cancer-relevant field. The Award provides five years of funding to investigators who are in their first Higher Education Funding Council-funded post at a UK university. For further information: http://www.cancerresearchuk.org/science/funding/find-grant/all-funding-schemes/career-establishment-award/

Breast Cancer Campaign is now accepting applications for Project, PhD and Pilot grants to be considered for its November 2013 grants round. Breast Cancer Campaign welcomes applications in all areas of breast cancer research including genetics, biology, growth, diagnosis, treatment, emotional impact, prevention and education. If you have any queries or would like to be kept up-to-date with future funding opportunities, please email: grants_admin@breastcancercampaign.org. The closing date for applications is 1 July 2013. For further information visit http://www.breastcancercampaign.org/our-science/apply-for-a-research-grant to download grant funding information documents and more information on how to apply for a grant using the Breast Cancer Campaign Grants Online portal. Breast Cancer Campaign welcomes applications in all areas of breast cancer research including genetics, biology, growth, diagnosis, treatment, emotional impact, prevention and education. Future Campaign Application Deadlines:Award Type Application Deadline Funded in Project grants 1 July 2013 – Now open November 2013PhD studentships 1 July 2013 – Now open November 2013Pilot grants 2 September 2013 November 2013Fellowship grants September 2013 (tbc) June 2014Project grants January 2014 (tbc) June 2014Pilot grants March 2014 (tbc) June 2014

The Breast Cancer Campaign Tissue Bank is now open!Breast Cancer Campaign are now accepting applications for tissue from any researcher working in the UK or Ireland. For more details, and to apply for tissue, visit www.breastcancertissuebank.org

ResearchThe National Awareness and Early Diagnosis Initiative (NAEDI) formally launched in 2008 as a partnership between the Department of Health, National Cancer Action Team and Cancer Research UK. Through a variety of means, to promote earlier diagnosis of cancer, increasing access to optimal treatment and thereby improving survival rates and reducing cancer mortality.

The RDS have been asked to support this scheme which is being part funded by NIHR. Further information is available on the link below. Wendy Baird (w.o.baird@sheffield.ac.uk) will be representing the RDS delivering a session at the workshop and giving advice, with RDS colleagues from London, at the event scheduled for the 28th June. http://www.cancerresearchuk.org/science/funding/find-grant/all-funding-schemes/naedi-research-workstream/

Summer StudentsFrench fourth year academic student - at the Graduate School of Chemistry of Montpellier (ENSCM) looking for a 3-month long summer internship - from early June to late August 2013. For details please contact Deborah Reid (Deborah.Reid@sheffield.ac.uk).

Career OpportunitiesClinical Research Training Fellow: Antibody Therapy – Medicine. Location: Southampton General Hospital. Salary: £31,838 to £56,312. Full Time Fixed Term. Closing Date: Saturday 15 June 2013. Reference: 239313F5.This post offers the opportunity to play a key role in the development of novel antibody therapy, translating from our laboratory discovery programme into first-in-man clinical trials. It is designed to fulfil the requirements for an out-of-programme experience for a specialist trainee in oncology, haematology, surgery, pathology or other disciplines related to cancer, but may also be suitable for an individual who does not have a national training number and wishes to pursue a career in the cancer immunotherapy field. You will take part in a structured training programme of research leading to submission of a higher degree (PhD or MD), and there are excellent opportunities to maintain your clinical skills within the Southampton Cancer Centre.For further information - https://www.jobs.soton.ac.uk/Vacancy.aspx?ref=239313F5

Postdoctoral Position Epithelial Carcinogenesis Group, Centro Nacional de Investigaciones Oncológicas, Madrid.Functional Analysis of Cancer GenesPancreatic cancer and bladder cancer are the main interests of our group. The two tumors are very different but highly interesting models of cancer progression. Our laboratory makes use of patient samples, cultured cells, and genetic mouse models to analyze new genes/pathways involved in the development of these tumors using a variety of experimental strategies, including those based on massive parallel sequencing.In the last few years we have identified novel players involved in pancreatic cancer development through the combined study of the cell biology and genetics of this tumor. In bladder cancer, we entertain a massive parallel sequencing exome effort that has led to the identification of new cancer genes whose function is currently being analyzed. In both tumors, we plan to bring this knowledge to the clinical setting to improve diagnosis, assessment of prognosis, or develop new therapeutic strategies.

The laboratory is now seeking a postdoctoral fellow to work on either of these tumor types with an excellent track record of research and scientific publications. Experience in cell biology, genetics, genomics, or bioinformatics will be an asset. Recent selected publicationsHafner C,* Toll A,* Fernández-Casado A, ** et al. Multiple oncogenic mutations and clonal relationship in spatially distinct benign human epidermal tumors. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 2010; 107:20780-20785. Rodríguez-Santiago B, Malats N*, Rothman N* et al. Mosaic uniparental disomies and aneuploidies as large structural variants of the human genome. Am J Hum Genet 2010; 87:129-138.Martinelli P, Cañamero M, del Pozo N, et al. Gata6 is required for complete acinar differentiation and maintenance of the exocrine pancreas in adult mice. Gut 2013; In press (PMID 23002247).Amaral AFS, Méndez-Pértuz M, Muñoz A, et al. Plasma 25-hydroxyvitamin D3 levels and bladder cancer risk according to tumor stage and FGFR3 status: a mechanism-based epidemiological study. J Natl Cancer Inst 2012; 104:1897-1904.

Flández M, Cendrowski J, Cañamero M, et al. Nr5a2 heterozygosity sensitizes to, and cooperates with, inflammation in KRasG12V-driven pancreatic tumorigenesis. Gut 2013; In press (PMID 23598351).For further information please contact Paco Real - 917328000 ext. 3660, preal@cnio.es.