SPRING 2017—NEWSLETTER
A quarterly newsletter brought to you by the
Newcastle Molecular Pathology Node
Top stories in this newsletter
Introduction
Node Industry Day
Proximity Lab Opening
Ceremony
Funding Opportunities
Introduction
Dear Colleagues,
Welcome to the first Newcastle Molecular Pathology Node
Newsletter. In this edition we provide the highlights of the
Node’s winter engagement events and update you on Partner
activities and any other relevant events and opportunities.
Don’t forget you can follow us on Twitter and check the Node
website for updates across all our activities.
We also welcome feedback and if there is anything you’d like
featured in our future newsletters, please get in touch via
[email protected].
Best wishes
The Newcastle Molecular Pathology Node Team
Molecular Diagnostics at Newcastle-Node Industry Event
The Node recently took part in the Newcastle University NAHP
Industry month with a day-long event to showcase Node
related work. The title for the event was ’Molecular
Diagnostics at Newcastle’ and it was held on the 2nd March
2017.
The purpose of the event was to bring industry together with
the Node research community to identify possible
collaboration opportunities around molecular diagnostics and
image analysis.
The day was opened by Pro Vice Chancellor Professor David Burn and included
presentations on current Node biomedical research in Mitochondria, Paediatric cancer,
Adult cancer, Fibrosis and Circulating tumour cell research. The afternoon sessions
included sessions on Digital and Molecular imaging at Newcastle and a slot on Tissue
Access and the new CePa biobank. Please go the Node website for more information
on this event.
Proximity Lab Opening Ceremony
The Node-funded state of the art ‘Proximity Laboratory’ was
officially unveiled by Newcastle Hospitals’ Chief Executive and
Newcastle University Vice-Chancellor-elect in December 2016.
Based within the RVI’s Department of Cellular Pathology (the
largest of its kind in the North East), the hi-tech lab will help drive
advances in Molecular Pathology through greater research and
development.
As its name suggests, it is the close proximity between the clinical and research
activity in the lab which will act as a catalyst and make a real difference to the quantity
and quality of studies carried out.
Services available to industry and researchers in the lab include:
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Access to well characterized archival tissue samples
Biobanking
Pathology services
Imaging and analysis
Bioinformatics and data integration
If you would like to apply for support from the Proximity Lab for your project, please
contact [email protected] for more information.
SPRING 2017—NEWSLETTER
A quarterly newsletter brought to you by the
Newcastle Molecular Pathology Node
Young Person’s Advisory Group– PPI Event
In November the Node took part in the North East Young
Peron’s Advisory Group (YPAG). The YPAG is a national
initiative that seeks to engage and involve young people aged
between 11 and 18 years in the development of research studies
about the health and wellbeing of their peers.
The Node’s main focus at the event was to gather the groups’
opinion on a new commercial research study involving tissue
donation.
The YPAG’s positive response to the study has led to the set-up of NuTH biobank
‘CePa’ that is able release tissue to selected companies.
Please contact [email protected] for further information.
Funding Opportunities
Capital investment in human tissue banking and linked data, in partnership with
charities-call for proposals
The MRC will support the establishment of a number of focussed world class human
tissue banks and associated linked data repositories, which will work in close
partnership with research charities to enable new avenues of research into disease
mechanisms, diagnosis and treatments.
The deadline for outline proposals is 27th March 2017 and any enquiries should be
directed to [email protected]
Industrial Strategy Challenge Fund (ISCF)
Following the announcement in the Spring Budget, Innovate UK will be inviting
industry-led proposals within the first round of the new Industrial Strategy Challenge
Fund.
Consultation events organised by RCUK and Innovate UK have generated a long list
of potential areas of funding. Included is “INFORMATICS & DIGITAL HEALTH Create digital technologies to transform the delivery of health care and management of
population health, and to make the UK a leading test-bed for new health care systems
and self-management”.
Please contact Martin Cox, Head of FMS Enterprise/Assistant Director of RES using
[email protected], if you would like to discuss this further.
MRC Confidence in Concept (CiC)
The Newcastle University MRC Confidence in Concept (CiC) scheme is now open,
Expressions of Interest deadline 9am 3 April 2017.
CiC awards are aimed at supporting Translational research projects, and specifically
intended to generate the preliminary data necessary to take a good idea with
underpinning science to the point at which it might be competitive for full external
translational funding. Ensuring that fundamental science is translated into new
therapies, diagnostics and medical devices is central to the MRCs aspirations for the
scheme.
The guidance notes for the CiC Spring 2017 call, and the full application form
(submission date 15 May) are attached here, and can be viewed at: https://
internal.ncl.ac.uk/medical/research/MRC-CiC-Spring2017.htm
MRC Technology
Following on from the Node Industry Day, MRC Technology has contacted the
Node in search of collaborative opportunities.
MRC Technology (www.mrctechnology.org) is an independent life science medical
research charity committed to improving the odds of positive patient outcomes
everywhere. They partner with academic, biotechnology, pharmaceutical, and charity
organisations to move promising medical research forward into viable and accessible
patient treatments. They combine diagnostic and drug discovery expertise with
commercialisation and IP management skills – some of their projects having led to the
approved drugs Tysabri®, Actemra®, Entyvio® and Keytruda®.
If you have a project you think MRC Technology would be interested in, please contact
[email protected] for more information.
www.newcastlepathnode.org.uk
[email protected]