Brain Tumour Research is delighted to announce a series of online presentations about our  plans to fund a new Centre of Excellence.

Dr Karen Noble, our Director of Research, Policy and Innovation, will set out what makes a Brain Tumour Research Centre of Excellence. She will explain the application process from initial submission to full application, international peer review, site visits through to the planned announcement of the new Centre in March, which is Brain Tumour Awareness Month.

Joining Karen online will be Russell Marriott, our new Director of Income Generation, who will share his vision on how we will achieve the financial targets required and explain the many ways in which you can help us achieve our goal of creating a sustainable network of seven Brain Tumour Research Centres of Excellence across the UK.

The duo will be presenting on Wednesday 20^th July from 6pm – 7pm; Friday 22^nd July from 9.30am to 10.30am; and Thursday 4 August from 1.30pm – 2.30pm. Please email me  Hugh@braintumourresearch.org to register your interest in joining the presentations via Zoom.

The NCRI are now inviting applications for members of their four new NCRI Brain Group working groups, and they would very much encourage  NCRI Brain Network members to apply.

These time-limited groups have been established to address each of the NCRI Brain Group’s strategic priority areas. The working groups currently open for applications are:

• Brain Tumour Research Review Working Group
• Building a platform for early phase interventions in glioblastoma patients Working Group
• Delivering precision medicine for glioma Working Group
• Improving outcomes for older and frail neuro-oncology patients Working Group

Visit the NCRI website to read more about these roles and learn how to apply.

The deadline to apply to become a member of the Brain Working Groups is midday on Monday 8 August.

If you have any questions about the working groups or the vacancies, please get in touch with the NCRI Brain Group Coordinator, Alice Kidd, via email on Alice.Kidd@ncri.org.uk.

Running from September to January 2023 is a Queen’s Square Multidisciplinary Neuro-oncology Teaching Course. The need for multidisciplinary working in neuro-oncology is well established but a common theme that needs to be addressed is the need for better understanding between core specialties within the Neuro-oncology Multidisciplinary Team. To address this, this course has been designed for Trainees, Consultants and Clinical Nurse Specialists in the core specialities of neuro-oncology – Neurology, Neurosurgery, Clinical Oncology, Neuroradiology, Neuropathology and Palliative Care.

US based pharma company Inovio is conducting a phase 1 clinical trial called GBM-001 hoping to extend the lives of newly-diagnosed glioblastoma patients with a new DNA medicine combination of INO-5401, INO-9012 and Regeneron-Sanofi’s PD-1 inhibitor Libtayo.

As reported in the  Journal of Clinical Oncology final survival reports from long-term follow-up of the phase III EORTC 26951 and RTOG 9402 studies show continued benefit of the addition of (neo)adjuvant procarbazine, lomustine, and vincristine to radiotherapy in patients with newly diagnosed anaplastic oligodendroglial tumors, particularly among patients with 1p19q codeletion.

Paediatric central nervous system tumours are the most common solid malignancies in childhood, and aggressive therapy often leads to long-term sequelae in survivors, making these tumours challenging to treat. Immunotherapy has revolutionised prospects for many cancer types in adults, but the intrinsic complexity of treating paediatric patients and the scarcity of clinical studies of children to inform effective approaches have hampered the development of effective immunotherapies in paediatric settings. Here recent advances and ongoing challenges in paediatric brain cancer immunotherapy are reviewed, as well as considerations for efficient clinical translation of efficacious immunotherapies into paediatric settings.

This is an overview of current results and controversial issues arising from radiation therapy for atypical and anaplastic meningiomas.

A virus present widely in humans can cause diseases of the central nervous system (CNS) as well as brain cancer, A scientific study claims that the cancer-causing virus Epstein Barr Virus (EBV) could infect the neuronal cells leading to diseases of both these types and aims to explore the possible impacts of cancer-causing EBV on brain cells.

An investment in helping secure the future of the UK as a scientific powerhouse was announced this week as The Medical Research Council (MRC), Cancer Research UK (CRUK) and Wellcome came together to unveil £1 billion in funding for the Francis Crick Institute (FCI).

The new investment is set to fund the institute for the next seven years.

Mentioning the UK’s “impressive legacy” in the life sciences, Business Secretary Kwasi Kwarteng said he was “thrilled that the Government has been able to make a significant contribution to this £1bn investment for the brilliant Francis Crick Institute”.

He added: “This funding will support the outstanding research they do to advance biomedical discovery and develop new approaches to tackling disease, strengthening the UK’s future as a science superpower.”

Sir Paul Nurse, director of FCI, said: “This is an investment that promotes UK science. The Government has recognised the need to expand research budgets, because our future relies on it.”

Related reading:

• Our research strategy
• The personal reasons that place us at the forefront

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