CCMRC Monthly Newsletter

CARDIFF CHINA MEDICAL RESEARCH COLLABORATIVE (CCMRC) news | ISSUE 4
Our Partners:
CCMRC Monthly Newsletter
by Ross Collins (Editor: Sarah Koushyar).
Student update
March highlights
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New starters at CCMRC
CUKC 2015 – www.cukc.org.uk
‘Science in Health Week
March seminar meeting: miRNA
PhD students literature reviews
Admin update
Welcomes and Goodbyes…
March saw the arrival of Weijuan Jia
from Sun Yat-Sen Memorial Hospital,
Sun Yat-Sen University and Carly
Bunston, MrES student. Weijuan will
focus on a collaborative breast cancer
research project over the next 12
months. At the end of March, we bid
farewell to Sheila Wang, a PhD student
from University of Toronto who has
returned to Canada after a six week
placement, and to Ben and Georgia who
have progressed on with their studies.
We wish them all a bright future.
China – UK Cancer (CUKC) Conference
Science in Health 2015
After a successful visit last year, March
once again welcomed many sixth form
and college students to CCMRC as part
of the annual Science in Health two
day event. Students and staff gave
demonstrations on some of the
research carried out at CCMRC:
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An introduction to cancer and
metastasis, presented by Dr Sioned
Owen, Ross Collins and Bruno
Bastos
An introduction to some of the
molecular techniques CCMRC uses,
presented by Beth Frugtniet, Robyn
Bradbury, Sarah Koushyar, Emily
Telford and Jeyna Resaul
A brief talk on protein techniques
was given by David Feng
An introduction to the functional
assays we use was given by Dr Hoi
Weeks and Valentina Flamini
The college students and teachers
commented on how useful the day had
been and how it was a “great way to
get young people involved in science.”
We look forward to continuing to host
the students next year.
The Admin team have continued to
progress
the
CUKC
2015
conference brochure and abstracts for
journal publication.
Group Leaders update
Journal publication
CCMRC’s Seniors, who sit on the
Scientific Committee for CUKC 2015,
have focused on proofing and editing
abstracts for inclusion in the conference
materials. Deadline for abstract
submission is the 20th April 2015
March monthly seminar
Date: Friday 27th March
External speaker: Prof. Chris Thorne
Topic: “Genome Editing Comes of
Age”
Learning Outcomes:
 An overview of gene targeting
 Genome Editing tools (rAAV and
CRISPR/Cas9)
 Key considerations for gene editing
 Genome editing at scale (High
through knockout cell
line
generation and Genome Wide
sgRNA
Snthetic
Lethality
Screening
CCMRC Research presentations:
 Dr Lin Ye – “S100A7 a calcium
binding
protein
in
cancer
metastasis”
 Robyn Bradbury – “MDM2 and
PSMA in Breast and Prostate
cancer”
 Emma Liu – “The role of Sm-like
protein in breast cancer”
 Aled Jones – “Implications of IL-17
in wound healing”
Next Month
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Pushing for publications
Throughout March our PhD students
have focused on writing scientific
literature reviews. We have a diverse
range of scientific expertise in cancer
biology ranging from wound healing to
molecular
biology
to
cancer
microenvironment. We are aiming for
publications during the Summer.
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Journal Club
Presenter: Maria Pagoni
Topic: Studying miRNA expression in
prostate cancer cell lines
Learning Outcomes:
 An overview of miRNAs and their
implications in cancer
 Update CCMRC team on miRNA
expression in cancer cell lines
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New feature: Directors comments:
Professor Wen G Jiang, Director of
CCMRC
CCMRC will bid farewell to
Catherine
and
Cynthia,
international students who will
return to China to continue their
studies
The Admin team will have
submitted the CUKC materials to
deadline
CCMRC are hosting a delegation
from the Beijing Municipal
Government
PhD student Bruno Bastos will
lecture and undertake demo’s with
groups of students.
A final note….
During March we celebrated Emily Telford
and Dr Sioned Owen’s birthday. Many
Happy returns to you both