National Grant Assessment Panel
Laura has been accepted onto the NC3RS studentship assessment panel. Her tenure will begin in January 2024 and will run for 3 years. Laura will join the team reviewing grant proposals and helping to make funding decisions.
NC3RS summer school
Laura was invited to give the plenary talk at NC3Rs summer school in Liverpool. Laura spoke her career to date and how she has been developing the PCLS model to explore CCA. Laura has received a SKT award and PhD studentship from NC3Rs.
PI, Laura Randle has a new Job! - July 2023
Laura has taken up a new full time role at The University of Liverpool, leaving LJMU after 13 years. Laura returns to the Department of Pharmacology and Therapeutics, where she conducted her PhD and post doctoral training under the guidance of Prof Kevin Park. Laura said 'It's great to be back at Liverpool, helping me to better support our CCA research and PG students. Implementing the PCTS model has opened many doors for me and the Randle Lab continues to go from strength to strength.'
NC3Rs Phd Studentship funding success - Nov 2022.
Laura Randle has been awarded a National Centre for the Replacement, Refinement and Reduction of Animals in Research PhD Studentship in collaboration with colleagues, Prof Chris Godlring and Dr Lekh Dahal at The University of Liverpool and Mr Hassan Malik and Mr Tim Gilbert at Liverpool University Hospitals.
The project entitled ‘Manipulating cholangiocarcinoma immune-phenotype in a patient derived precision-cut tumour model to improve immune checkpoint inhibition response’ builds upon her current NC3Rs skills and knowledge transfer grant and North West Cancer Research PhD Studentship.
Cholangiocarcinoma (CCA) is an aggressive malignancy with increasing incidence and persistently poor prognosis. Conventional-chemotherapy has limited efficacy prompting novel targeted approaches. Immunotherapeutic strategies such as immune-checkpoint blockade (ICB) aim to harness the host-immune system to unleash an effective, durable anti-tumour response. The TOPAZ-1 trial suggests benefit from PDL1-ICB (durvalumab) addition to conventional-chemotherapy. However, only a subset of patients (ORR 26%) will likely derive significant benefit, and a better understanding of the tumour-microenvironment (TME) is required to understand mechanisms of response/resistance.
further details can be found here: https://www.nc3rs.org.uk/our-portfolio/manipulating-cholangiocarcinoma-immune-phenotype-patient-derived-precision-cut-tumour
NWCR Phd Studentship funding success.
Laura Randle has been awarded a North West Cancer Research PhD Studentship in collaboration with colleagues at The University of Liverpool and Aintree University Hospitals.
The project entitled ‘Establishing the immune-profile of cholangiocarcinoma and the utility of human precision cut tumour slices (hPCTS) as a platform to assess immunotherapy response’ builds upon her current NC3Rs skills and knowledge transfer grant.
Cholangiocarcinoma (CCA) includes a cluster of highly heterogeneous biliary malignant tumours that can arise at any point of the biliary tree. Their incidence is increasing globally, currently accounting for ~15% of all primary liver cancers. The silent presentation of these tumours combined with their highly aggressive nature and refractoriness to chemotherapy contribute to their alarming mortality, representing ~2% of all annual cancer-related deaths and representing a global health problem. Novel targeted therapies are urgently required to improve the outcome for these patients.
Immunotherapy has the potential to offer CCA patients a much-improved clinical outcome. This project aims to implement a human ex-vivo model, based upon precision cut cholangiocarcinoma tumour slices to evaluate the tumour immune microenvironment and understand mechanisms of response/resistance to immunotherapies.
Find out more here: NWCR Studentship
PhD studentship funding success
Mohammed Bosakhar has successfully secured funding to begin a PhD studentship in cancer biology at The University of Liverpool under the supervision of Dr Amy Chadwick, Dr Laura Randle and Prof. Chris Goldring. Mohammed will be exploring CCA bioenergetics using organoids and hPCTS. We look forward to welcoming him into our labs in January 2022.
Follow Mohammed on twitter @M_N_Bosakhar
STEM Ambassador DBS renewed
After a fairly quiet 18 months of virtual STEM ambassador activities. I was very pleased to find my new DBS certificate has arrived, so that I can once again visit schools etc and run workshops and assemblies. Get in touch you would like a careers talk or help with BSW!
NC3RS grant funding success!
Dr Laura Randle from LJMU School of Pharmacy and Biomolecular Sciences was awarded £74,093 for their project on 'Determining the efficacy and safety of cancer chemotherapeutics for cholangiocarcinoma (CCA) using Human Precision Cut Tissue Slices (hPCTS)'.
Bile duct cancer is typically studied in mice, either by implanting tumour tissue from patients or introducing relevant genetic mutations through breeding programmes. The percentage of animals that possess the mutation as a result of these programmes is small, increasing the number of animals needing to be bred for studies. Precision cut tissue slices can be cultured ex vivo using human tissue, retaining all cell types in a 3D environment. Laura will establish this method in her laboratory receiving training, expertise and advice from her European and American collaborators on working with human tissue. Laura will confirm the clinical relevance of the method and validate the model by analysing tissue response to chemotherapy drugs currently used in patient treatment.
The award comes from the National Centre for the Replacement, Refinement and Reduction of Animals in Research. They help the research community use the latest science and technology to replace animal studies, providing new approaches for biomedical research and avoiding the time and cost associated with in vivo models.
Review article published in Medicinal Research Reviews!
Our review article entitle 'The Generation, Detection, and Effects of Reactive Drug Metabolites' has been published this week in Medicinal Research Reviews. well recognised, high impact journal (Impact 10.7). This article has been written in collaboration with both, industry and academia and explores the generation of protein-reactive drug metabolites and their impact on pre-clinical toxicity during the drug discovery process.
Download a copy here: http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/med.21273/pdf
