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Eager to learn more on what is going on in cancer research at the moment from the ‘inside’? Then, come along to the first Pint of Science event organised by the ‘Our Body’ dedicated to today's cancer research. Talks will be given by cancer research scientists on their work and how they are contributing in the battle against one of the most important diseases out there: cancer.
Does obesity regulate immune responses against breast cancer?
Dr Constantinos Savva
(Clinical Lecturer in Medical Oncology)
Interactions between cancer cells and normal cells that surround them regulate both cancer growth and the body's immune response to it. Fat cells that surround breast tumours interact with cancer cells by recruiting immune cells.
Manipulation of the immune system using treatments that stimulate the immune cells has changed the therapeutic landscape in many difficult to treat cancers. Despite the encouraging results, breast cancer fails to respond to cancer immunotherapy. My aim is to understand the interaction between fat and immune cells and to enhance immune responses against breast cancer
Manipulation of the immune system using treatments that stimulate the immune cells has changed the therapeutic landscape in many difficult to treat cancers. Despite the encouraging results, breast cancer fails to respond to cancer immunotherapy. My aim is to understand the interaction between fat and immune cells and to enhance immune responses against breast cancer
Cancer Vaccines: the secret to winning a game of hide-and-go-seek
Cinderella Jawahar
(PhD student in Cancer Sciences, University of Southampton)
Cinderella is conducting research on the development of vaccine-based strategies that specifically target tumour cells, and are more efficient and less invasive to patients. The vaccines are a form of immunotherapy, and will help the immune system differentiate between healthy and tumour cells, in order to selectively destroy the tumour cells.
Epigenetics: The Quest to Find the Origins of Trisomy 12
Lara Makewita
(PhD student in Cancer Sciences, University of Southampton)
CLL is a type of blood cancer that can be divided into different types. Trisomy 12, one type, has an extra chromosome; though we don’t know why, we know gene expression must be regulated to allow proper cell function! This regulation occurs by how DNA is packaged in a cell. DNA is wound into chromatin, which is dynamic and changes shape often! Other factors cause chromatin to open, allowing genes to be read to form proteins. Scientists, as always, need a name for everything; so we call this epigenetics. My PhD aims to identify the epigenetic causes of trisomy 12 by observing chromatin changes.
The Immune System in the Battle Against Cancer
Dr Edd James
(Associate Professor in Cancer Immunology, University of Southampton)
Dr Emma Reeves
(Post-doctoral Researcher Cancer Sciences)
The research conducted by Dr Edd James and Dr Emma Reeves focuses on the mechanisms used by cancer cells to escape recognition and thus elimination by the central immune cell population, known as killer T cells. Normal cells display ‘flags’ on their surface to communicate what’s going on in the environment but cancer cells display altered ‘flags’ or a reduced number of ‘flags’ allowing them to escape destruction by the immune system. Edd’s and Emma’s lab research aims to understand how cancer cells change their surface and how the immune system can be trained to recognise and kill them.
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