Reik Lab Part Of Team Shortlisted for Cancer Research UK’s Grand Challenge Award

A multi-disciplinary team of scientists, including Professor Wolf Reik from the Babraham Institute, has been shortlisted to the final stages of Cancer Research UK's Grand Challenge* – an ambitious series of £20m global grants tackling some of the toughest questions in cancer research. The team, led by Professor Peter Croucher at the Garvan Institute of Medical Research in Sydney, Australia, will include groups of researchers from Australia, Israel, the USA and the UK.

The international collaboration, collectively called team InSIGHT (slaying the buried giant) aims to address the challenge of dormancy – when cancer returns after seemingly successful treatment due to dormant cancer cells that take refuge in other parts of the body. The team will focus on dormant breast cancer cells found in bones. Breast cancer is responsible for over 55,000 new diagnoses in the UK each year. Secondary breast cancer tumours are found in bones more than anywhere else in the body, indicating it is a preferred location for dormant breast cancer cells. Currently little is understood about treatment-resistant dormant cells, the team aims to examine them in fine molecular detail and hopefully uncover weaknesses that could help to beat more cancers for good.

The Reik group will primarily focus on changes to the cancer epigenome – the reversible chemical changes in cells that regulate gene activity throughout the genome. They will contribute their world-leading expertise in understanding large-scale epigenomic reprogramming during development and disease. The group have developed techniques to study the epigenome of single cells, which can be used to uncover hidden variation within a group of cells. This has contributed to the discovery of several key mechanisms involved in epigenome reprogramming. Using these techniques, the team will examine epigenome reprogramming in cancer and attempt to identify rare markers that could be used to help detect dormant cells.

The InSIGHT team will receive seed-funding of up to £30,000 from Cancer Research UK to draft their full research proposal, and the winning proposal will be announced in autumn 2018.
The Grand Challenge award aims to revolutionise how we diagnose, prevent and treat cancer by providing international multi-disciplinary teams the freedom to try novel approaches, at scale, in the pursuit of life changing discoveries.

This is the second round of Cancer Research UK’s Grand Challenge award and last year four teams were awarded up to £20 million each**.

Dr Iain Foulkes, executive director of research and innovation at Cancer Research UK, said: “Round two of Grand Challenge is proving to be incredibly inspiring and the ambitious applications reflect the quality of global researchers this initiative has attracted to beat cancer sooner. We’re delighted with the teams we’ve shortlisted and look forward to hearing more about how they plan to tackle the toughest challenges in cancer research.”

Dr Rick Klausner, chair of Cancer Research UK’s Grand Challenge advisory panel, said: “The challenges set for Grand Challenge have once again attracted some of the best researchers in the world. I’m looking forward to see how global collaboration could bring together diverse expertise, invigorate areas of research, and overcome barriers in ways that aren’t happening at this point in time.”

Professor Wolf Reik, Head of the Epigenetics Laboratory at the Babraham Institute, said: “Dormant cancer cells are a real challenge for cancer treatment that can cause the disease to relapse following seemingly successful treatment. We hoe that our understanding of epigenetic reprogramming and our ability to detect unusual epigenomes in rare cancer cells will make vital contributions to spotting dormant cancer cells. Cancer Research UK’s Grand Challenge provides a unique opportunity for my team to work with renowned colleagues from around the world to tackle this vital issue. I look forward to submitting our full proposal and hope that the panel will see the strength of the team that Peter Croucher has brought together.“

ENDS

For media enquiries about the InSIGHT team and their research contact the Garvan Institute Press Office: Meredith Ross (m.ross@garvan.org.au), +61 (0)2 9295 8128
For media enquiries about Professor Wolf Reik and his world-leading work on epigenetics contact the Babraham Institute: Jonathan Lawson (jonathan.lawson@babraham.ac.uk), +44 (0)1223 496230
For media enquiries about Cancer Research UK’s Grand Challenge award contact Stephanie McClellan in the Cancer Research UK press office on 020 3469 5314 or, out of hours, on 07050 264 059.

Notes to editor:

**These teams are working to identify preventable causes of cancer; creating virtual maps of tumours; preventing unnecessary breast cancer treatment; and studying tumour metabolism from the atomic to the tumour level. 

Complete list of Institutes involved in team InSIGHT:
The Garvan Institute of Medical Research, Australia, the Babraham Institute, UK, the Weizmann Institute of Science, Israel, the Queensland Institute of Medical Research, Australia, the University of Oxford, UK, Yale University, US, University of Adelaide, Australia, Princeton University, US and Washington University, US.

About the Babraham Institute:
The Babraham Institute receives strategic funding from the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC) to undertake world-class life sciences research. It's goal is to generate new knowledge of biological mechanisms underpinning ageing, development and the maintenance of health. Research focuses on signalling, gene regulation and the impact of epigenetic regulation at different stages of life. By determining how the body reacts to dietary and environmental stimuli and manages microbial and viral interactions, we aim to improve wellbeing and support healthier ageing.

About Cancer Research UK

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