A LETTER FROM THE LAB

PhD student Emma Bull (BIO21) explains her role in UEA’s childhood bone cancer research.

Holding my first patient blood sample was a humbling moment. Generally, my patients are aged between 10 and 20 and have just had a limb completely reconstructed, or perhaps lost a quarter of their body. To think that we have the potential to change the outcome of their treatment in just a decade is simply awe-inspiring.

Usually, you’d want to take your time processing tumour samples, but the ones I deal with are too precious. We can’t afford to let them perish.

If a bone cancer patient has surgery at lunchtime in Birmingham, their sample will get to me at about 5pm here at UEA. Handed over in a regular envelope by a courier. I’ll then be in the lab until 10pm to work through and get it processed.

Bensofib Testing Continues

In the past 12 months, Dr Darrell Green (BIO06) and his team have continued to make exciting strides towards new treatments for childhood bone cancer.

Bensofib, UEA’s new drug, has passed the first stage of toxicity tests. This vital stage ensures that the treatment is safe and free of side effects. These tests are legally required for all medical drugs.

The treatment is now undergoing the second and third rounds of toxicity testing, using a High Performance Liquid Chromatography machine to analyse plasma samples.

Toxicity tests may be essential, but many traditional bodies are less keen to fund them. That is why UEA’s philanthropic community is so powerful. Together, extraordinary things are possible.

Once these tests are completed, the team can apply for a licence to begin clinical trials in humans. This is the final stage of validation before public rollout, when Bensofib can start transforming children’s lives.

I’ll use our ClearCell FX machine to extract around two or three millilitres of fluid to study under the microscope. I will have picked out five or six cells within about an hour. Those get frozen overnight in a lysis buffer, which splits open the cell and lets me get to the RNA, the molecules that help the body produce proteins.

Finally, we compare these RNAs with other patients or healthy people to tell us more about how and why bone cancer develops. My findings will contribute to our lifesaving new treatment.

Some days, I’ll be in the lab from morning until late at night. But it’s all worth it when you step back to see the bigger picture. This is more than a vocation for me.

I’m so grateful to our donors, who include the Sir William Coxen Trust Fund, Action Arthritis, the Orthopaedics Charitable Trust Fund and the Peter Stebbings Memorial Charity. Research is expensive, but there is so much more we can achieve thanks to our generous philanthropic community. Their kindness allows us to help change this devastating disease for so many young people. It’s incredible when you think about it.

If you’d like to learn more about UEA’s childhood bone cancer research, please contact the Development Office.