MCRC Director’s Update – September 2024

Hello to everyone at the MCRC! I hope that you all managed to take some time for rest and recharge over the summer months, and that you have returned with a rejuvenated energy.

I am delighted to be back and delivering this update after having a break from them over the summer and am pleased to be discussing the many activities that have been keeping me occupied.

My trip to Australia in August  

At the end of August, I travelled to Australia’s Gold Coast for the Familial Aspects of Cancer Research & Practice meeting, for their joint annual meeting. This meeting was supported by the Human Genetics Society of Australasia (HGSA) and the Clinical Oncological Society of Australia (COSA), and provided a forum to share and discuss new research findings and clinical trials on familial and population based cancer. Sessions covered research around families with multiple cases of breast, ovarian, prostate, endometrial melanoma, sarcoma, leukaemia and colorectal cancers.

I was lucky enough to be invited as an International Speaker to present on ‘Clinical Issues in Hereditary Prostate Cancers: A Focus on BRCA2 and ATM’ as well as ‘New Primary Human Models in Hereditary Prostate Cancer”.

This was a great opportunity to network with other international centres and connect with health professionals such as medical oncologists, surgeons, genetic counsellors, cancer specialists and research scientists who are working in the Family Cancer Clinics and major research institutions through-out Australia and New Zealand.

ESMO 2024

From 13^th – 17^th September, our Manchester delegates attended the annual European Society for Medical Oncology (ESMO) 2024 Congress in Barcelona. This conference boasted a record number of attendees, with 34,000 participants from 149 countries, hosting 598 speakers and 2,186 abstracts.

Our researchers were amongst this plethora of esteemed academics, with Professor Fiona Thistlethwaite acting as this year’s Track Chair for Immunology. Alongside her, Manchester speakers included: Professor Gareth Evans, Professor Fiona Blackhall, Professor Martin McCabe, Dr Colin Lindsay, Dr Natalie Cook, and Dr Gerben Borst.

Although I was unable to attend, our MCRC Team were on the ground, and hosted our annual MCRC-Christie ESMO Academic Reception which provided an opportunity for attendees to connect with current and former colleagues from across The Christie and Manchester Cancer Research Centre and network with researchers and potential collaborators from Manchester and beyond.

A big congratulations to all those who presented at this conference and represented Manchester on the international stage.

Duncan Ivison’s visit to the MCRC 

On Friday 20^th September, we were delighted to welcome the University of Manchester’s new President and Vice-Chancellor, Professor Duncan Ivison to the MCRC. It was a fantastic opportunity to share the important work across the cancer spectrum including our ambitions for the future. Duncan was also fortunate to meet some of our researchers and tour our many facilities such as the Proton Beam Therapy Centre and The Paterson Building. We look forward to hosting further visits with the senior leadership team in the future.

Navigating Brain Tumour Diagnosis: Innovations and Strategies Symposium

This month, we were delighted to support a networking conference in Manchester focused on advancing treatment and research in brain tumours: Navigating Brain Tumour Diagnosis: Innovations and Strategies Symposium. Supported by The Brain Tumour Charity, the conference was co-organised by Manchester researcher Professor Petra Hamerlik and University of Leeds Professor Susan Short.

Discussions covered topics such as the use of tools that can be used for rapid diagnosis while a patient is still in surgery – helping to reduce the time to receive a diagnosis from weeks or months to hours and days. Finally four areas of importance were identified during the mini-workshop at the end of the day focusing on access to data, industry collaborations and commercialisation, technical advances in biomarker research and establishing early detection studies.

You can read more about the conference in The Brain Tumour Charity write-up.

Congratulations to Emma Crosbie and Jen Davies Oliveira for receiving FindAPhD awards

I am delighted to share that our brilliant Professor Emma Crosbie and Dr Jen Davies-Oliveira have been awarded PhD Supervisor and PhD Student of the Year respectively in the FindAPhD Postgrad Awards 2024. A massive congratulations to the both of you on this incredible achievement; we will likely be hearing much more on this tremendous research.

Updates to our Training and Education Team

While we will certainly miss her, next month Rachel Chown will be moving on from the MCRC to take up an exciting new position as Associate Director – Integrated Research and Education Strategy at The Christie. Rachel has worked at the MCRC since 2017, outside of an interlude to Cancer Research UK in 2019, and has provided exemplary leadership and direction to the training and education team alongside multiple infrastructure awards including our Cancer Research UK Manchester Centre and Clinical Academic Training Programmes.

While Rachel leaves the MCRC, she isn’t going far and I’m looking forward to our continued interactions and collaborations in her new role as she oversees an exciting new phase of activity at The Christie. On behalf of the MCRC I’d like to thank Rachel for the leadership, drive, and dedication that she has brought to the MCRC.

A look ahead to October: 

Next month, we have several events that will be of interest to our audience, including:

MCRC Seminar: Associate Professor Alastair Lamb, 3^rd October, 10:00 – 10:45

Next month, we’ll be joined by Alastair Lamb from The University of Oxford who will present about the research of his lab covering: “Unravelling clonal dynamics in localised prostate cancer in the spatial ‘omics era”.

You can register for the seminar via Eventbrite.

CRUK Centre celebration 7th October 2024, 10:00-15:00 

Next month, we will be marking the halfway point of the CRUK Manchester Centre celebrating the science of the centre and our partners.

This celebration will showcase the basic and discovery research from the award with talks from theme leads and researchers as well as PhD students through linked CRUK funding streams. We will also be joined by keynote speaker, Prof Joachim Lütken Weischenfeldt, a Clinical Professor, BRIC University of Copenhagen and Rigshospitalet, who will present on the power of whole genome sequencing and genomic evolution in cancer research,

Join this celebration of the Manchester Centre’s halfway milestone under the theme: Precision Medicine for All – The Science Behind the Centre. Find out more and sign up here.

I hope everyone has an enjoyable October and I look forward to updating you at the end of the month.

Professor Robert Bristow

Director, Manchester Cancer Research Centre

Director, Cancer Research UK Manchester Centre