The CRUK Convergence Science Centre is a partnership between Imperial College London and The Institute of Cancer Research (ICR). We aim to bring together researchers from different disciplines across both institutions to develop innovative ways to address challenges in cancer research to benefit patients.
This seminar series brings together speakers from Imperial and ICR to present their research and how they use convergence science to answer cancer-related questions. This session will focus on Radiotherapy and Radiobiology.
This session will be chaired by Dr Ben O’Leary from the ICR
Dr Erik Wennerberg (ICR)
Dr Erik Wennerberg will present “Harnessing purinergic signalling to counteract cancer immune resistance”
Purinergic signalling is being characterized as a central regulator in anti-tumour immune responses. When released from the cytosol into the extracellular space, purine metabolites act as powerful immune danger signals that promote recruitment and activation of innate and adaptive immune cells. However, extonucleotidases and ADP-ribosyltransfereases that catabolise these metabolites to promote immune suppression are often overexpressed in cancer and induced by cytotoxic therapies. Dr Erik Wennerberg’s work focuses on designing novel strategies to target the purinergic pathway in the context of radiotherapy and immunotherapy to offset deleterious effects through perturbed purinergic signalling.
Prof Kenneth Long (Imperial)
Prof Kenneth Long will present “The Laser-hybrid Accelerator for Radiobiological Applications”
The “Laser-hybrid Accelerator for Radiobiological Applications”, LhARA, is conceived as a novel, uniquely flexible facility dedicated to the study of radiobiology. The laser-hybrid approach will allow the exploration of the vast “terra incognita” of the mechanisms by which the biological response is modulated by the physical characteristics of the beam. The technologies that will be demonstrated in LhARA have the potential to allow particle-beam therapy to be delivered in a completely regimens, combining a variety of ion species in a single treatment, exploiting ultra-high dose rates in conventional and magnetically-focused minibeams. Prof Kenneth Long will describe the motivation for LhARA, present the status of its development and summarise the programme upon which the LhARA collaboration has embarked to drive a step-change in clinical capability.
Who can attend?
Researchers, students and anyone with an interest in convergence science relating to cancer research across Imperial and ICR are welcome to register. Please email icr-imperial-convergence.centre@imperial.ac.uk to receive the registration link.