Research teams from our Centre for Haemato-Oncology have once again joined the world’s most influential figures in haematology to present their cutting-edge findings at the 59th ASH Annual Meeting & Exposition.
The most prestigious event in the haematology calendar, ASH brings together more than 25,000 experts each working towards one goal – developing new understanding and treatments for a host of diseases affecting the blood, including cancer.
Professor John Gribben (right), Centre Lead for Haemato-Oncology presented his talk at the annual Chronic Lymphocytic Leukaemia Research Consortium (CRC) at ASH on Thursday 7th December, where he discussed the latest in CLL Translational Research.
Barts is one of only a few centres to be part of the multi-institutional CRC programme, funded, in part, by the US National Institute of Health.
Professor Gribben will also be doing webcasts for patient outreach throughout ASH.
Previous years have seen a strong presence from the BCI, with this year proving to be no exception.
Friday 8th
Professor of Personalised Cancer Medicine, Jude Fitzgibbon will speak during the Friday Satellite Symposia about, “Individualizing Therapeutic Strategies for Patients with MDS,” focusing on how we can tailor more efficient treatments for individuals based on the unique genetic portrait of their disease.
Also from the Fitzgibbon group, postdoctoral researcher Dr Ana Rio-Machin (right) will present a talk on inherited haematopoietic malignancies, entitled “Challenge of identifying Novel Predisposing Variants in Familial MDS/AML.” Her talk will highlight the importance of monitoring family members of affected individuals that are also at risk of developing acute myeloid leukaemia (AML) and how this can help to exclude them as a potential bone marrow donor.
Saturday 9th
Dr Jennifer ball – postdoctoral researcher in Dr Jeff Davies’ group will present a talk detailing, “Human Gastro-Intestinal Graft-Versus-Host Disease Is Mediated By Retinoic Acid-Responsive CD8+ Effector T-Cells Under IL-23 Polarising Conditions.”
An early poster presentation will come from third year PhD Student Emma Vilventhraraja, part of Dr Andrejs Braun’s group. The poster, "Sustained Reduction of Intracellular Calcium Is Important to Maximise GA101-Mediated Direct Cell Death in B-Cell Lymphomas", reveals new biology underpinning a recently approved treatment for B-Cell Lymphomas.
Sunday 10th
Sunday will see Dr Bela Wrench and her group including research technician Nick Warrick and postdoctoral researcher Dr Chrysi Xintaropoulou’s oral presentation on “Adipocyte Induced Antagonism of ALL Growth Highlights a Novel Inhibitory Niche and Potential Therapeutic Opportunity.” Here the team unravel the role of the bone marrow microenvironment, in particular fat cells called adipocytes in Acute Lymphoblastic Leukaemia.
Honorary clinical research fellow Dr Jennifer Edelmann as part of Professor Gribben's research group will present two posters. The first, "Rituximab Activates NOTCH1 Signaling in CLL Cells and Induces Changes in the Cytokine Repertoire Favoring a Tumor-Protective Microenvironment" and second, "High-Resolution SNP-Array Profiling of 'Ultra-High Risk' CLL Cases Reveals New Recurrent Genomic Alterations."
Two further posters will come from clinical research fellow Dr Shamzah Araf in the Fitzgibbon group, with "Longitudinal Analyses of the Genomic, Transcriptomic, and T Cell Repertoire in Diffuse Large B Cell Lymphoma Demonstrates Changes in Signaling and Immune Recognition at Relapse" and "Genomic Profiling Reveals Spatial Intra-Tumor Heterogeneity in Follicular Lymphoma".
Monday 11th
PhD student Faith Norster who received the 2015 ASH young scientist abstract achievement award will present BCI's final poster during this year's event called, "Increased Levels of Soluble RAGE in CLL Patient Plasma Has a Protective Effect on CLL Disease Progression."
We look forward to providing regular updates from our researchers travelling to the 59th ASH. Follow us on Twitter @QMBCI and look out for #BCIatASH17 and #ASH17.
Research teams from our Centre for Haemato-Oncology have once again joined the world’s most influential figures in haematology to present their cutting-edge findings at the 59th ASH Annual Meeting & Exposition.