Publication Highlights: January 2021
The Rho GTPase RAC1 is implicated in cell proliferation and is a potential target in cancer treatment. However, it is also required for normal intestinal homeostasis, so direct targeting of RAC1 could negatively impact that homeostasis. As an alternative approach to direct targeting, Karen Pickering, together with fellow authors, tested indirect targeting of RAC1 via other proteins that affect it, namely Vav2/3 and Tiam1 (A RAC-GEF network critical for early intestinal tumourigenesis). Deletion of all three of these genes profoundly suppressed hyperproliferation, tumourigenesis and RAC1 activity, and importantly, did so without impacting normal intestinal function.
John Le Quesne joins the Beatson Institute
29th January 2021
We would like to extend a warm welcome to Professor John Le Quesne, who recently joined the Beatson Institute. John joins us from the MRC Toxicology Unit in Leicester, and he comes to Glasgow as Mazumdar-Shaw Professor of Molecular Pathology.
Publication Highlights: Nov/Dec 2020
In a preprint available on bioRxiv (Absent expansion of pericentral hepatocytes and altered physiology in Axin2CreERT2 mice), postdoc Stephanie May and fellow researchers at the Beatson Institute reconcile discrepancies found in previous lineage tracing studies of hepatocytes. Using a CreERT2 construct knocked into the endogenous Axin2 locus, the team found no evidence of expansion of the labelled hepatocytes. They also report that this mutant allele results in profound perturbation of the Wnt pathway and physiology in the mouse.
Top tips for involving patients in your research
November 2020
As CRUK's Natalia Bartolome Diez put it, 'When done well, patient involvement can improve the quality and relevance of research, and is increasingly becoming a funding application requirement.' CRUK has asked researchers and people affected by cancer for their top tips on getting patient involvement right in all types and stages of research.
Here's a brief rundown of what they found:
1. Start early
The earlier you start planning patient involvement in your study, the more likely you are to involve the right people at the right time, using the most appropriate methods. Starting early helps you to gain deeper insights from the people you involve. It gives you time to embed their ideas in your research and make impactful changes as a result.
2. Take time to plan
The key to involving people affected by cancer meaningfully is planning. Taking time to think about the why, what, when and how of patient engagement will help you to identify key areas of your research that will benefit from patient involvement, and what this involvement should look like.
'Notify charity patient involvement partners at the earliest opportunity to develop your patient involvement plan effectively and with the greatest amount of advice and support' – Precision Panc Researcher
3. Involve the right people
You must find people affected by cancer who are able to give you the insight and information you need. Be clear about the requirements of the role and identify the skills, experience and personal attributes that the people participating in your activity will need to have.
4. Provide lay information
Explaining your study and general research topic to the people you are involving in your research will enable them to accurately feed into discussions. Information should be provided in clear, succinct, plain English. Don't assume that everyone you involve has the same abilities.
5. Establish ways of working
Ensuring that you and the people affected by cancer who become involved in your research feel comfortable and have positive experiences from the start is vital to encourage quality insight and feedback. It can be intimidating to enter a room full of researchers and muster the courage to dispute elements of their research or make suggestions. Therefore, the researchers and participants in involvement activities should agree on ways of working.
'During these partnerships of people affected by cancer and researchers, you find that it is the person that is being treated and not just the illness' – Patient Representative
6. Don't reinvent the wheel
Make full use of the resources available from different charities, rather than trying to create a new way of doing patient involvement. CRUK can help you identify involvement opportunities at any stage of your research and support you in their delivery.
'I was really impressed by my visit to the CRUK Cancer Insight Panel – they provided a unique perspective on my research plans and I came away buzzing with new ideas and inspiration' – Translational Researcher
7. Always provide feedback
Many people affected by cancer start doing patient involvement because they want to 'give back' and improve outcomes for future patients with cancer. Patient involvement empowers them to influence change and provides a sense of purpose. For this reason, it is important that those involved are made aware of the impact and consequences their feedback and insight had on research.
The above is an abbreviated version of CRUK's Research Feature. Click here to read the full article.
Publication Highlights: October 2020
In a pre-print available on BioRxiv ("RAL GTPases mediate EGFR/MAPK signalling-driven intestinal stem cell proliferation and tumorigenesis upstream of RAS activation"), Julia Cordero and Glasgow cancer scientists uncover a new role for Ras-like (RAL) protein in intestinal tumour growth. Beyond acting as a RAS effector, RAL stimulated the activation and internalisation of EGFR, a receptor commonly overexpressed in intestinal cancer. Hence, targeting RAL function could be an effective therapeutic approach.
David Bryant awarded UKRI-funded Future Leaders Fellowship
From University of Glasgow press release (https://www.gla.ac.uk/news/headline_757602_en.html:
Dr David Bryant has been awarded £1.2m to undertake new research into colorectal carcinoma, beginning the OrgTIP project which will look at how inhibiting Phosphoinositide-modifying enzymes (PIP-MEs) could help to combat the disease. PIP-MEs are a family of genes that are commonly altered in many cancers, but particularly in bowel cancer. In bowel cancer, the PIP-MEs become uncontrolled to the extent they no longer work, or work when they shouldn't. The OrgTIP project will look at how to target the altered PIP-MEs without damaging normal cells.
National Mouse Genetics Network
The Medical Research Council (MRC) is investing more than £20m in a major new network in mouse genetics for disease modelling to accelerate our understanding of human disease and improve diagnosis and treatments. Here, Professor Owen Sansom, Director of the National Mouse Genetics Network, writes about his vision for the new network, the exciting opportunity for the UK, and plans to engage with the community.
Publication Highlights: September 2020
Luke Tweedy, Robert Insall and colleagues at the Beatson report in Science ("Seeing around corners: Cells solve mazes and respond at a distance using attractant breakdown") that cells navigate complex environments such as man-made labyrinths by following and leaving chemical 'breadcrumbs', allowing pursuing cells to instantly find the shortest path and to avoid dead ends. This study helps us to understand how the environment and signals produced by other cells cue the direction of cancer spread.
CRUK Commercial Partnerships publishes its 2019/20 Annual Review
CRUK Commercial Partnerships acts as the meeting point between the charity's funded research and industry. It helps to accelerate the translation of research into products for patient benefit through the development and commercialisation of exciting new discoveries. In addition, any revenue received through its commercial partnerships is reinvested back into developing lifesaving research.
Publication Highlights: August 2020
Patients affected by recessive dystrophic epidermolysis bullosa often develop life-threatening, aggressive skin cancer (SCCRDEB) with limited treatment options. Jasbani Dayal, Gareth Inman and colleagues found that although the response to blocking endogenous TGFβ signalling was diverse in SCCDREB samples, the treatment predominantly stopped cancer cell proliferation (in British Journal of Dermatology). This offers potential therapeutic benefits to these patients but clinical trials will need to proceed with caution due to the tumour-proliferative effects seen in a small number of patients.
Update on our volunteers
02 September 2020
Beatson scientists continue to support and volunteer at the University of Glasgow's Lighthouse Lab COVID-19 testing centre. Over 20 scientists from 12 of the Institute's different research groups and advanced technologies teams have volunteered their expertise, day and night, and the Lighthouse Lab team has recently passed the milestone of over 1,000,000 samples processed.
July 2020 Publication Highlights
31st July 2020
Jamie Whitelaw, Karthic Swaminathan, Laura Machesky and co-authors show in their study in Cells that the WAVE regulatory complex (WRC) is required for cell mobility, as seen for example in cancer spread. When one of WRC's components, Nckap1, was deleted, cells were unable to form sheet-like projections at their front edge and the turnover of their anchoring system was reduced, resulting in the slowing down of the cells' forward speed. This demonstrates a clear role of WRC in the ability of cells to migrate.
June 2020 Publication Highlights
3rd July 2020
Ed Roberts was co-first author on a paper with colleagues from UCSF in Cancer Cell (Visualizing synaptic transfer of tumor antigens among dendritic cells), which describes how dendritic cells (DCs) transport tumour antigens to the lymph node within vesicles, which they then transfer to other resident DCs. Only DCs containing these vesicles can then activate T cells, which go on to infiltrate the tumour. Understanding these early steps in the development of anti-tumour immunity could ultimately lead to better treatments for cancer.
Round up of the latest volunteer stories
15th June 2020
The Beatson is extremely proud of all of our scientists who are volunteering in the Lighthouse Lab testing centre in Glasgow and supporting efforts to tackle COVID-19. Here is a round up of some of their stories, which you can currently find in the Scottish press:
Dave Bryant inspiring people to Race for Life at Home
14th May 2020
Dr Dave Bryant, one of our scientists here at the Beatson, is doing all he can to support Cancer Research UK's Race For Life At Home. He is encouraging everyone to take part in a challenge at home to raise vital funds for life-saving cancer research. But he and his husband, Zachary Claudino have also set themselves a Race For Life At Home challenge of their own, to run for 30 minutes every day together during their daily exercise with their pet dog, Lucy.
See inside Scotland's COVID-19 testing lab
23rd April 2020
BBC News has been inside the new Glasgow Lighthouse Lab, a collaboration between the University of Glasgow, the private sector, the Cancer Research UK Beatson Institute and the NHS. Several researchers from the Beatson as well as colleagues from the Institute of Cancer Sciences are volunteering in lab, including Jo Birch, Jodie Hay, Nati Gomez-Roman, Grant McGregor, Lynn McGarry and Natasha Malik.
Glasgow Lighthouse Lab begins COVID-19 testing
22nd April 2020
It was announced today (22 April 2020) that a major new COVID-19 testing facility, the Lighthouse Laboratory in Glasgow, has opened in collaboration with the Cancer Research UK Beatson Institute.
Cancer Research UK Beatson Institute helping in the fight against COVID-19
03rd April 2020
The University of Glasgow has announced it will host a major COVID-19 testing centre at its Clinical Innovation Zone at the Queen Elizabeth University Hospital campus in Glasgow as part of efforts to combat the pandemic [see BBC News 2 April 2020]. The Cancer Research UK Beatson Institute has been playing its part, in partnership with the University, to get the laboratory up and running by donating PCR machines and vital reagents, and several Institute staff members will be volunteering their time and expertise once testing begins in mid-April.
Institute Director, Owen Sansom said: "I couldn't be more pleased for the Cancer Research UK Beatson Institute to be helping NHS colleagues in this way, as well as the local community which has been so supportive of the Institute's work over many years. Just as with cancer research, this fight is about everyone working together to make a difference."
Integrating Cancer Imaging Biomarker Clinical Research Across the UK
26th March 2020
UK National Cancer Imaging Translational Accelerator (NCITA) establishes infrastructure for validation and adoption of cancer imaging biomarkers as decision-making tools in clinical trials and NHS practice.
Institute closes in response to COVID-19 crisis
23rd March 2020
Message from Professor Owen Sansom, Director of the Cancer Research UK Beatson Institute, to all of our colleagues and supporters in light of the COVID-19 crisis:
These are difficult and challenging times for everyone and from Monday, 23rd March 2020, the Cancer Research UK Beatson Institute will be closed for all but the most essential laboratory work. With the exception of a small core of staff engaged in this essential work, all of our staff and students will be working from home.
