Beatson Pebble Appeal - Spring 2016 Update

Beatson Pebble Appeal Pioneering Cancer Research

SPRING 2016 Pancreatic Cancer breakthrough in Glasgow

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Remembering Tommy Burns See page 2

Support Post Graduate Scholarships See page 2

THANK YOU FOR MAKING A DIFFERENCE Glasgow has a great deal to be proud of in cancer science

and each year we make significant progress in translating our knowledge of basic science and cancer biology into new treatments and improved patient care. Charitable donations play an important part in this.

Over the past year, your donations to the Beatson Pebble Appeal have helped us to develop an electronic data capture system which will speed up the process of collecting and validating data in clinical trials. Your donations have also helped us to recruit world leading scientists who are helping to identify biomarkers with the aim of improving earlier diagnosis and developing more precise and effective treatments for patients.

I was delighted to present at a Beatson Pebble Appeal Public Lecture last year and I hope you will join us at our lectures and open days in 2016. They are a great opportunity to hear more about the work of our scientists and how your donations make a difference.

Thank you Professor Jeff Evans Director of the Institute of Cancer Sciences

Professor Tessa Holyoake, Director of the Paul O’Gorman Leukaemia Research Centre has been awarded the Scottish Cancer Foundation’s inaugural prize in recognition of her work in turning Glasgow into a world renowned centre for leukaemia research.

Pancreatic Cancer breakthrough in Glasgow Researchers at the University of Glasgow have made a breakthrough reclassification of Pancreatic Cancer, offering new opportunities to treat the disease.

The study, co-led by Professor Andrew Biankin, Director of the Wolfson Wohl Cancer Research Centre, has identified four key subtypes of Pancreatic Cancer – currently the fourth leading cause of cancer death in Western society.

Current methods of treating pancreatic cancer are not targeted or selective and have been described as “hitting the disease with a mallet and your eyes closed.”

Patients currently have a median survival measured in months and a five year survival rate of less than 5%.

The research paper, published in Nature, has identified four key subsets of Pancreatic Cancer each with their own distinct clinical characteristics and differential survival outcomes. Professor Biankin said “We are now closer to being able to provide personalised therapeutic options for individual patients and a launch pad to investigate new treatments.”

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News from the Institute of Cancer Sciences Investment in Precision Medicine

Pioneering new cancer technique

The University of Glasgow led Stratified Medicine Scotland Innovation Centre, based at the newly opened Queen Elizabeth University Hospital, is placed to be a global leader in tackling diseases including cancer. In February 2016 The Scottish Government announced £4million funding over the next 15 months to further develop precision medicine, which aims to develop treatments tailored to the individual characteristics of each patient – treating the right patient at the right time. Precision Panc is a flagship national programme which will be supported by the funding. This programme will use innovative techniques to better characterise pancreatic cancer, allowing patients to be recruited to clinical trials efficiently and quickly.

A technique called “mito-priming” is the latest method to be developed by researchers in the fight against cancer.

Scientists at the University of Glasgow’s Cancer Research UK Beatson Institute have developed the technique as a research tool to understand how cancer cells die. The significant discovery, published in Nature Communications, means Mito-priming can be applied to identify new anti-cancer drugs to screen their effectiveness.

Remembering Tommy Burns Family visit Wolfson Wohl Cancer Research Centre

We were delighted to welcome Rosemary and Emma Burns to the Centre to tour the Tommy Burns Laboratory, built with the support of the Tommy Burns Skin Cancer Foundation and hundreds of individual donations from football fans all over the world. The Text for Tommy campaign was launched in 2011 in memory of former Celtic Star Tommy Burns, who died from skin cancer in 2008. An accomplished player and manager, Burns played for Scotland, Celtic and Kilmarnock and managed Celtic, Kilmarnock and Reading.

Fans were encouraged to ‘Text for Tommy’ during football matches and donations were received from all round the world, raising over £110,000.

During their visit, Rosemary, Tommy’s wife and Emma, one of Tommy’s daughters, met with Professors Jeff Evans and Peter Adams, who updated them on their work in developing skin cancer research. During their tour of the laboratory, the family also met with some of the scientists working in the lab, including Vignir Helgason, Group Leader – POG Leukaemia Research Centre.

Vignir is currently organising a fundraising dinner to raise funds for leukaemia research. The Tommy Burns Leukaemia Research fundraising dinner will take place on Saturday 21 May at Glasgow University Union. Tickets are £50 per person (£400 for a table of ten) and are available online at www.glasgow. ac.uk/pogdinner or by calling: 0141 330 5092.

Prostate Cancer Research

A Boost for Brain Tumour Research in Glasgow

Prostate cancer is the most common cancer in men. In Scotland, over 3000 men develop prostate cancer every year.

Although treatment and survival rates have improved over the past 20 years, there is still much to do to improve early diagnosis and develop new treatments. Glasgow’s Prof. Hing Leung leads the development of internationally renowned prostate cancer research at the University of Glasgow CRUK Beatson Institute. Together with a team of leading scientists and clinicians, the prostate cancer research team aim to accelerate the development of biomarkers and then ensure that these deliver more precise and effective treatments for patients.

Charlene McEwan visited the Wolfson Wohl Cancer Research Centre in December to present her cheque of £7,500 to Prof. Anthony Chalmers, Chair of Clinical Oncology. Charlene has now raised over £60,000 for Brain Tumour Research and is determined to raise more.

Charlene, who visited the centre with her husband said “Tosh and I were in absolute awe to see first-hand the work Professor Chalmers and his amazing team are doing”. Charlene was diagnosed with a brain tumour at the age of 30. Since then, she has been busy running numerous fundraising events to raise funds for Brain Tumour Research in Prof. Chalmers Laboratory. Charlene’s latest fundraiser was a charity night in Wishaw in November.

Brain Tumour research at Glasgow received a further boost when Carolyn Toshney visited the lab in December.

To help scientists to develop new treatments for prostate cancer, you can donate online at www.glasgow.ac.uk/ supportbpa. If you would like to discuss your donation or if you would like support with your fundraising idea, please contact us on 0141 330 3000.

Carolyn Toshney set up Bare For All Brain Tumours following her husband’s diagnosis in 2009. Carolyn visited Prof. Chalmers to present a cheque for £17,000.

SUPPORT POST GRADUATE SCHOLARSHIPS

Nikki van Teijlingen Bakker was the Christopher Douglas Smith Scholar on the Cancer Science MSc course in 201415. This was made possible thanks to the support of the Unite Against Cancer charity.

The University of Glasgow welcomes 25,000 students, from over 130 countries and is a world-class research university.

Over 7,000 of our students are Post Graduates. We aim to provide the opportunity for talented students, regardless of their background, to benefit from what Glasgow can offer.

Supporting a postgraduate scholarship can provide students with an opportunity to unlock their potential, advance their knowledge and help students go onto tackle some of the biggest challenges we face in the 21st century; including developing new cancer treatments.

By supporting a Post Graduate Scholarship you can play a key role in creating valuable opportunities for the clinicians, researchers and health professionals of tomorrow.

Nikki said: I have the feeling this masters is the perfect way to prepare me for a future career in cancer science. By doing presentations and making posters, both individually and working in groups,writing essays, reading articles and learning laboratory work, I am gathering knowledge and experience to get me a long way in the field of cancer science. I really like the fact that we got the opportunity to speak to so many different researchers and clinicians from different fields within cancer science and learn from their experience.

It was also very interesting to get to know so many people from all over the world, both researchers and fellow students and to know that the world is making a global effort to beat back this disease and it was fantastic to have the opportunity to study at one of the leading research institutes.

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Staff at Phoenix Car Company raised ÂŁ1789 for the BPA by taking part in the Great Scottish Run

SUPPORT US! Whether you choose to set up a regular donation, leave a gift in your will, organise an event, select us as your corporate charity partner or take on a challenge, there are lots of ways that you can make a difference to the future of cancer research in Glasgow. If you would like to discuss your donation, please contact us using the details below Donate online: glasgow.ac.uk/supportbpa Email: office@beatsonpebbleappeal.org Call: +44 0141 330 3000 Join the Beatson Pebble Appeal Online: Facebook: facebook.com/beatsonpebbleappeal Twitter: @beatsonpebble Website: beatsonpebbleappeal.org

Beatson Pebble Appeal University of Glasgow Development and Alumni Office 3 The Square Glasgow G12 8QQ University of Glasgow Trust:SC008303 University of Glasgow:SC004401