Supporting sarcoma science talent
“Our approach to PhD research is constantly evolving as we listen to the scientific and patient communities.” Phd Students: Brad Hocking and Molly McNae
Sarcoma UK believes in the research community of the future. That’s why we are so committed to funding PhD students, which we see as our support for the beginning of the rest of their career in sarcoma. In 2018/2019, we awarded two PhDs and part-contributed to two more as part of our overall research investment of £655,663 – up 35% on the previous year. Our current support for PhD students includes two projects tackling different areas of research but hoping to ultimately make a difference to sarcoma patients and expand our knowledge of this rare cancer. At London’s Imperial College, Dr David Mann (Principal Investigator) is leading the way in developing new drugs for sarcoma by a novel approach which uses chemical tools to ask biological questions. The PhD project builds on preliminary work by this team which identified fragments of drugs which bind to a protein called Mcl1 and permanently modify it. Mcl1 is used by many sarcomas to prevent cancer cell death so blocking its function would offer a novel route to therapy. The methodology has involved screening a library of around 1,200 compounds, using Mcl1 as ‘bait’ and identifying a number of hits. The PhD funding – £119,873 for 42 months – was awarded to Brad Hocking who studied natural sciences at Cambridge and is now applying his chemical knowledge to biology. Brad’s first experiments are to purify the Mcl1 protein so that he can determine the atomic structure of the drug fragments bound to the protein. This will allow him to develop more effective compounds that block Mcl1 function and can form the basis of novel drugs for the treatment of sarcoma. The Sarcoma UK funding has proved critical both in progressing this exciting work and enabling career development for one researcher. “Without funding, we wouldn’t be able to develop the compound,” says Dr Mann. “And for a PhD, a funding source is essential; it is impossible to start a research career without doing a PhD. Around 99 per cent of scientists need PhD funding otherwise you lose the bottom of the career pyramid.“ Genes and cell signaling pathways that are dormant in normal cells are activated in Ewing’s sarcoma cells, causing them to grow and divide out of control. A critical regulator of these changes is the MYC-C protein, sometimes called a ‘supercontroller’ because 6 Connect Summer 2020
it promotes cell growth and survival in many types of cancer. If this protein could be switched off, this may stop the cellular changes that drive progression and relapse. At present there are no clinically useful drugs that directly switch off MYC-C. Another PhD studentship funded by Sarcoma UK will test whether the protein Aurora-A regulates the activity of MYC-C and explore the potential of inhibitors to kill Ewing’s sarcoma cells. The aim is to develop targeted treatments to improve patient outcomes.
“Grant rounds are now open for longer so people have more time to work on their applications and establish collaborations.” Molly McNae will undertake this laboratory research. She has a first class BSc in Biological Sciences from the University of Leeds and was the recipient of the prestigious Faculty of Biological Sciences Excellence Scholarship. Professor Sue Burchill, supervisor of the project and director of the Children’s Cancer Research Group of the University of Leeds where this research will take place, says “Professor Richard Bayliss (co-supervisor) and I are grateful to Sarcoma UK for funding this PhD studentship. The innovative science behind the project may help to fast-track much needed targeted drugs into clinical trials for patients with Ewing’s sarcoma and will provide excellent training for Molly, an outstanding young scientist who is dedicated to a translational career using her knowledge for the benefit of patients.” Our approach to PhD research is constantly evolving as we listen to the scientific and patient communities. For instance, we’re now funding more PHDs in our lab-based research rounds. This move is in response to the high number of good quality PhD applications that we just weren’t able to financially support before. We’ve also adapted our grant round schedules to better mirror university timelines, so that we have a higher potential of getting strong applications for the PhD projects. Grant rounds are now open for longer so people have more time to work on their applications and establish collaborations – the result of direct feedback from previous applicants. You can learn more about our research at sarcoma.org.uk/research-programme
Award honours memory of tireless sarcoma advocate The year 2020 kicked off with a research first as we announced the winners of the inaugural Tricia Moate award. The worthy winners are Lucy Dean, Senior Physiotherapist and Sarcoma Lead at the Royal Marsden NHS Foundation Trust, and Charlotte HarveyWright, Advanced Practice Radiographer in Sarcoma Oncology at Cambridge University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust. We received a large number of applications for this award. While it was difficult to choose the overall winners, it was very encouraging to see the amount of excellent work being done all over the UK. The winners were sponsored to attend the British Sarcoma Group 2020 conference in Glasgow, a visit to another study service in the UK, a study day and support to produce and present a poster at the National Sarcoma Forum in 2021. Tricia Moate worked tirelessly as a nurse and as a patient advocate for sarcoma before she died in December 2018. She trained as a nurse in the 1970s, specialising in palliative care nursing, and combined her experience as a patient with her professional knowledge to become an advocate for the sarcoma community. Sarcoma UK hopes that this award will help support nurses and health professionals involved in sarcoma care to improve their knowledge, network with peers within sarcoma services and ultimately put their learning into improving sarcoma patient care. “I am delighted to have won the Tricia Moate award,” says Charlotte Harvey-Wright. “The sponsorship will be extremely valuable. I have established some aspects of my role but further development is needed to increase the scope of practice. As well as the welcome contribution towards the costs of engaging with ongoing development and learning opportunities, I look forward to being able to give back by presenting the poster.”
£2.5 million into sarcoma research ‘will pave the way for better treatments’ A milestone investment in sarcoma research is expected to deepen the scientific understanding of sarcoma and help bring muchneeded new treatments closer for patients. The funding injection is part of the Cancer Research UK Accelerator Award programme which provides around £27.4 million towards a range of international research projects. These initiatives will focus on developing tools and resources to improve scientists' understanding of cancer, including rare and hard to treat cancers like sarcoma. The network of teams from the UK, US and Europe investigating high-risk soft tissue sarcoma will be co-ordinated by Dr Robin Jones at the Royal Marsden NHS Foundation Trust and the Institute of Cancer Research. It is the first opportunity of its kind for collaboration from fields as diverse as pathology, artificial intelligence, oncology and radiology on a single project. Excitingly, it is the most ambitious and comprehensive effort into understanding this area of sarcoma treatment – preoperative treatment or treatment before surgery – to date. This investment has been welcomed by Sarcoma UK as a way to ultimately bring sarcoma patients closer to new treatments. “It’s hugely exciting to see this major new investment which will drive forward progress in sarcoma,” says Richard Davidson, CEO of Sarcoma UK. “This is a welcome opportunity for the sarcoma research community to bring together expertise and diverse technologies to lay the foundations for developing more targeted and effective treatments.” Sarcoma UK is committed to funding research into better and kinder methods to diagnose and treat all types of sarcoma and has been supporting sarcoma research for over a decade.
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