Scientific activities
A broad spectrum of tumor types are studied in the Centre although the main strengths of ECRC lay in the areas of breast, colorectal, ovarian and brain cancers. They include research focused on:
In these fields the ECRC has gained international recognition in innovative biomedical research and belongs to the Cancer Research UK Centres network of excellence. [1] The ECRC investigators play also an important role in the palliative care practice and research. [2]
As of 2015, research in the ECRC is carried out by 27 independent research teams. In addition, 9 clinical researchers and 14 affiliated research groups are associated with the Centre. [3] Several technology platforms, including mass spectrometry, reverse phase protein arrays and advanced microscopy, support the research activities. [4] Since 2011, the ECRC also hosts a dedicated drug discovery unit. [5] Since 2010, the institute is led by Margaret Frame (as the Science Director) and David Cameron (as the Clinical Director) with help and advise from the ECRC Governance Board. The ECRC works closely with the Edinburgh Cancer Centre and NHS Lothian, supporting clinical trials and routine data analysis through the Scottish Cancer Research Network and Edinburgh Cancer Informatics Research Group, [6] ensuring that research is embedded within the NHS care of Scottish cancer patients.
Recent highlights from ECRC scientists and clinicians include:
- Important role (David Cameron as joint global Chief Investigator) in the pivotal clinical trial that tested the hypothesis that the combination of lapatinib and the cytotoxic drug capecitabine would be superior to capecitabine alone in patients with HER2+ metastatic breast cancer that had progressed despite trastuzumab treatment. The results of this trial has led to a global (more than 100 countries) marketing authorisation of the drug lapatinib produced by GlaxoSmithKline. [7]
- Identification of new gene variants linked to colorectal cancer. [8]
- Evidence-based identification of an effective treatment of depression in cancer patients. [9]
Public Engagement
Rising awareness about cancer, cancer prevention, healthy lifestyle and science among patients, fundraisers and general public is an important part of the ECRC mission. Activities in this area are closely coordinated with Cancer Research UK and include many diverse events ranging from guided tours of the Centre to participation in fundraising events and science festivals. [11] [12] [13]
On 8 May 2021, for World Ovarian Cancer Day, ECRC participated in the Cure our Ovarian Cancer Foundation's international awareness campaign. Their spot "An ad you can't miss, for a cancer you do", which shows 30 women who had been diagnosed with ovarian cancer, was screened at Piccadilly Circus, London and Time Square, New York City. [14] [15]
History
In 1978, the Imperial Cancer Research Fund (ICRF) - a major charity supporting cancer research in the United Kingdom at the time, decided to provide an £800,000 endowment to support creation of a Chair of Medical Oncology in the Faculty of Medicine in Edinburgh. Following an open competition, the University of Edinburgh appointed John F. Smyth (at the time a senior lecturer in medical oncology at the Institute of Cancer Research in London) for that position on 1 April 1979. After a short visit to the University of Chicago, professor Smyth assumed his duties in Edinburgh on 1 October 1979 (a date that can be considered as the beginning of the Centre). [16] [17] [18]
Soon afterwards, additional posts were provided by the University and matched by appropriate staff positions by Lothian Health Board (NHS) to create first clinical service for medical oncology in Edinburgh. The service was based in the Western General Hospital where some beds and out-patient facilities were provided. In 1980 it was formally recognized as the Imperial Cancer Research Fund Medical Oncology Unit in Edinburgh with professor John Smyth as its director. This resulted in additional funding that allowed building of a small research laboratory which was commissioned in 1981. The laboratory was located in a portable cabin on the Western General Hospital campus. The main focus of the Unit was the development of more successful drug therapies for all forms of cancer and looking for new ways of reducing the side-effects of anti-cancer drugs. [18]
With generous support from Imperial Cancer Research Fund and other organisations, the Unit was steadily growing enabling clinical trials for promising anticancer therapeutics. [18] [19] For example, the Unit was responsible for the very first clinical trial of a 5-HT3 receptor antagonist, heralding in the dramatic changes in emesis control that subsequently followed the development of that class of compounds. [17]
In 1984 the Unit moved to a new location at the top floor of the MRC Human Genetics Unit building which allowed for expansion of laboratory research activities. After a successful ICRF review in 1996, it had been recognized that further extension of scientific activities of the Unit required even more space and prof. Smyth obtained permission to rise funds to create a new purpose designed building. The work started in 2000 and the new £7M building was officially opened in 2002 by The Princess Royal. [20]
It provides 3000 square meters of gross internal space and is a current base for majority of ECRC researchers. At that time (in 2002), following reorganisation of faculties into schools within the University of Edinburgh, the name Edinburgh Cancer Research Centre was created and used with reference to the Unit and the new building. In 2007 ECRC became part of the Institute of Genetics and Molecular Medicine. [21]
Cancer Research UK centres
In 2004 the successor of ICRF, Cancer Research UK (CRUK), funded the CRUK Clinical Cancer Centre, hosted by the ECRC, one of its network of comprehensive cancer centres.
In 2010, this was succeeded by the CRUK Edinburgh Centre, a partnership between the ECRC, NHS, and other research locations in Edinburgh. [22] [23] This was part of CRUK's network of "virtual" centres, intended to drive local collaborations for translational research. [24]
Funding for the CRUK Edinburgh Centre ended in 2022. CRUK had to reduce the size of its centres network due to a reduction in income during the COVID-19 pandemic, and the ECRC is now a partner in the new CRUK Scotland Centre, based at The Beatson Institute for Cancer Research in Glasgow. [25]
In 2018, CRUK funded another virtual centre at Edinburgh, the CRUK Brain Tumour Centre of Excellence, a joint venture between the ECRC and University College London Cancer Institute. [26] [27]
ECRC Directors
1980 – 2005 John Smyth (initially as a director of the Imperial Cancer Research Fund Medical Oncology Unit)
2005 – 2009 David Harrison
2010 – 2020 Margaret Frame (Science Director) and David Cameron (Clinical Director)
2020 – 2023 Ian Tomlinson (Director) and Charlie Gourley (Clinical Director)
2023 - present Charlie Gourley (Clinical Director)
Cancer Research UK (CRUK) is the world's largest independent cancer research organisation. It is registered as a charity in the United Kingdom and Isle of Man, and was formed on 4 February 2002 by the merger of The Cancer Research Campaign and the Imperial Cancer Research Fund. Cancer Research UK conducts research using both its own staff and grant-funded researchers. It also provides information about cancer and runs campaigns aimed at raising awareness and influencing public policy.
The Medical Research Council (MRC) is responsible for co-coordinating and funding medical research in the United Kingdom. It is part of United Kingdom Research and Innovation (UKRI), which came into operation 1 April 2018, and brings together the UK's seven research councils, Innovate UK and Research England. UK Research and Innovation is answerable to, although politically independent from, the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy.
The Institute of Cancer Research is a public research institute and a member institution of the University of London in London, United Kingdom, specialising in oncology. It was founded in 1909 as a research department of the Royal Marsden Hospital and joined the University of London in 2003. It has been responsible for a number of breakthrough discoveries, including that the basic cause of cancer is damage to DNA.
The Christie NHS Foundation Trust in Withington, Manchester, manages the Christie Hospital, one of the largest cancer treatment centres of its type in Europe. The Christie became an NHS Foundation Trust in 2007 and is also an international leader in cancer research and development, home to the Paterson Institute for Cancer Research.
Lapatinib (INN), used in the form of lapatinib ditosylate (USAN) is an orally active drug for breast cancer and other solid tumours. It is a dual tyrosine kinase inhibitor which interrupts the HER2/neu and epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) pathways. It is used in combination therapy for HER2-positive breast cancer. It is used for the treatment of patients with advanced or metastatic breast cancer whose tumors overexpress HER2 (ErbB2).
The Cambridge Biomedical Campus is the largest centre of medical research and health science in Europe. The site is located at the southern end of Hills Road in Cambridge, England.
John Gordon McVie was an international authority on the treatment and research of cancer. He wrote over 350 peer-reviewed articles, editorials and books. McVie was born in Glasgow, Scotland and died of non-Hodgkin lymphona and COVID-19 in Bristol, England.
The National Cancer Intelligence Network (NCIN), was set up in 2008 to drive improvements in care standards and clinical outcomes. NCIN is now part of Public Health England, following the Health and Social Care Act 2012.
Hani Gabra PhD FRCPE FRCP is a British oncologist and Professor Emeritus in Medical Oncology at Imperial College London.
Sir Bruce Anthony John Ponder FMedSci FAACR FRS FRCP is an English geneticist and cancer researcher. He is Emeritus Professor of Oncology at the University of Cambridge and former director of the Cancer Research UK Cambridge Institute and of the Cancer Research UK Cambridge Cancer Centre.
Ian Jacobs is an academic, medical doctor, gynaecological oncologist, charity founder and university leader from the UK, with dual British and Australian citizenship.
Caroline Dive is a British cancer research scientist. Dive is Professor of Cancer Pharmacology at the University of Manchester, Deputy Director of the Cancer Research UK (CRUK) Manchester Institute, Director of the CRUK Manchester Institute Cancer Biomarker Centre and co-director of the CRUK Lung Cancer Centre of Excellence. She is the current President of The European Association for Cancer Research (EACR).
Richard Malcolm Marais is Director of the Cancer Research UK (CRUK) Manchester Institute and Professor of Molecular Oncology at the University of Manchester.
(Robert) Charles Swanton is British physician scientist specialising in oncology and cancer research. Swanton is a senior group leader at London's Francis Crick Institute, Royal Society Napier Professor in Cancer and thoracic medical oncologist at University College London and University College London Hospitals, co-director of the Cancer Research UK (CRUK) Lung Cancer Centre of Excellence, and Chief Clinician of Cancer Research UK.
Elizabeth Ruth Plummer is a Professor of Experimental Cancer Medicine at Newcastle University and an oncologist specialising in treating patients with melanoma. Based in Newcastle, she directs the Sir Bobby Robson Cancer Trials Research Centre, set up by the Sir Bobby Robson Foundation to run early-stage clinical trials.v Plummer and the Newcastle team won a 2010 Translational Cancer Research Prize from Cancer Research UK for work using rucaparib to treat ovarian cancer. Plummer was elected as a fellow of the UK's Academy of Medical Sciences in 2018.
Professor Richard James Gilbertson is a paediatric oncology clinician scientist and a Senior Group Leader at the Cancer Research UK Cambridge Institute, University of Cambridge. He is the Li Ka Shing Chair of Oncology, and Director of the CRUK Cambridge Major Centre and the Children's Brain Tumour Centre of Excellence.
The University of Glasgow's Glasgow Precision Oncology Laboratory (GPOL) is a molecular research facility that partners with the NHS and industry to perform research into the development of novel therapeutic strategies, the creation of pan-cancer genomic assays and provide knowledge transfer for healthcare systems to enable them to develop landscapes for therapeutic testing in cancer.
Professor James D Brenton is a clinician scientist and Senior Group Leader at the Cancer Research UK Cambridge Institute and Professor of Ovarian Cancer Medicine in the Department of Oncology, University of Cambridge. He is an Honorary Consultant in Medical Oncology at Addenbrooke's Hospital, Cambridge University Hospitals, Ovarian Cancer Domain Lead for the 100,000 Genomes Project by Genomics England, and co-founder and Clinical Advisor to Inivata Ltd, a clinical cancer genomics company.
Sarah Coupland is an Australian-born pathologist and professor who is the George Holt Chair in Pathology at the University of Liverpool. Coupland is an active clinical scientist whose research focuses on the molecular genetics of cancers, with particular interests in uveal melanoma, conjunctival melanoma, intraocular and ocular adnexal lymphomas and CNS lymphoma. Coupland is also an NHS Honorary Consultant Histopathologist at the Royal Liverpool University Hospital. Since 2006, Coupland has been head of the Liverpool Ocular Oncology Research Group; from which she runs a multidisciplinary oncology research group focussing on Uveal melanoma, based in the Department of Molecular and Clinical Cancer Medicine at the University of Liverpool. Her research laboratory is currently located in the Institute of Translational Medicine From April 2014 to December 2019, Coupland was also Director of the North West Cancer Research Centre, @UoL. In both 2019 and 2020, Coupland was included on the 'Pathology Powerlist' on The Pathologist website.
Sarah Blagden is a Professor of Experimental Oncology at the University of Oxford. Her laboratory research is in investigating post-transcriptional mechanisms for ovarian cancer behavior. Her clinical research is in conducting early phase trials in novel cancer therapeutics for people with advanced malignancies.
