Medical Fund News Spring 2019

Your Medical Fund News

Supporting Medical Research at the University of Glasgow Spring 2019

FOOTBALL FANS IN TRAINING PROGRAMME DELIVERS LONG-TERM SUCCESS Football Fans in Training, the programme of research and development in the Institute of Health and Wellbeing (IHW), was highlighted in the National Institute of Health Research’s impact webpages recently. The programme which was first piloted eight years ago, is now among the most successful healthy lifestyle projects ever delivered in a professional football club context. Over 4718 men and women have started the free, 12 week programme since 2014 and 72% are still involved. On average, participants lose 8% body weight after 12 weeks. Since then, a highly successful women’s programme has been launched as well as programmes in England and Europe. Participants also reported improvements in psychological health including improved self-esteem.

The University of Glasgow Trust is a registered charity, No. SC008303 The University of Glasgow is a registered charity, No. SC004401

Professor Andrew Tobin’s ALZHEIMERS RESEARCH Professor Andrew Tobin’s laboratory consists of PhD students and post-doctoral researchers who run experiments designed to define routes by which they might slow or stop the progression of Alzheimer’s disease.

They share the view widely held in the scientific community that through an increase in our understanding of the fundamental biology of the brain, and how drugs can correct brain processes that are dysfunctional in disease, they will be able to design new medicines that will be effective in preventing the progression of Alzheimer’s disease.

One of the major questions in Alzheimer’s disease is “how do misfolded proteins that cause disease in the brain, spread throughout the brain”?

the brain. The question is, can scientists stop the spreading of misfolded protein?

Many believe that they can but at present nothing has been discovered that stops or slows spreading.

Professor Tobin’s team is asking the question about whether the drugs that they have developed slow the spreading of misfolded protein.

Professor Tobin’s team will move into the new Research Hub when it opens in 2021 and this will provide a collaborative environment where teams can come together to advance their research. His team will be working together with Professor Lee Cronin’s team (Digital Chemistry) in the new building to help find a novel molecule that can treat the disease without causing any side effects. Digital Chemistry will use big data to screen for this.

Alzheimer’s disease is caused by proteins changing in disease so that they misfold, and through this mechanism they stick together to form what are called plaques.

This appears to occur in specific brain regions which then spread to other parts of

Professor Tobin will also be working alongside Professor Daniele Faccio’s research team in Quantic to use brain imaging techniques to monitor the effectiveness of the drugs developed.

Dental school MALAWI LINKS

In other Dental School news, the University of Glasgow’s Dental School has been awarded £1.3M from the Scottish Government to help establish Malawi’s first Dental School. The award was part of more than £11M funding announced by the Scottish Government’s Malawi Development programme.

The University of Glasgow Dental School has been named Top Dental School in the UK by the Telegraph. The rankings were based on recent data from the 2018 Complete Universities Guide, which ranks university courses according to graduate prospects, entry standards, research quality and student satisfaction.

The University of Glasgow Dental School was ranked No. 1 with the main advantage being consistently high scores on student satisfaction, with students reporting 94 per cent satisfaction.

Professor Jeremy Bagg and his team visiting the University of Malawi

Professor Jeremy Bagg, Head of the University of Glasgow’s Dental School, commented: “I am delighted that the Scottish Government is supporting our bid to establish Malawi’s first Dental School. The Dental School alongside our partners at the University of Malawi’s College of Medicine are excited to progress the MalDent project over the next four to five years.”

MENTAL HEALTH RESEARCH AT THE FOREFRONT Our Institute of Health & Wellbeing’s (IHW) research is wide ranging. Their mission is to prevent disease, improve health and wellbeing and reduce health inequalities, locally, nationally and globally. They are currently working on a number of mental health projects: CIRCADIAN RHYTHMS University of Glasgow scientists have identified a possible genetic link between circadian disruption and mood disorders.

In the largest ever study of circadian rest-activity cycles in humans, researchers from the Institute of Health and Wellbeing identified two areas of the human genome that may contain genetic variants that increase risk of disruption to rest-activity cycles.

VETERANS HEALTH Researchers from the University of Glasgow have been awarded over £180K from the Forces in Mind Trust to conduct a three-year retrospective cohort study “Trends in Scottish Veterans’ Health”, which will examine the long-term health of over 60,000 Scottish veterans in comparison with those who have never served.

Dr Keeshan at the Paul O’Gorman Leukaemia Research Centre

BREAKTHROUGH IN CHILDHOOD LEUKAEMIA RESEARCH Dr Karen Keeshan In December 2018, we announced an exciting discovery in Acute Myeloid Leukaemia (AML). AML is one of the most aggressive types of blood cancer that affects children and adults of all ages and has the worst survival rates of all the leukaemias. For children with AML, relapse is often fatal. Dr Karen Keeshan, a

Group Leader at the Paul O’Gorman Leukaemia Research Centre, and her team analysed human paediatric AML samples and discovered that AML is different in young cells compared to older cells.

The research, published in Nature Communications, significantly advances

understanding of the disease and provides potential for developing specific treatment strategies for this childhood cancer. Historically, children with AML have received treatment based on adult practice. This discovery provides the potential for developing specific treatment strategies for this childhood cancer.

SUPPORTING MEDICAL RESEARCH AND EDUCATION IN YOUR WILL

CLARICE PEARS BUILDING The new Institute of Health and Wellbeing (IHW) building was formally named The Clarice Pears Building in November following a £5 million donation from the Pears Foundation, the largest in the University’s history. Look out for further information on the progress of the building in our new supporters’ magazine in 2020.

Making a gift in your Will is an extremely valuable way to help the University of Glasgow remain at the forefront of medical research and education. Your gifts can help support our future doctors, dentists and nurses, the patients in their care, and fund valuable research.

Gifts in Wills cost nothing to make now, and all sizes of gifts make a lasting difference to our work.

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The University of Glasgow Trust is a registered charity, No. SC008303 The University of Glasgow is a registered charity, No. SC004401

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THE WHITE LILY FUND DONATES £21,000 TO LEUKAEMIA RESEARCH

OUR FRIENDS AND SUPPORTERS ARE AN INTEGRAL PART OF THE UNIVERSITY FAMILY, AND WE WANT TO KEEP YOU INFORMED Trustees of the White Lily Fund visited the Paul O’Gorman IN THE MOST EFFECTIVE WAY. Leukaemia Research Centre earlier this year to see the WE’RE MAKING SOME CHANGES TO OUR impact of the Luminex machine (for assessing protein CURRENT SUPPORTER MAGAZINES, RESULTING expression) and the PCR machine (for measuring gene IN A NEW ANNUAL MAGAZINE, EARLY IN expression). Both pieces of equipment are helping scientists 2020 CELEBRATING THE IMPACT OF to advance their understanding of leukaemia and work towards YOUR GENEROSITY.

AIG UK EMPLOYEES REACH THEIR £30,000 FUNDRAISING TARGET! Glasgow based employees at American International Group UK Limited have been fundraising for the Beatson Pebble Appeal since 2011. They raised funds through many initiatives such as an office tuck shop, second-hand bookshop, dress down days, sale of paintings, and staff members taking part in half marathons, 10ks, zip slide and firewalk events. We were delighted to welcome some staff members to the Wolfson Wohl Cancer Research Centre to celebrate reaching this fundraising milestone where they had an opportunity to meet staff and scientists at the centre.

developing more effective and less invasive treatments.

The White Lily Fund (WLF) generously supported the purchase of this equipment with a gift of £21,000. The WLF was set up in 1994 by Angela Bruno MBE and has six volunteers who organise events to raise funds for cancer research in the West of Scotland.

The Tennant Southpark Charitable Trust, pictured, visiting the lab

TENNANT SOUTHPARK CHARITABLE TRUST

For more information on any of our articles

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please get in touch: Medical: Laura.Morton@glasgow.ac.uk 0141 330 3878 Cancer: Catherine.McGrory@glasgow.ac.uk 0141 330 8007

The Tennant Southpark Charitable Trust donated £25,000 to cancer sciences to fund a new piece of equipment which helps analyse patient protein samples much more accurately than before. Dr Fiona Thomson, Director of Translational Pharmacology from the Wolfson Wohl Cancer Research Centre described how the WES system has had a significant impact on their research when the Trustees visited the lab in December.

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2019 Spr MF News

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