Author: Kathryn Johnson

ESSO Course on Diagnosis and Management of Pancreatic NeroEndocrine Tumours

The European Society of Surgical Oncology is currently running a course on diagnosis and treatment of pancreatic neuroendocrine tumours.

The programme aims to give participants an overview on diagnosis and treatment of this condition to young and more senior surgeons who want to develop a specific knowledge on this topic. Adequate evidence-based information will be provided and few controversial topics will be discussed.

 

More information on the programme can be found here.

 

DNA discovery confirms new clinical biomarker in predicting breast cancer risk

CancerDr James Flanagan – Senior Lecturer in the Division of Cancer has been involved in research looking into identifying a new biomarker in the blood that could help identify more women at a high risk of breast cancer.

In a prospective study, researchers from Imperial College London and the Human Genetics Foundation (HuGeF) in Torino, Italy, have concluded that DNA methylation levels in blood cells are associated with breast cancer risk, and could be used to identify women at high risk of developing the disease.

Full article

Scholarship success

This year Surgery and Cancer have won 50% of the Faculty Scholarships at the Dean’s Master’s Scholarships.  As a Department we have managed to get 5/10 scholarships (3 going to Biomedical Research MRes and 2 to Cancer Biology MRes).

Congratulations to Nigel Gooderham, Tim Ebbles, Olivier Pardo and Ernesto Yague.

Congratulations to Christopher Lattimer

Congratulations go to Mr Christopher Lattimer who for the second time has won 2nd Prize at the 16th Annual Meeting of the European Venous Forum, which took place from the 2nd-4th July 2015 in St. Petersburg, Russia, attracting over 800 delegates from all over the world.

The following presentation entitled: Increasing thigh compression pressure correlates with a reduction in the venous drainage index of air plethysmography. (CR Lattimer, S Doucet, E Kalodiki, M Azzam, V Ibegbuna, G Geroulakos) was from the Josef Pflug Vascular Laboratory, Ealing Hospital & Imperial College and was given at the event.

Prize_LattimerThe photo depicts Mr Christopher Lattimer (right) receiving the award on behalf of his team from the Josef Pflug Vascular Laboratory, Imperial College (Stephen Doucet, Evi Kalodiki, Mustapha Azzam & George Geroulakos) who is shaking hands with the Chairman Professor Andrew Nicolaides (left) with the EVF President Professor Evgeny Shaydakov from St Petersburg in the centre.

This highly competitive award has provided a grant to the sum of £1,500 for Mr Lattimer to present his team’s work on venous drainage at the 2016 Annual Meeting of the American Venous Forum held in Orlando, Florida, Feb 23-26. This is acknowledged to be the most prestigious venous meeting globally.

It is anticipated that the venous drainage index (VDI) of air-plethysmography will provide a reliable measurement of venous outflow obstruction in patients evaluated for venous stenting. This may lead on to a screening test which can be used in a clinical setting to monitor the success of venous stents and prevent invasive diagnostic investigations in patients with suspected venous obstruction.

Kirsty Flower nominated for Postdoc award

Last week the Postdoc Development Centre hosted the PDC Reps Award Dinner to celebrate the amazing achievements of the PDC Reps Network and to give the first PDC Reps Award, which was presented by the Provost, Prof James Stirling.

There was a huge interest across the College in the PDC Reps Award, with 49 individuals nominating their departmental Reps due to the significant contributions they have made to their department.  In total this resulted in 15 Reps being put forward for consideration for the award.

Kirsty Flower - PDC Reps Award Nominee 2015All of the nominations were of a very high quality. Taking into account the number of nominations and the comments made on the form, 5 Reps were taken forward as finalists.  Each of these individuals has excelled in their role as departmental Reps and there is evidence that there is a real cultural change within their department as a result of their work. In recognition of the extraordinary work that the finalists have done they each received a £50 John Lewis Voucher with the winner receiving £500 toward a conference or workshop of their choice.

We are proud to report that Kirsty Flower, our Postdoc Rep for the IRDB was nominated for this award.  This was a huge achievement so congratulations go to Kirsty for the nomination as a recognition of all the work she has carried out in the Department, especially for her involvement with the Athena SWAN Academic Opportunities Committee.

Liz Elvidge wins prestigious Julia Higgins medal

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Congratulations to Liz Elvidge Head of the Postdoc Development Centre who this year won the Julia Higgins Medal, in recognition of her work with female postdocs and early career academics.

Liz has been sharing her extensive expert knowledge with the Department through her continued involvement in our Athena SWAN Academic Opportunities Committee. Working towards finding the best ways we can support the Departments postdoc community.

Scientists present work to tackle heart disease, head injuries and brain tumours

Brain 2Research projects aimed at addressing issues such as heart disease in babies and head injuries have been showcased at a special event. Judges selected six researchers at Imperial who are currently undertaking clinical academic training to present their projects as finalists at a conference organised by the Clinical Academic Training Office (CATO), a network established to provide training for clinical staff, and allied healthcare professionals at Imperial College London and Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust.

Dr Rita De Campos Pires Santos E Sousa, Clinical Research Training Fellow (in Surgery and Cancer), for a study that examines how brain damage develops following a traumatic brain injury (TBI) and investigates potential drug treatments such as xenon, a noble gas and general anaesthetic, to tackle this.  The latest findings showed for the first time in an animal model that xenon reduces brain injury and improves neurological outcomes in the short and long term.  According to the research team, xenon could be used to treat TBI patients in the future.

Read more.

CRF featurers in The Econimist

Clinical research fellow Mr Matthew Prime features in this weeks Economist magazine on an article entitled “Doctorpreneurs”, which focuses on how many bright inventions come out of the NHS but too few are exploited.

Although in theory the NHS is keen to exploit innovation, in practice the path is often blocked. One problem is that there is no clear process for pitching an idea: doctors who do must tout their wares to each hospital, and sometimes each hospital department. One inventor, an orthopaedic surgeon called Matthew Prime, came up with a digital database for accident and emergency patient notes which, he says, caused a 50% drop in complaints and lowered surgical waiting times. Despite this success, only four other hospitals took it up. Others continue to write each patient’s notes out five times, on various whiteboards and notepads, as they come in.

Prizes all round

Congratulations to three members of the Department who have all recently won prizes:

  • Mr Daniel Leff won the prestigious Gukas Prize, given annually form the Norwich Medical School for the best graduate on the Master of Surgery in Oncoplastic Breast Surgery degree.
  • Dr Susannah Clarke won the Royal Academy of Engineering’s prestigious silver medal, which is awarded to individuals who can turn remarkable technical achievements into commercial success. Clarke’s pioneering idea of using a 3D printer to make fully customisable surgical instruments at the click of a button has already been put to use in more than 400 surgeries.
  • Dr James Alexander won £500 at the ‘Endoscopy dragons den’ for his in vivo iendoscope project.
  • Jose Vicente Torres-Perez, (PhD Student with Dr. Istvan Nagy) who got awarded a travel grant from the Imperial College Trust (General Funds) to attend the 9th Congress of the European Pain Federation, Vienna, Austria, 2 – 5 September 2015, where he will be presenting his poster titled “Can Nav1.7 be targeted for controlling pain after burn injury?”

Lord Darzi outlines why sharing patient data is important

Ara talking
In the run up to the Sowerby Symposium on 16th July, Professor Lord Ara Darzi discusses the benefits & barriers to sharing patient data.

The symposium will explore the topic of benefits to patients from data sharing, as told by patients themselves and those who have been working to join up information held by individual organisations across the NHS.

 

More details and how to register can be found on the Sowerby eHealth Symposium webpage.