MCRC Director’s Update – September 2023
Hello everyone, I hope that everyone has had a productive month. This month’s Director’s Update will be a short celebratory affair as we acknowledge our outstanding researchers who have recently been promoted or received other accolades as well as reaching milestones within our precision clinical medicine activities.
Celebrating our research community:
Firstly, we should start with congratulations to Professor Marianne Aznar who has recently been promoted to Professor of Radiation Oncology Physics. It has been tremendous to see Marianne’s research leadership and alongside impressive work with Friends of Rosie in paediatric radiotherapy and in artificial intelligence just to name a few areas of excellence.
Secondly, congratulations to Drs Matthew Evison, Agata Rembielak and David Thomson who have all been made honorary clinical chairs at MAHSC. Alongside 12 other individuals from across Greater Manchester, Matt, Agata and David were recognised due to their expertise and clinical specialisms in lung, skin and head and neck cancers, as well as their scholarly excellence in research and education.
RAPID-RT aiming to improve survival rates for lung cancer patients
Spotlighting leading radiotherapy research this month is the RAPID-RT work of Professor Corinne Faivre-Finn. Corrinne was featured on “One in Two: A Manchester Cancer Research Podcast” to discuss a new trial launched at The Christie.
The RAPID-RT trial launched in 2023 and aims to investigate how to use real-world data to measure the effect changing the dose limit to the heart via this new opt-out clinical trial. Aiming to recruit up to 2000 participants, the study aims to change clinical practice by understanding how best to treat lung cancers with radiotherapy without causing damage to the heart and follows an evolution to treatment adopted by The Christie earlier this year.
Listen to this podcast on Spotify, Apple Podcasts and YouTube, or read more about the research on the MCRC website.
In other developments from across the MCRC
- Congratulations to Dr Sara Valpione who has secured a £500,000 investment from the Medical Research Council to investigate a novel RNA Therapeutic to activate the immune system in oesophageal cancer.
- At the time of writing this update, there are still several more days to go before applications to our MCRC Springboard Award closes. If you or a member of your lab group has an idea for an innovation that you need funding, then consider applying for up to £30,000. Deadline: Friday 29th September at 5pm
I hope that everyone has an enjoyable remainder of their summer and I look forward to updating you all at the end of next month.
Professor Robert Bristow
Director of the Manchester Cancer Research Centre
Director of the Cancer Research UK Manchester Centre
