LDCRC Newsletter April 2024

April 2024

LDCRC NEWSLETTER

CANCER RESEARCH LDCRC- Delivering Digital Medicine for Cancer Patients

SPRING 2024 NEWSLETTER READ MORE

RESEARCH NEWS & HIGHLIGHTS

Prof Christophe Silien awarded €5 Million to Led EU research on advanced medical imaging A pilot project at UHL is significantly reducing the development of cancer-related lymphoedema LDCRC researchers win European Open Science Award April is Bowel Cancer Awareness Month

READ MORE Mini-Symposium, April 24th LDCRC at UL Research Week on April 29th The Joint Euro-American Forum on Cancer, April 2426th The All Ireland Lung Cancer Conference, April 12-13th

SAVE THE DATE: UPCOMING EVENTS

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LDCRC BUILDING CANCER RESEARCH An LDCRC Strategy meeting was held at the University Hospital Limerick (UHL) Clinical Education and Research Centre (CERC) on Friday, February 23rd.

The meeting was one of a series of planned meetings in the LDCRC strategy process map towards developing a 3-year strategic plan. Researchers and staff from UHL and

LDCRC Strategic Planing

UL engaged in discussions on LDCRC strengths and opportunities. The meeting was well attended with over 40 attendees.

This series of strategic planning began in June

2023,

with

a

SWOT

(strengths,

weaknesses,

opportunities,

and

threats)

assessment.

A

a

strategic

SWOT

is

management tool to help take stock of an organization's internal characteristics, or its strengths and weaknesses, and can be used to develop strategy, prioritize projects, and refine goals. The LDCRC SWOT engaged participants,

from

disciplines,

clinical,

multiple and

academic

health-related

areas.

The key findings of the SWOT analysis were presented on Feb 23rd and we discussed steps that could be taken to build on strengths and opportunities.

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CANCER COLLABORATIVE GROUPS The cancer collaborative research groups, connecting UHL hospitals and UL continue to grow, expand and progress cancer research in the mid west regions.

LDCRC Strategic Planing

The Blood, Breast, and Biobanking groups are meeting regularly. A new GU/Prostate subgroup started recently.

The Lung and Colorectal subgroups are not currently meeting but there is active research ongoing and meetings will restart this year. The Colorectal group is seeking more people to engage. The lung is on hold for the moment, but hoping that this will be starting up again shortly.

The PPI group have made an educational promotional video. This will be formally launched at Science week in UL and at a PPI information and recruitment event in UHL in the

There is a growing Cancer Nursing (ANP/CNS)

coming weeks together with the PPI

and an Allied Health Professionals working group,

information leaflet for patients.

We encourage you to get involved.

There is a table of these groups ,with the best person to cat the back of the newsletter.

The PPI group continue to focus on recruitment of patients and engagement on research projects within ULHG and UL and are working on plans for promoting and training in PPI

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RESEARCH NEWS & HIGHLIGHTS UL RESEARCHERS LEAD EU €5 MILLION PROJECT TO USE AI TO SPEED UP MEDICAL IMAGING ALLOWING FOR MORE TIMELY AND BETTER TAILORING OF TREATMENTS FOR PATIENTS. Led by Professor Christophe Silien, in UL’s Department of Physics and Bernal Institute the pan-European project ‘uCAIR’ will explore an innovative photonics technology to enable Raman imaging in clinical practice. Current Raman-based systems are too slow for diagnostic procedures. By increasing the accuracy and speed of imaging and analysis, the gap can be closed allowing innovative medical treatments and diagnostics tailored to patients’ specific conditions.

“We want to break through the technological barriers that currently prevent widescale adoption of Raman in clinical practices.”

The innovative project has received around €5 million in funding under the Europeans Union’s Horizon Europe Programme. uCAIR brings together 11 partner institutions from Ireland, Belgium, Czech Republic, France, Germany and Turkey. The results and benefits of the developed technologies will be studied in two realistic case studies on bladder cancer diagnostic from biopsy tissues and fast analysis of fluid biomarkers from urine.

"The consortium is uniquely placed to achieve this goal as the project brings together world recognised experts covering the whole development chain including research and design photonics small and medium enterprises, research laboratories in optics and cell biology, and world-leading microscopists and clinicians to create an innovative, versatile, practical multimodal photonics platform that will enhance and speed up the way cells are examined by scientists and healthcare professionals” Professor Tofail Syed, Head of UL’s Department of Physics, added: “Both Ireland and the European Union have significantly invested in tackling cancers. The project also aligns with the Limerick Digital Cancer Research Centre that brings clinical practitioners with non-clinical researchers onto the same platform. The consortium technology roadmap targets rapid societal impact in the medical instrument market and also ambitious scientific and economic impacts with a faster pace of discoveries in materials and pharmaceuticals objectives.

READ MORE https://www.ul.ie/research/news/ul-researchers-lead-project-aimed-at-revolutionising-how-patients-are-diagnosed-and https://www.independent.ie/regionals/limerick/news/limerick-researchers-lead-project-using-ai-to-revolutionize-howpatients-are-diagnosed-and-treated/a2098842867.html

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RESEARCH NEWS & HIGHLIGHTS PILOT PROJECT AT UNIVERSITY HOSPITAL LIMERICK SIGNIFICANTLY REDUCING THE DEVELOPMENT OF CANCER-RELATED LYMPHOEDEMA

This three-year pilot project, lymphoedema early detection service at UHL is the only one of its type in an acute hospital outside of Dublin.

Lymphoedema is a swelling that can occur in the arm, hand or torso after cancer treatments including surgery, radiotherapy, chemotherapy, and endocrine therapies. These treatments can compromise the lymphatic system and lead to a build-up of lymph fluid which causes pain, skin changes, and reduced function. This can be very distressing and adversely affect quality of life.

Early evidence since the establishment of the service in Limerick shows that patients have significantly reduced their risk of developing lymphoedema through prompt assessment, patient education, and ongoing monitoring. Incidence of clinical lymphoedema in patients attending the UHL service is 1.5%, compared with around 21 and 30% internationally.

Preliminary results for the service in UHL are encouraging. Of 294 breast patients seen in the first 19 months, 43 showed early signs of lymphoedema. Of these, 30 resolved with treatment with 13 continuing to undergo treatment to reverse or reduce the swelling.

READ MORE

RESEARCH NEWS & HIGHLIGHTS MUNSTER BLOOD CLUB MEETING MARCH 14TH THE STRAND HOTEL, LIMERICK The Munster Blood Club meeting was held at the Strand Hotel on March 14th. Delegates from all Munster hospitals attended.

Guest speakers included Dr Pauline Robbe from the RIKEN IMS in Japan who spoke about whole genome sequencing of CLL and Dr Onima Chowdhury, Oxford University who spoke about options for patients with non transplant eligible MDS/AML.

LDCRC RESEARCHERS PUBLISH PNAS STUDY ON ENVIRONMENTAL AGENTS THAT UNDERPIN ENDEMIC BURKITT LYMPHOMA IN AFRICA Prof Paul Murray and Dr Lucia Mundo, who until recently was a Marie Curie fellow in the LDCRC, are authors on a paper just published in PNAS. Lucia Mundo is a co-first author in the study that provides an insight into the synergistic impact of exposures to environmental agents present in the lymphoma belt regions in Africa such as aflatoxin B1 (AFB1) and oncogenic virus infection, e.g., Epstein–Barr virus (EBV).

Burkitt lymphoma (BL) is endemic in African regions faced with mycotoxins exposure. Exposure to mycotoxins and oncogenic viruses has been shown to increase cancer risks partly through the deregulation of the immune response. The study reveals mechanisms through which exposures might contribute to endemic BL. The study unravelled a role for the AFB1-induced upregulation of the CCL22 in enhancing EBV infection of B cells and therefore a putative role in eBL development. This might corroborate what happens in African sub-Saharan regions where children are first exposed to mycotoxins including AFB1 through food contamination that could deregulate their immune response including CCL22 levels and increase their susceptibility to EBV infection.

This would explain in part the high prevalence of eBL in those regions.

READ MORE https://www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/pnas.2314426121

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RESEARCH NEWS & HIGHLIGHTS LIMERICK RESEARCHERS WIN EUROPEAN OPEN SCIENCE AWARD Dr Maria Doyle, Bioconductor Community Manager, and Professor Aedín Culhane, Professor of Cancer Genomics both based at UL’s School of Medicine, have won a Young European Research Universities Network (YERUN) Open Science Award 2023 for their work on the Bioconductor project.

Bioconductor is an open-source software project in the R statistical language, widely used in biomedical research. It provides tools for analyzing genomic data, critical for understanding diseases at a molecular level. The award recognized the Bioconductor Community Advisory Board, co-founded by Professor Aedín Culhane in 2020.

This board played a crucial role in securing funding for Dr Maria Doyle’s Community Manager position and supported her leadership in projects such as the Bioconductor website redesign and the global training programme. These initiatives have been instrumental in promoting Bioconductor's mission to advance open-source software for biomedical research and genomic data analysis and ensure equitable access for researchers worldwide.

The YERUN Open Science Awards aim to recognize and celebrate outstanding contributions to Open Science within the YERUN community. These awards highlight individuals or teams that have demonstrated a commitment to advancing Open Science principles, practices, and collaborations.

READ MORE

FROM THE NEWS .

Daffodil Day you can still donate at

https://donors.cancer.ie/

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LIMERICK EVENTS MINI-SYMPOSIUM ON SPATIAL BIOLOGY APRIL 24TH. WEDNESDAY 9:30- 11:30AM ROOM C1060 (MAIN BUILDING) 9.30am Dr. Naveed Ishaque Group Leader Computational Oncologie, Center for Digital Health at the Charité, Berlin Institute of Health (BIH) at the Charité

Spatial Biology in the Genomics Era 10.15 coffee

10.30 Dr. Matthew Pugh Jean Shanks- Pathsoc Intermediate Clinical Fellow / Associate Clinical Professor, University of Birmingham, UK

Multi-omic spatial profiling in EBV+ Hodgkinoid lymphoproliferations: Correlates of malignant

behaviour 11.15 Discussion

READ MORE

LIMERICK EVENTS LDCRC AT RESERACH WEEK 2024 EMERGING BREAKTHROUGHS ADVANCING CANCER RESERACH MONDAY APRIL 29TH 2:30-5:30PM ERB001 (ENGINEERING RESEARCH BUILDING) 2.00 – 2.05 Welcome Aedin Culhane, Ruth Clifford

Session 1. Emerging Research in Genitourinary Disease Chair: Dr James Brown 2.05-2.20 Eoghan Cunnane Characterization of genitourinary tissue for the development of medical devices and preclinical models.

2.20 -2.30 Michael Lynch Understanding the ccRCC tumour microenvironment using single-cell RNA sequencing 2.30-2.45 Jason Bennett Unlocking a NF-κB pathway targeting strategy in endometriosis 2.45-3.00 Sinead O’Keeffe Optical Fibre Sensors for Radiotherapy Dosimetry 3.00-3.15 Panel Discussion 3.15 – 3.30 Tea/Coffee

Session 2. Tumours in context Chair: TBC 3.30-3.45 Christina Fleming IDEAL research in colorectal cancer surgery 3.45-4.00 Kieran McGourty Cancer stem cells in the Tumour Microenvironment 4.00-4.10 Ciara Leahy The Spatial Immune Landscape of Primary Epstein-Barr Virus Infection and EBV-associated malignancies 4.10-4.25 Máire Lavelle Title TBC 4.25-4.40 Amira Mahdi Advancing therapies for poor prognosis and hard-to-treat breast cancers within the context of the tumour microenvironment 4.40-4.55 Panel Discussion 4.55-5.00 Closing Remarks Aedin Culhane, Ruth Clifford

Register at https://www.ul.ie/research/research-week *Schedule (subject to change)

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NATIONAL EVENTS THE JOINT EURO-AMERICAN FORUM ON CANCER, 2426TH APRIL

The Joint Euro-American Forum on Cancer will be held at the Official State Residence Farmleigh House, Dublin on April 25th and 26th 2024. Aedin Culhane will speak at the event that will be co-hosted by the European Cancer Organisation, the American Society for Clinical Oncology, the European School of Oncology, the US National Cancer Institute, the All-Island Cancer Research Institute (AICRI), and Ireland’s Department of Health.

The event will celebrate the 25th Anniversary of the Ireland – Northern Ireland - US National Cancer Institute Cancer Consortium and the impact that has on cancer research and cancer care on the island of Ireland, showing how a transatlantic partnership can save thousands of lives and deliver a health dividend of peace.

Secondly, it recognizes the 20th Anniversary of the Introduction of the Smoking Ban in the Workplace in Ireland, the 1st country in the world to introduce what was a significant public health initiative that has had a global impact To view the program and learn more see https://www.euroamericanforumoncancer.org/programme.html

NATIONAL EVENTS

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THE ALL IRELAND LUNG CANCER CONFERENCE, 12-13TH APRIL The All Ireland Lung Cancer Conference will be held on the 12th and 13th of April 2024.

The focus of the conference is to stay up-todate with the staggering advancements in lung cancer diagnosis and treatment, to encourage the career development of young oncologists, and of course, to bring us together in person – the power of which cannot be underestimated. This exciting programme brings together international speakers from the US and Europe.

REGISTRATION: In-Person: https://forms.gle/6JkfpPMkCiP3H2Zp8 Virtual: https://forms.gle/MfmUGyHQH5LrRtzUA

EUROPEAN CONGRESS OF IMMUNOLOGY 2024, 1-4 SEPTEMBER (ABSTRACT DEADLNE 15TH APRIL) The European Immunology Meeting in Dublin include a meeting on Sunday Sept 1st – with separate registration on cancer immunotherapy

(James Allison is a speaker),

https://eci2024.org/registration/

APRIL IS BOWEL CANCER MONTH

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Almost 4,000 people will be diagnosed with bowel or colorectal cancer (CRC) this year in Ireland. Most occur in adults over 60 years of age, but growing numbers of adults under 50 years are diagnosed BY 2030, 10% OF COLON CANCERS AND 22% OF RECTAL CANCERS IN THE USA ARE EXPECTED TO BE DIAGNOSED IN PATIENTS YOUNGER THAN 50 YEARS. Caught early CRC is treatable. Access to diagnostics and screening saves lives. In Ireland, BowelScreen is available to adults 59-69 years. The US and Australia have dropped population screening to age 45+. Dr James O'Mahony, UCD School of Economics, presented compelling evidence for expansion of screening at the recent PriCAN meeting.

Patient Patricia Stack, a UL graduate, and co-founder of the Irish early-onset CRC group recently called for pathways for early-onset CRC patients; Access to diagnostics pathways to address the needs of people below 59 who are not met by the BowelScreen program GPs education and awareness on the rise of earlyonset Colorectal Cancer so symptomatic patients are not dismissed as being too young Guidelines and Diagnostic Options for GPs (GP Guidelines) for Early Onset Colorectal Cancer .

THE MARIE KEATING FOUNDATION IS CALLING ON OUR GOVERNMENT TO REDUCE THE AGE FOR BOWEL CANCER SCREENING FROM 59 TO 50.

CLICK THE IMAGE TO SIGN

CRC 5-year net survival (%) 2014-2018 Data from NCRI,

UPCOMING FUNDING OPPORTUNITIES

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Contributed By: Orla Power-Grant (EHS funding office) and Paul Mahoney (HRI funding office)

EHS FUNDING BULLETIN Orla Power-Grant’s extensive bulletin/ newsletter on funding opportunities is a great resource. The most recent funding bulletin is available from EHS Research Funding Bulletin Q2 2024.pdf

HIGHLIGHTS

FUNDING CLINICS:

LDCRC might be most interested in: SFI-IRC Pathway Programme SFI Science Week Call 2024 SFI Frontiers for the Future 2024 Irish Cancer Society Clinician Research Development Fellowship (16th April)

EU CANCER MISSION INFO DAY ON 26TH APRIL There will be EU CANCER missions

Confused, Need Advice. Schedule a 30 Minute 1:1 meeting with a funding officer EHS Faculty – 9th April Postdocs and research staff: 25th March PhD students – 17th April 10-11 am

MSCA

and IHI calls this year. There is €123.5

POST DOCTORAL FELLOWSHIP

million available in the new Horizon

DOCTORAL NETWORK

Europe

Orla is actively recruiting for MSCA doc applicants. The CALL will open on 23rd of April and close on the 11th Sept. The LDCRC have been successful in recent years with Aisling Ross, Eanna Fennel and Olwyn Mahon getting awards. Lets keep up the great work. Contact ORLA if you are a postdoc intertested in learning more about Marie Skłodowska-Curie actions. The doctoral network call closes Nov 27th.

Cancer

Programme

2024

Mission to

help

Work combat

cancer. The latest updates on the EU Mission

on

Cancer

will

also

be

presented on April 26th. Contact Orla to find out more.

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RECENT PUBLICATIONS (JAN-MAR 2024) PUBLICATIONS WITH LDCRC AFFILIATION Wang Y, Cho JW, Kastrunes G, Buck A, Razimbaud C, Culhane AC, Sun J, Braun DA, Choueiri TK, Wu CJ, Jones K, Nguyen QD, Zhu Z, Wei K, Zhu Q, Signoretti S, Freeman GJ, Hemberg M, Marasco WA. Immunerestoring CAR-T cells display antitumor activity and reverse immunosuppressive TME in a humanized ccRCC mouse model. iScience. 2024 Jan 15;27(2):108879. doi: 10.1016/j.isci.2024.108879.

Maroui MA, Odongo GA, Mundo L, Manara F, Mure F, Fusil F, Jay A, Gheit T, Michailidis TM, Ferrara D, Leoncini L, Murray P, Manet E, Ohlmann T, De Boevre M, De Saeger S, Cosset FL, Lazzi S, Accardi R, Herceg Z, Gruffat H, Khoueiry R. Aflatoxin B1 and Epstein-Barr virus-induced CCL22 expression stimulates B cell infection. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2024 Apr 16;121(16):e2314426121. doi: 10.1073/pnas.2314426121IF: 11.1 Q1 .

Mahgoub TM, Jordan EJ, Mahdi AF, Oettl V, Huefner S, O'Donovan N, Crown J, Collins DM. Evaluation of ABT-751, a novel anti-mitotic agent able to overcome multi-drug resistance, in melanoma cells. Cancer Chemother Pharmacol. 2024 Jan 16. doi: 10.1007/s00280-023-04624-6.

Preetam S, Duhita Mondal D, Mukerjee N, Naser SS, Tabish TA, Thorat N. Revolutionizing Cancer Treatment: The Promising Horizon of Zein Nanosystems. ACS Biomater Sci Eng. 2024 Mar 1. doi: 10.1021/acsbiomaterials.3c01540.

Bhattacharya B, Nag S, Mukherjee S, Kulkarni M, Chandane P, Mandal D, Mukerjee N, Mirgh D, Anand K, Adhikari MD, Gorai S, Thorat N. Role of Exosomes in Epithelial-Mesenchymal Transition. ACS Appl Bio Mater. 2024 Jan 15;7(1):44-58. doi: 10.1021/acsabm.3c00941.

PUBLICATIONS WITH LIMERICK RESEARCHERS O'Connor L, Bailey-Whyte M, Bhattacharya M, Buttera G, Hardell KNL, Seidenberg AB, Castle PE, LoomansKropp HA. Association of metformin use and cancer incidence: a systematic review and meta-analysis. J Natl Cancer Inst. 2024 Jan 30:djae021. doi: 10.1093/jnci/djae021.

Cantwell M, Moyna N, McCaffrey N, Skelly F, Loughney L, Woods C, Walsh D, Dowd K, McCarren A, Kehoe B. A two-arm non-randomised trial of MedEx IMPACT: a community-based, physical activity behaviour change intervention for survivors of cancer. Support Care Cancer. 2024 Jan 10;32(2):95. doi: 10.1007/s00520-023-08263-8.

Davey MG, Tormey S. Implications of Highly Penetrant Genetic Variants on Breast Surgery. Clin Breast Cancer. 2024 Apr;24(3):180-183. doi: 10.1016/j.clbc.2024.01.001.

Anderson MA, Walewska R, Hackett F, Kater AP, Montegaard J, O'Brien S, Seymour JF, Smith M, Stilgenbauer S, Whitechurch A, Brown JR. Venetoclax Initiation in Chronic Lymphocytic Leukemia: International Insights and Innovative Approaches for Optimal Patient Care. Cancers (Basel). 2024 Feb 28;16(5):980. doi: 10.3390/cancers16050980. .

LEARN MORE, JOIN US

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MEMBERSHIP

MEMBERSHIP

To avail of LDCRC benefits, including LDCRC funding, please join the LDCRC. LDCRC offers multiple membership levels including Full or affiliate membership for academic and clinical cancer researchers Staff, students or postdocs who are members of LDCRC member labs Community PPI members industry Scan the QR code or click this link to the membership application form. The website has details and a paper form at https://www.ul.ie/limerickdcrc/membership

CONTACTS: UL-UHL CANCER COLLABORATIVE GROUPS CCRG Group

Scientific Lead

Clinical Lead

Status

Blood

Elizabeth Ryan

Ruth Clifford

Active, meeting monthly

Breast

James Brown

Chwanrow Baban

Active, meeting monthly

Colorectal

Kieran McGrourty

Christina Fleming

Restarting May 2024

Lung

Unfilled

Gregory Korpanty

On hold

GU/Prostate

Eoghan Cunnane

Niamh Peters

Active, meeting monthly

Allied Health (AHP)

Rose Galvin

Matthew O’ Brien

Active, meeting monthly

Cancer Nursing (CNS/ANP) Pauline Meskell

Nichola McNamara

Meeting 6-8 weekly

Biobanking

Ruth Clifford

Active, monthly meeting

Elizabeth Ryan

To join or learn more about Limerick Cancer Patient and Public Involvement, contact Miriam McCarthy.

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CONTRIBUTIONS TO THE NEWSLETTER Contributions welcome, if you wish to add your cancer research publication, event or research highlights in our newsletter please email ldcrc@ul.ie