NEWS
International research to create new cancer models
The Human Cancer Models Initiative (HCMI) will utilise new techniques to grow cells and produce models that will resemble more closely live tissue structures and tumours used in cancer research. Models will be developed using tissue from cancer patients, including rare and children’s cancers which are more under-represented in current cell line collections. Dr Louis Staudt, director of NCI’s Centre
for Cancer Genomics, said: “As part of NCI’s Precision Medicine Initiative in Oncology, this new project is timed perfectly to take advantage of the latest cell culture and genomic sequencing techniques to create models that are representative of patient tumours and are annotated with genomic and clinical information. This effort is a first step towards learning how to use these tools to design individualised treatments.”
Longitude Prize: introducing the Superbugs app
Superbugs is an app-based game produced by the Longitude Prize, aimed at those in the 11–16 age group. Players fight superbugs using existing and new antibiotics, and try to survive against the most virulent strains of bacterial infections. The Longitude Prize is a five-year
challenge with a £10 million prize fund. It challenges entrepreneurs to create a new, quick, easy and affordable diagnostic tool to use antibiotics appropriately and to prevent further misuse. Launched in 2014, the Longitude Prize commemorates the 300th anniversary of the Longitude Act of 1714, to determine longitude at sea. Currently, 156 teams from 33 countries are collaborating on ideas to win this prize.
Tamar Ghosh, spokesperson for the
Longitude Prize, said: “We know that sharing and overusing of antibiotics can lead to bacteria becoming drug-resistant, so it’s really important that we increase awareness around this huge issue. It’s especially important to reach young people, and games like this are a fantastic way of doing that.” Superbugs was recognised in the Silver
category at the Serious Play Awards.
https://longitudeprize.org/superbugs
These models will be sequenced and may
help researchers study more closely the biological make-up of tumours. By avoiding duplication of previous scientific endeavours, the formation of the HCMI may change cancer research and will allow scientists the chance to study multiple parts of cellular biology and cancer, including drug resistance, disease progression, and the reaction of particular medical treatments. The IBMS supports original research
within the field of biomedical science and awards a number of research grants each year. Find out more about research grants awarded by the IBMS on the website.
www.sanger.ac.uk/news/view/ international-collaboration-create-new- cancer-models-accelerate-research
www.ibms.org/go/ibms/prizes- awards/research-grants
Helping GPs diagnose UTIs in children and improve
antibiotic use Urinary tract infections (UTIs) in young children can lead to kidney damage, but they are notoriously difficult to diagnose in primary care because symptoms can often be vague and unclear. A definitive diagnosis can only be achieved by a urine test, but collecting urine samples from babies and children under five is a challenge. After a three-year study involving
more than 7000 children, researchers have developed a technique to help GPs and nurses to decide from which children a urine sample should be collected. The technique could reduce the amount of time and effort used to collect unnecessary urine samples and increase sampling among children most likely to have a UTI. The researchers hope this will also help GPs and nurses target antibiotic prescribing so only those who are likely to benefit from antibiotics receive them. Funded by the National Institute for
Health Research (NIHR), results from the Diagnosis of Urinary Tract infections in Young children (DUTY) study, which involved researchers from the universities of Bristol, Southampton, Cardiff and Kings College London, were published in the Annals of Family Medicine (Hay AD, Sterne JA, Hood K et al. Improving the diagnosis and treatment of urinary tract infection in young children in primary care: results from the DUTY prospective diagnostic cohort study. Ann Fam Med 2016; 14 [4]: 325–36), and found that a symptoms-and-signs-based clinical rule is superior to routine clinician diagnosis and performs well in identifying young children for non-invasive urine sampling.
Revolution in sexual health diagnostic services
The Hammersmith Clinic is the next in a series of new clinics developed by the Chelsea & Westminster NHS Foundation Trust. It is run by the same team behind the Dean Street Express, a highly acclaimed sexual health clinic located in London’s Soho district that has been challenging the model for sexually transmitted infection (STI) testing and public health since it opened in 2014. Together, 10 Hammersmith Broadway
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and Dean Street Express offer a drop-in service and high-throughput testing on site for a number of STIs, including CT/NG, HIV and syphilis. This process minimises time and worry for patients, reduces transmission risk, and enables more immediate treatment. The 10 Hammersmith Broadway clinic is
the new home for the West London Centre for Sexual Health, and provides Londoners with even greater accessibility to high-quality sexual health diagnostics. These clinics will
provide broad access to patients throughout the city. The Dean Street Express clinic alone has screened over 200,000 patients in the past two years. The 10 Hammersmith Broadway and
Dean Street Express clinics offer customer- friendly and discrete sexual health testing that is highly effective in screening for STIs and can result in a higher rate of case detection both in symptomatic and asymptomatic patients.
AUGUST 2016 THE BIOMEDICAL SCIENTIST
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