CRUK September Research Update: Our new partnership with the National Cancer Institute and launching Cancer Grand Challenges

SUPPORTING PHD STUDENTS DURING THE PANDEMIC

We will support PhD students whose research has been impacted by COVID-19. We've mandated that CRUK-funded students in their penultimate and final years are supported, if necessary and justified, with costed extensions of up six months.

Karen Noble, Head of Research Careers at CRUK, shares that These cost extensions will ensure that students can deliver their PhD studies to completion despite the challenges and uncertainty posed by COVID-19, and aim to protect the cancer research leaders of tomorrow.

Weve updated our coronavirus guidance FAQ page providing more information about the studentship extension.

EARLY DETECTION WORKSHOP: FINAL WEEKS TO APPLY

The deadline to apply for our next early detection sandpit workshop is fast approaching closing on 15 September. In partnership with Pancreatic Cancer UK and The Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council, the sandpit will be exploring technological approaches for the early detection of pancreatic cancer.

This years workshop will now be held as a virtual event from 29 November to 2 December.

BRING YOUR PRODUCTS TO PATIENTS

Learn how to take your product from bench to bedside with Dr Michelle Griffin, Clinical Innovator at The Technology Partnership (TTP). In the third seminar of the Cancer Research UK-Start Codon entrepreneurial training scheme, were covering the five key questions you should ask yourself when designing and developing your product for patients in the clinic.

This training scheme aims to encourage entrepreneurship in our cancer research community. Join Dr Griffin on 17 September at 12pm to discuss product design, how to integrate your product into the clinical pathway and how to determine its clinical and economic impact.

AAL DEVELOPS NEW ANTIBODY MATURATION TECHNIQUE

Researchers at the Cancer Research UK-AstraZeneca Antibody Alliance Laboratory, in collaboration with teams at the University of Oxford and the University of Leicester, have generated a potential therapeutic antibody against arginase 2 (ARG2), which is implicated in various types of cancers.

The findings, published recently in PNAS and in mAbs, reveal how researchers were able to generate a potent antibody designed to stop the immune evasion effects of ARG2 in cancer. In their PNAS paper, the researchers describe how they optimised the antibody using randomised PCR-based techniques and a ribosome display antibody selection platform. This enabled them to deliver a putative therapeutic lead from an antibody which had been very challenging to optimise using conventional approaches.

The hope is that in combination with chemotherapy or immunotherapy, the antibody may help target tumours that have been hiding from the immune system.

FIRST PATIENT DOSED IN PHASE IIa EXPANSION TRIAL

In partnership with Bicycle Therapeutics, our Centre for Drug Development has dosed the first patient in the Phase IIa expansion portion of a Phase I/IIa trial. This trial is evaluating BT1718, a Bicycle toxin conjugate targeting key tumour antigen MT1-MMP, in patients with MT1-MMP-positive squamous non-small cell lung cancer, and a basket cohort with other MT1-MMP-positive solid tumours.