News from the Medical Research Council network Summer 2015 Leading science for better health Going public The unexpected benefits of open science Exposing the silent killer A new test that doubles ovarian cancer detection rates Network can also be downloaded as a PDF at: www.mrc.ac.uk/network CONTENTS News COMMENT FROM Academic-industry network to find new treatments 3 UK population cohorts now online 4 John People Savill CHIEF EXECUTIVE Obituary: Professor Alan Hall 9 Industry and academia have a symbiotic relationship. Discoveries made in universities and MRC institutes where Latest discoveries scientists have the freedom to pursue fundamental research Childhood obesity risk has trebled since 1946 12 questions feed into the pipeline of pharma and biotech companies. Screening method doubles ovarian cancer detection 13 And precious few new treatments and diagnostics would ever reach patients without industry’s expertise, facilities and financial muscle, which are needed to take a potential new treatment through the rigours of Funding clinical trials and regulatory approval. Working together is critical to our shared aim of improving human health. Getting best value from the MRC’s The MRC has a long track record of working with industry. infrastructure investments 14 AstraZeneca were pioneers in the first innovative compound collaboration project with the MRC in 2012. Our Stratified Medicine programme involves over 50 companies and a further six companies are involved in the MRC-led Dementia Platform UK. Features We’ve just announced our latest industry partnership: Infographic: the MRC in numbers 10 project EMINENT with GlaxoSmithKline. This is another innovation in terms of how academic scientists can work Working Life: Paediatrician and clinical trial coordinator effectively with industry partners; a network of academic and industry researchers within which ideas and new Dr Olubukola Idoko 16 knowledge can be freely and quickly exchanged and discoveries with commercial potential can be taken forward. Opinion: Going public with your research 18 Read more about EMINENT on page 3. John Savill MRC Chief Executive NEWS Academic-industry network to find new treatments Five universities have joined forces with GlaxoSmithKline in an MRC-funded network to study the underlying causes of common diseases for which there are no - or very few - treatments. The Experimental Medicine Initiative to Explore New The MRC has invested £5 million up front with the Therapies (EMINENT) brings together the Universities of possibility of a further £3m in future, depending on Cambridge, Glasgow, Imperial College, Newcastle, and a review of the project’s early outcomes. The MRC University College London with pharmaceutical company funding will support the academic costs of up to ten GlaxoSmithKline (GSK). The network of researchers will focused projects over the next five years through carry out experimental medicine studies to improve grant-like awards to the universities. understanding of the fundamental mechanisms of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, immune Training opportunities will be provided for both early- inflammation, respiratory disease and fibrosis and career and established researchers within the network develop new treatment strategies. to help build a legacy of expertise in translational and experimental human research. GSK will openly collaborate These diseases blight the lives of millions of people to grant access to their expertise, drug portfolio and worldwide and are a leading cause of deaths, but they facilities, allowing information and new knowledge to flow stubbornly continue to have few or no treatment options freely and promptly through the network, maximising the despite the progress made in other disease areas over the impact of research discoveries. past 20 years. Find out more at www.mrc.ac.uk/news-events/news New resource for developmental biologists A new website for researchers has been launched, bringing together data on the genes responsible for developmental diseases. The website collates 3D imaging, tissue histology and immunochemistry data, as well as embryonic or placental structural abnormalities from mice for each ‘knocked out’ gene. The data are from the Wellcome Trust-funded ‘Deciphering the Mechanisms of Developmental Disorders’ (DMDD) research programme which has been running since 2013, coordinated by former MRC National Institute for Medical Research scientists who now work at the Francis Crick Institute. Set up to discover genes required for embryonic development, DMDD’s goal is to find candidate genes involved in developmental disease, and kick-start study of why these mutations have such profound effects on embryo development and survival. Visit the website at http://dmdd.org.uk MRCNetwork | 3 NEWS UK population cohorts now online A new online directory of the UK’s largest population cohorts has been created by the MRC to help researchers and policy-makers to find and use them more easily. These large-scale studies of healthy people are Professor Jill Pell, Director of the Institute of a valuable UK asset; currently one in 30 people in Health and Wellbeing at the University of Glasgow, the UK population are cohort study members. has also written a post for the MRC’s blog about the value of cohort studies. She comments: The directory provides a brief profile of each cohort “As a researcher, I think this directory will be and a high level overview of the information it invaluable in improving awareness and use of collects. Users can filter their searches by gender, these valuable resources, and I encourage the age range, sample size at recruitment and variables rest of the research community to take full collected such as physical, cognitive, lifestyle and advantage of this exciting development.” socioeconomic measures and biological samples. You can find the directory at: It currently holds information on the UK’s www.mrc.ac.uk/cohort-directory largest population cohorts but ultimately this will be expanded to include a broader range of Read Jill’s full post at http://mrc.io/1JYMBiX cohort studies. Updated guidance on animal research Those applying for funding to carry out research involving animals will now need to provide more information under revised guidance from the major UK research funders. Guidelines produced by the UK research minimised and providing information on councils and the major charitable funding the statistical aspects of the study. bodies were reviewed and updated in April so that animal research applications can be The animal research section on the Joint more robustly evaluated. Electronic Submission System (Je-S) has been altered to reflect these changes and all All proposals using animals now need to applicants for research council funding explain not only why the use of animals is involving animals should read the new justified and the ethical implications of the guidance, along with the NC3Rs’ ARRIVE planned experiments, but also clearly guidelines, before starting their application. describe how the design of experiments will give robust results. That includes outlining Download the documents at: how the number of animals to be used was http://mrc.io/1HHfXC5 decided, how experimental bias will be http://mrc.io/1G2ADPq 4 | MRCNetwork Lab-grown organs to liver tests: a look back at our successes in 2013-14 A review of some of the MRC’s successes in 2013/14 can now be found on our website, featuring interviews with scientists behind a selection of our most interesting and important discoveries. Professor Giovanna Mallucci of the MRC Toxicology Unit in Leicester, who has discovered a way to prevent neurodegeneration in mice. Professor Clare Blackburn at the MRC Professor Giovanna Mallucci The test could cut diagnosis time from Centre for Regenerative Medicine at has discovered a way to stop weeks to a single day and has potential the University of Edinburgh tells us neurodegeneration in its tracks in mice to be used across the globe. how she and her team have grown the – pointing the way to possible new first ever fully functional organ from preventative treatments for dementia. For 102 years, the MRC has targeted the cells in the lab – a thymus gland – which world’s biggest health problems, funded could ultimately provide a new way to MRC research doesn’t just benefit the very best scientists and ideas to boost immunity in those who most our health and society; it generates discover answers to those problems, need it, such as leukemia patients and innovative technologies, drugs and and used these discoveries to transform the elderly. diagnostics which create jobs and our lives. The review includes a help boost the UK economy. At the selection of success stories from the Neurodegenerative diseases such University of Oxford, Professor Stefan past two years which add to our long as dementia are one of the biggest Neubauer explains how his MRC- story of improving human health, challenges our society faces as the supported research ultimately led to him benefiting society and supporting number of elderly people in the and a group of colleagues establishing a economic growth. population grows. At the MRC new company to develop and market Toxicology Unit in Leicester, their new test for chronic liver disease. www.mrc.ac.uk/annualreview13-14 MRCNetwork | 5 NEWS Gaming technology solves twitchytwitchy patient problem MRC-funded researchers plan to use video game technology to solve the problem of blurry brain scan images which happen when patients move their heads while inside the scanner. Many patients, particularly those with dementia, find it hard or controller. By combining this with the latest advances in impossible to keep completely still during scans carried out as computer vision algorithms they will make a low cost, accurate part of their diagnosis or during research studies. The blurring and user-friendly system that integrates with PET scanners and effects caused by this movement leads to wasted or inaccurate can be widely used for diagnosis and research. No special lighting data, which is costly and inefficient.