Cancer Research UK Manchester Institute SCIENTIFIC REPORT 2013
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SCIENTIFIC REPORT 2013 cruk.org SCIENTIFIC Cover image Invading cancer cells (green) in muscle layers (red) are surrounded by collagen (red and white). REPORT Image provided by Haoran Tang of the Molecular Oncology group. 2013 MANCHESTER INSTITUTE CONTENTS SECTION 1 SECTION 2 DIRECTOR’S INTRODUCTION 04 RESEARCH SERVICES RESEARCH HIGHLIGHTS 2013 07 Steve Bagley 48 CANCER RESEARCH UK Advanced Imaging and Flow Cytometry MANCHESTER INSTITUTE Duncan Smith 49 Biological Mass Spectrometry RESEARCH GROUPS Crispin Miller 14 Biological Resources Unit 50 Applied Computational Biology Garry Ashton 51 and Bioinformatics Histology Karim Labib 16 Mark Craven 52 Cell Cycle Laboratory Services Iain Hagan 18 Stuart Pepper 52 Cell Division Molecular Biology Core Facility Nic Jones 20 Wei Xing 53 Cell Regulation Scientific Computing Angeliki Malliri 22 Cell Signalling SECTION 3 Caroline Dive 24 Clinical and Experimental Pharmacology RESEARCH PUBLICATIONS 56 Ivan Ahel 28 THESES 64 DNA Damage Response SEMINAR SERIES 2013 66 Donald Ogilvie 30 POSTGRADUATE EDUCATION 68 Drug Discovery OPERATIONS 70 Peter L. Stern 32 Immunology CANCER RESEARCH UK’S LOCAL Nullin Divecha 34 ENGAGEMENT AND DEVELOPMENT 76 Inositide Laboratory ACKNOWLEDGEMENT FOR FUNDING 78 Tim Somervaille 36 CAREER OPPORTUNITIES 79 Leukaemia Biology CONTACT DETAILS 80 The Cancer Research UK Manchester Institute is located in The Paterson Building Richard Marais 38 Molecular Oncology John Brognard 40 Signalling Networks in Cancer Georges Lacaud 42 Stem Cell Biology Valerie Kouskoff 44 Stem Cell Haematopoiesis 2 SCIENTIFIC REPORT 2013 CANCER RESEARCH UK MANCHESTER INSTITUTE 3 DNA-damage based therapy and is a good Towards the end of the year, the renewal of DIRECTOR’S INTRODUCTION strategic fit with the personalised medicine funding for the Manchester Cancer Research agenda that runs through all of our priority Centre (MCRC) was announced by CRUK. This areas. partnership between the University of Manchester, Cancer Research UK and The In July, Peter Stern retired after twenty-four Christie NHS Foundation Trust provides years as a Senior Group Leader in the Institute. infrastructure and training support that During this time he made valuable contributions facilitates interactions between scientists and to the field of cancer immunology, in particular clinicians. The next five years of funding will with his work in harnessing the immune system play a crucial role in driving the personalised to attack the 5T4 protein which is highly cancer medicine agenda in Manchester and the expressed in many carcinomas. He will remain North West. The MCRC building that is currently It has been a highly eventful year for the Institute with a new actively involved in research for some time being constructed opposite the Paterson through an honorary position with the Building is due for completion in Autumn 2014 identity, a major centre award, Group Leader recruitment and University’s Institute of Cancer Sciences. and is set to provide space for both the the continuation of our drive to extend the capabilities of our expansion of CRUK MI as well as recruitment of Karim Labib joined the MRC Protein further University of Manchester cancer core research services. Our two largest research teams Phosphorylation and Ubiquitylation Unit in research groups. An exciting development is underwent very successful Quinquennial Reviews and Dundee, as well as becoming Professor of that Manchester has been shortlisted for further Genome Integrity at the College of Life Sciences discussions with CRUK regarding Major Centre towards the end of the year, Tim Somervaille was promoted at the University of Dundee. Nullin Divecha will status which would greatly accelerate Professor Richard Marais take up a position at the University of achievement of our research aims. Director of The Cancer to Senior Group Leader. Research UK Manchester Southampton in 2014 while Ivan Ahel moved to Institute the William Dunn School of Pathology at the It is a pleasure to note a number of prizes and Our rebranding to the Cancer Research UK key role in the ground-breaking TRACERx University of Oxford. Two of our Post-doctoral awards to members of the Institute. Eva Manchester Institute (CRUK MI), that took place (Tracking Cancer Evolution through Treatment) Research Fellows, Giacomo de Piccoli and Barkauskaite, was the recipient of the Institute’s in October, acknowledges the core funding that lung cancer study announced by CRUK in 2013. Dragana Ahel, were both awarded Career Dexter Award for Young Scientists. This honour we receive from the charity and recognises the This £14 million study spanning nine years will Development Fellowships from Cancer was in recognition of her highly successful generosity of our supporters. We renamed the be performed by a network of teams around the Research UK to start their own research groups structural and mechanistic work on poly(ADP- site where we are located as The Paterson UK with the aim of tracking how lung tumours studying the regulation of genome stability at ribose) glycohydrolase, which has culminated in Building to ensure that we continue to celebrate develop and evolve as patients receive The University of Warwick and The University of an impressive set of publications in just over the legacy of Edith and Ralston Paterson and the treatment. Oxford respectively. three years during her PhD studies in the DNA impact that they had on cancer research and Damage Response group. In addition, Eva was treatment in Manchester. During the year, the Following a successful tenure review, Tim In the summer, we welcomed Wei Xing, who awarded a prize for the best talk at 7th Professor Caroline Dive finalisation of the management structure of the Somervaille has been promoted to Senior joined us to lead the new Scientific Computing International PhD Student Cancer Conference Deputy Director of The Institute was completed with the appointment Group Leader and will now continue to build on Facility, which will provide a High Performance hosted by students from the CRUK London Cancer Research UK of Caroline Dive as Deputy Director and Stuart the platform of basic and translational research Computing and data management service Research Institute as well as receiving the Ruth Manchester Institute Pepper and Caroline Wilkinson taking on the into acute myeloid leukaemia that he has allowing us to fully exploit the complex datasets Bowden Scholarship from the British Federation roles of Chief Laboratory Officer and Chief established over the last six years. Tim’s success that we obtain from the technological platforms of Women Graduates. Operating Officer respectively. to date was also recognised through the award that are now available in our core research of International Researcher of the Year by The facilities. These facilities will serve scientists in Professor Richard Marais was awarded the Major research highlights from 2013 included Christie NHS Foundation Trust. both the new MCRC research building as well as second Griem Lectureship in Molecular and the identification of driver mutations for throughout the Paterson Building and were Cellular Oncology from University of Chicago non-small cell lung cancer; a study which Recruitment was one of the major goals for the given a significant boost towards the end of Comprehensive Cancer Center (UCCCC) and uncovered a novel mechanism by which year and resulted in the appointment of three 2012 with an £8.7M investment from the UK will travel there in 2014 to receive the award and melanoma develops resistance to BRAF new Junior Group Leaders who will join the Research Partnership Investment Fund (UKRPIF). deliver a research lecture; Ged Brady, Dominic targeted drugs; the identification of critical Institute in 2014. Claus Jorgensen, starts in early To help with their development and plan for Rothwell and Debbie Burt of the Clinical and oncogenic factors in acute myeloid leukaemia; 2014 and will study tumour-stromal signalling in expansion, I commissioned a review of these Experimental Pharmacology group, received the development of a unique approach to study pancreatic cancer; he will be joined later on in facilities, which was conducted by an external first prize for their poster presentation at the 9th small cell lung cancer using patient-derived the year by Michela Garofalo who will establish a panel chaired by Professor Owen Sansom from International Symposium on Minimal Residual circulating tumour cell explant mouse models; group to examine the role of micro-RNAs in the CRUK Beatson Institute. This was a highly Cancer, held in Paris. Ivan Ahel’s success during and the elucidation of key mechanistic insights lung cancer, and Esther Baena whose team will valuable exercise and we shall continue to his time at the Institute was acknowledged with into the control of mitosis. investigate the molecular mechanisms driving implement recommendations from the review the award from CRUK of their 2013 Future tumorigenesis in prostate cancer. The addition throughout the coming year. In addition to Leaders’ Prize which was presented to him at the The Drug Discovery Unit, led by Donald Ogilvie, of prostate cancer to our areas of interest is in several major items acquired during 2013 with NCRI conference in Liverpool. Drug Discovery and the Clinical Experimental Pharmacology light of a successful major funding application in the UKRPIF investment, we also purchased a won the S-Lab Effective Laboratory Award while Group, led by Caroline Dive, performed collaboration with Queen’s University,