News and Events 2011

8th December - Where's Wallace? Intrepid CRUK supporter Matt Wallace reached Liverpool on 8th December, and spent the day meeting researchers and finding more out about our work in pancreatic cancer and ocular oncology. Matt had walked around 600 miles to get to us, and still has another 900 miles to go. You can follow his progress and sponsor him via www.whereswallace.org 2nd December - MP Luciana Berger visit MP for Wavertree Luciana Berger visited the Centre on 2nd December 2011. 1st December - Ainsdale Fundraisers visit The Centre received a visit from a fundraising group in Ainsdale on 1st December. The group heard the story of Henrietta Lacks from Emma Squibb and viewed HeLa cells visit Prof Urbe’s lab. 28th November - Alder Hey Successes Congratulations to Paediatric Oncology Researchers from Alder Hey Children's Hospital. Mr Paul Farrelly - SpR Paediatric Surgery has won the prestigious Ronald Raven Prize at the British Association of Surgical Oncology (BASO) Meeting recently held at The Royal College of Surgeons in England November 2011.  The presentation was entitled - "Does Aggressive Surgical Resection Improve Survival for Stage III and IV Neuroblastoma? - A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis" - Authors - PJ Farrelly, D Mullassery and PD Losty. This is the 1st time, we understand, that a paediatric surgical oncology group have secured this award. And in July 2011 - Dhanya Mullassery - Paediatric Surgeon - won the Peter Paul Rickham Prize at The British Association of Paediatric Surgeons International Congress for her MRC PhD funded work on Neuroblastoma.  The talk - " NFk B signalling activity in Neuroblastoma"  - Authors D Mullassery, V See, DG Spliller, HP McDowell, BL Pizer, C Dominici, MRH White, EC Jesudason, PD Losty. 17th November - Children's University Day The Centre held it’s first Children’s University Open Day on Saturday 12th November, with families from local schools visiting cancer awareness stalls and spending time with our scientists in the labs. The children also took away information about how to support the charity through volunteering and we made over £50 on our toy and book stall. Thanks to researchers Neville Cobbe, Violaine See, Jemma Blocksidge, Joe Slupsky, Mike Davies, Silviya Balabanova, to Research Nurses Lorraine Turner, Laura Borwn, Pembe Yesildag and Helen Jeffrey and to Tom Kearns, Gemma Barnett and Kathryn Marley from LCTU. 16th November - Publication Success Congratulations to Dr Lugang Yu and his group who have had their paper Serum Galectin-2, -4, and -8 Are Greatly Increased in Colon and Breast Cancer Patients and Promote Cancer Cell Adhesion to Blood Vascular Endotheliumpublished in Clinical Cancer Research. The paper was selected as a highlighted article for the issue. 15th November - Oncology Team of the Year Award 2011 The Liverpool Ocular Oncology Centre/Liverpool Ocular Oncology Research Group were exceedingly pleased to be one of three short-listed entrants for the Pfizer Excellence in Oncology: Oncology Team of the Year Award, 2011.  The work of the team was commended by the judges. The Oncology Team of the Year is described as recognizing a demonstration of outstanding teamwork in any area within oncology education, management and patient care. Further details about the award can be found at http://www.excellenceinoncology.org/about-the-awards/ Members of the group attended the awards ceremony at the Liverpool Hilton on  Tuesday 8th November as part of the NCRI Cancer Conference, hosted by Nicholas Owen, himself a cancer survivor. Photgraphed above (L-R): Mr David Dunlop (Chair of the Excellence in Oncology Awards, 2011), Mrs Julie Sudlow (Senior Secretary), Dr Nihal Kenawy (Clinical Fellow), Prof Heinrich Heimann (Ocular Oncologist/Vitreoretinal surgeon), Prof Sarah Coupland [Honorary Consultant Pathologist and Liverpool Ocular Oncology Research Group Lead (Basic Research Team)], Prof Bertil Damato [Ocular Oncologist and Liverpool Ocular Oncology Centre Lead (Clinical Team)], Dr Sarah Lake (Senior Postdoctoral Researcher), Dr Helen Kalirai (Senior Postdoctoral Research Fellow), Sister Sam Kaye (Clinic Nurse), Mr Nicholas Owen (BBC Newsreader and Host of the Pfizer Excellence in Oncology Awards), Mr Robert Day (Head of Pfizer Oncology, UK). 9th November - President elect Congratulations to Professor Riccardo Audisio, Consultant Surgical Oncologist, who has been named President elect (vice President) for two years of the BASO (British Association of Surgical Oncologists). He will replace the President in November 2013. 8th November - NCRI Conference in Liverpool This week sees the return of the NCRI conference in Liverpool. The Centre is well represented again this year including, Prof Andy Pettitt in the Clinical Trials Showcase for the CLL206 Trial, Prof John Neoptolemos highlighting the ESPAC-3 trial in the proffered paper session, Prof John Ellershaw is hosting and presenting a session on Prognastication in advanced cancer: How and why?, and Richard Shaw is co-hosting a Head and Neck Cancer Research Workshop, not to mention numerous posters from research groups across the Institute. Below, Stacey Carruthers from LCTU manning the Liverpool CR-UK Centre stand. 24th October - Deputy Leader of the Council Visit Deputy Leader of Liverpool City Council Roz Gladden and Labour Councillor for County Ward Roy Gladden visited the Centre on 24 October, meeting with Senior Research Nurse Lorraine Turner and Chris Hands from LCTU. Both Roz and Roy represent wards with high cancer incidence and mortality, Roz is also the Cabinet Member for Adult Social Care and Health, so both were interested to hear about our work fighting cancer in Liverpool. The couple also enjoyed a tour of Dr. Steve Royle’s lab. 24th October - Liverpool Hospitals receive International Accreditation Two Liverpool hospitals have been recognised internationally as leaders in the treatment of a rare form of cancer. Aintree University Hospital and the Royal Liverpool and Broadgreen University Hospitals NHS Trust have received joint accreditation from the European Neuroendocrine Tumor Society (ENETS). They are one of just four centres of excellence in the UK, and 12 across Europe. Neuroendocrine tumours affect one in every 50,000 people and are unusual because they are typically slow growing, going undetected for many years. They are mostly found in the intestine, but can occur anywhere elsewhere in the body, including the lungs. The symptoms, which include indigestion, altered bowel habit, wheezing and facial flushing, can often be difficult to deal with. Because of their rarity, many clinicians are reluctant to treat these patientsdue to a lack of experience. However, experts at the hospitals have worked together to develop a range of techniques to manage the disease which affects a varied patient group. Tony Bell, chief executive at the Royal, said: “This accreditation is testament to the benefits of healthcare organisations working together over two decades. By sharing knowledge and best practice, we can ensure that patients receive effective and consistent treatment to the highest international standards.” Mr Graeme Poston, consultant liver surgeon at Aintree University Hospital, said: “Not only can local people get access to some of the best treatments in the world on their doorstep, this is one of only four centres in the UK where people can come for treatment endorsed by ENETS.” Aintree University Hospital and the Royal Liverpool University Hospital have been treating patients with neuroendocrine tumour disease for a number of years. The accreditation acts as a quality assurance and will likely lead to more referrals from GPs in the UK and internationally. 21st October - Bioinformatics Workshop The Centre held a Bioinformatics workshop today highlighting the excellent statistics and bioinformatics support available to all members of the Centre. The workshop was well-attended and colleagues heard from Jithesh, Bryony Lloyd, Brian Lane and Trevor Cox on Sequence Analysis, Systems Biology, Cross PlatformTechnologies for Biomarkers, Microarray Analysis, and Statistical Aspects of Bioinformatics. 7th October - Congratulations to the Head and Neck Oncology Research Group The links below are to press releases from the American Association for Cancer Research & The Wellcome Trust relating to research published in Clinical Cancer Research this week; http://www.aacr.org/home/public--media/aacr-in-the-news.aspx?d=2484 http://www.wellcome.ac.uk/News/Media-office/Press-releases/2011/WTVM052924.htm Evaluation of human papilloma virus diagnostic testing in oropharyngeal squamous cell carcinoma: sensitivity, specificity, and prognostic discrimination. Schache AG, Liloglou T, Risk JM, Filia A, Jones TM, Sheard J, Woolgar JA, Helliwell TR, Triantafyllou A, Robinson M, Sloan P, Harvey-Woodworth C, Sisson D, Shaw RJ. Clin Cancer Res. 2011 Oct 1;17(19):6262-71 The publicity for this Mersey Head & Neck Oncology Research Group publication comes on the back of significant funding for HPV related head and neck cancer research at the University of Liverpool. In addition to Andrew Schache's Wellcome Trust – FDS research fellowship, collaborative investigators, Terry Jones & Richard Shaw have been successful in establishing both the CRUK funded REALISTIC Phase I clinical trial for HPV positive oropharyngeal cancer (OPSCC) and securing funding for a nationwide prevalence HPV positive OPSCC study. In an attempt to improve understanding and foster new research relationships, the team ran the successful National Translational Symposium on the emerging role of HPV16 in Head & Neck cancer, attracting delegates and speakers from across the globe. These components form part of the groups ongoing interest in both HPV positive malignancy and HPV negative head and neck cancer, which is caused by risk factors such as tobacco and alcohol consumption. 6th October - HeLa event On 4th October, exactly 60 years from the date of her death, Liverpool Cancer Research UK Centre hosted The Story of Henrietta Lacks, an event to celebrate Black History Month. 35 people attended the event at which Emma Squibb told the story of Henrietta, Nikolina Vlatkovic spoke about the contribution HeLa cells have made to science, and Sylvie Urbe and her group showed our guests HeLa cells in the laboratory. Lord Mayor of Liverpool Cllr Frank Prendergast was our special guest. 5th October - Richard Shaw on Radio Merseyside On Radio Merseyside’s Breakfast Show this week, there has been a focus on Aintree Hospital and they have been on site each morning interviewing various staff and patients. This morning was the turn of the Head & Neck Cancer Unit – consultant Richard Shaw was interviewed, alongside a patient. The interview is available to listen to here (please allow a few seconds for media player to appear): 4th October - Prof Pettitt to present at NCRI Conference in Clinical Trials Showcase Professor Andy Pettitt's abstract has been selected for presentation in the Clinical Trials Showcase (instead of the proffered paper sessions) at the 2011 NCRI Cancer Conference. His abstract is entitled: Alemtuzumab in combination with methylprednisolone is a highly effective induction regimen for patients with chronic lymphocytic leukaemia and deletion of TP53: Final results of the National Cancer Research Institute (NCRI) CLL206 Trial The Clinical Trials Showcase will take place Monday 7 November, 17.45 – 19.05; Prof Petitt's presentation will be in the 17.45 – 18.05 slot and will consist of 15 minutes talk time followed by 5 minutes of discussion. 22nd September - Liverpool Football Club The Centre has been supporting Liverpool FC’s men’s health events for the last 12 months and on 22nd September LEAD Manager Emma Squibb and Senior Research nurse Lorraine Turner attended a celebratory event at Anfield, where Emma met Reds' legend Phil Thompson. 14th September - Councillor Jake Morrison Visit Ward Councillor for Wavertree, Jake Morrison, visited the Centre on 14th September, meeting with LEAD Manager Emma Squibb, Senior Research Nurse Lorraine Turner, and researcher Fiona Hood. 7th September - Research Nurses to take on the Sandstone Trail for CRUK On Saturday 17th September a group of nurses and researchers from the Royal Liverpool University Hospital will be undertaking a 55km walk to raise awareness of the Pancreatic Biomedical Research Unit at Liverpool, and to raise funds for CRUK. Taking part are Research Nurses Helen Jeffrey, Laura Brown, Lorna Fleming, Mercy Mbuyongha, Pembe Yesildag and Lorraine Turner. Also taking part are researchers Jane Armstrong and Diane Latawiec. Our supporters include David Fleming-Bird, Brian Hennie, Ann Leech, Christina Rigby and Clare Reid. Any donation you can afford will help us with our life saving work in Liverpool. Please help us raise as much money as possible by spreading the word to your friends, colleagues and family. http://www.justgiving.com/sandstonetrailforCRUK 7th September - Paper Publication Congratlutions to Carlos Rubbi, Nikolina Vlatkovic, and Mark Boyd for having their paper The nucleolous directly regulates p53 export and degredation published in this fornight's issue of JCB. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21893597 7th September - Grant award for Dr Joseph Slupsky Congratulations to Dr Joseph Slupsky who has been awarded a 3-year project grant from Leukaemia and Lymphoma Research for his project Analysis of the functional interactions of Lyn, Lck and ZAP70 in chronic lymphocytic leukaemia cells undergoing BCR stimulation. 30th August - Liverpool Pride Researchers from Liverpool Cancer Research UK Centre supported Liverpool Pride this year, taking  part in the march through Liverpool City Centre on 6th August. We also bumped into friend of the Centre Stephen Twigg MP.

5th August - Professor John Ellershaw receives Honorary Award Professor John Ellershaw has been awarded an Honorary Doctorate at Edge Hill University in recognition of his contribution to medicine. The citation delivered by the Dean of the Faculty of Health highlighted Professor Ellershaw's contribution to improving care of the dying and his impact on the Medical Undergraduate Curriculum at Liverpool University. The Marie Curie Palliative Care Institute at the University of Liverpool has ongoing collaborations with Edge Hill University, contributing to the Palliative Care Education in Nursing and collaborative research with Professor Barbara Jack who is Head of Research and Scholarship. Professor John Ellershaw said, "I'm both honoured and delighted to have received this award which has been made possible through the support of many professional colleagues and the wider political and societal realisation that end of life care is everybody’s business". "

27th July - Model, Amanda Harrington, visits the Centre

LIVERPOOL model and ECHO columnist, Amanda Harrington visited the Centre to learn about cancer research in the city. The mum-of-one took part in the Knowsley Race For Life earlier this month and urged women to return their sponsorship cash yesterday as she spoke to researchers.

She said: “Taking part in Race For Life was enormous fun, but thousands of women taking part in events all over Merseyside were also making a big difference to the work of Cancer Research UK. “The money raised by Race For Life is vital to helping fund the research which will make a difference to future generations affected by cancer.”

Professor John Neoptolemos said: “More people are now surviving cancer thanks to the work of Cancer Research UK, which in turn relies on everyone who raises money through Race for Life.”

20th July - Cancer Research UK Regional Reception
Cancer Research UK held a special ‘Regional Reception’ at Westminster on 12th July 2011. The event brought together Cancer Research UK-funded researchers, campaigners, fundraisers and patient representatives from all the regions of the UK to highlight Cancer Research UK’s local roots to parliamentarians.

Professor John Neoptolemos and Dr Sylvie Urbé with Liverpool Riverside MP Louise Ellman.

MPs were asked to backing the charity’s bid to make their local region and the UK a thriving environment for medical research. As well as finding out more about the cutting edge research carried out in their region, MPs heard that Cancer Research UK receives no Government funding and relies on the generosity of supporters to fund its life-saving work. Cancer Research UK is calling on the Government to work in partnership with the scientific community to ensure that pioneering new research can be transferred from the lab bench to the patient’s bedside as quickly as possible.

Guests heard speeches from host Penny Mordaunt MP, Chair of the All Party Parliamentary Group on Life Sciences, Harpal Kumar, Chief Executive of Cancer Research UK, Anne Milton MP, Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for Public Health and former nurse, and Tony Selman, a patient voice, fundraiser and Cancer Campaigns Ambassador.

Harpal Kumar thanked MPs for their support. He said: “Cancer Research UK is working hard in every region of the UK to beat cancer. Ninety per cent of the population live within 30 miles of a laboratory or hospital where we’re funding life-saving research, which is funded entirely by the generosity of the public. We welcome the government’s recent commitments that will help us with the research we fund in the NHS. We now want the Government to involve Cancer Research UK in planning for the future of medical research in the UK.”

15th July - Lifetime Scientific Achievement Award
Professor John Field has received the Joseph W Cullen Award from the International Association for the Study of Lung Cancer (IASLC). He was presented the award at the World Conference on Lung Cancer in Amsterdam, which is given to an IASLC scientist for lifetime scientific achievement in prevention research of thoracic malignancies. Professor Field leads the UK Lung Cancer Screening Trial and, as Chair of the IASLC CT Screening Task Force, has developed recommendations as to how future CT screening should be undertaken in association with integrated smoking cessation. Further details can be found in the Final IASLC CT Screening Statement.

Presentation of the Joseph Cullen Award at the WCLC opening Ceremony to Professor John Field by the President of IASLC Dr David Gandara, USA.

14th July - Caldies Girls Visit
Ten students from Calderstones School in South Liverpool visited the Centre on July 13th. The girls had volunteered at Race for Life in Sefton Park in June. The visit included a meeting with Ryan Baron, a visit to Sylvie Urbé’s Lab, meeting Gill Hamblin at the Linda McCartney Centre and a strawberry DNA experiment with Neville Cobbe.

Comments from the girls on their visit: I enjoyed visiting the labs and getting to see the cells, and also the strawberry experiment. It has made me feel proud to support CRUK. It was interesting meeting the different people and learning about their jobs/ lifestyle I feel like I should do more, that cancer affects so many people, so we need to work together. I feel like I know where the money goes now, and I won’t be using sunbeds in the future

10th July - Race for Life Wirral

Fiona McRonald and Syed Hussain came along to Birkenhead park on Sunday 10 July to support Wirral Race for Life. 5,000 women joined the fun, including the fantastic Bernie Bucket who has raised £44,000 for CRUK since 2010. Well done to Fiona for delivering the speech to such a large crowd and coping with the impromptu interview from Heart FM.

7th July - Charlotte Completes her Epic Race for Life Season

Congratulations and well done to Charlotte Rawcliffe (LCTU) for completing TEN Race for Life events this summer. Charlotte ran the last Race at Knowsley on Wednesday 6 July, accompanied by other members of staff from LCTU. No personal bests were achieved as the girls decided to run in pyjamas, and the rain came down until our final team member crossed the line. Dr Seema Chauhan spoke to around 1,800 women before the Race and welcomed the first runner home. Model Amanda Harrington formed part of the start line with the team. Amanda, who is supporting CRUK, will be coming in to visit the Centre this summer.

Charlotte has raised almost £1,000 for CRUK so far, please sponsor her today here

Thanks to Zaira, Sarah J, Gemma, Neville, Wendy, Kathryn, Sarah C, Seema, Laura and, of course, Charlotte.

6th July - Professor Sarah Coupland

Congratulations to Sarah Coupland who has been awarded a Personal Chair.

28th June - PET-CT Scanner Official Opening

THe PET-CT Scanner at the Royal Liverpool University Hospital has been officially opened by CEO, Tony Bell and Chair, Judith Greensmith. The £1.8m PET-CT Scanner is the only static scanner in the whole of Merseyside and Cheshire. The scanner provides the latest technology to diagnose certain types of cancer and other diseases.
The Trust has over 450 clinical trials taking place and the PET-CT scanner is being used extensively in these trials, including those for new drugs, with ten trials currently benefiting from the use of the scanner.

27th June - Race for Life - Aintree

Over 6,000 women and girls came to Aintree Racecourse this weekend to take part in the two Race for Life events. Ryan Baron gave a thank you speech to around 4,500 people in the morning, and researchers from the Centre formed a start line for the second race, and even performed the warm up routine in front of a 2,500 strong crowd in the afternoon.

Well done to all the researchers who took part, paricluarly to Lauren Dodgson who came in 4th. The unstoppable Charlotte Rawcliffe ran races 5 and 6 in her ten-Race series, almost beating her personal best time in the morning, but coming a little further down the field in the afternoon, when she ran as the Pink Panther. That's no mean feat on the hottest day of the year so far, so please show your support by sponsoring her now at. www.justgiving.com/charlotterunsten

Charlotte is running two races in Blackpool this week, Preston on Sunday 3rd July, and will be completing her final Race at Knowsley on 6th July.

21st June - Publication Success

Congratulations to Carlos Rubbi, as lead author, with Mark Boyd and Nikolina Vlatkovic of the p53/MDM2 Research Group who have had their paper The nucleolus directly regulates p53 export and degradation accepted for the internationally peer reviewed Journal of Cell Biology. The study shows that p53 stability is directly regulated by the nucleolus rather than by diffusible factors (post-translational modifications or enzymes).

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21893597

Figure: Nuclear locality of p53 regulation: p53 decay by protein synthesis inhibition in U2Os and NIH3T3 cells.

17th June - Liverpool Carer's Day

Emma, with Tom Kearns and Gemma Barnett from LCTU represented the Centre at Liverpool Carer’s Day which was held in St George’s Hall on 17th June. The event attracted about 1,000 visitors. They had the chance to catch up with Stephen Twigg MP and introduced themselves to the new Mayor of Liverpool Cllr Frank Prendergast.

Local Race for Life Update

Thanks to Elinor Chapman who spoke at the Rhyl Race for Life, Lauren Dodgson at Wigan and to Sarah Lake who spoke at the Chester event. Charlotte Rawcliffe continues with her fabulous fundraising efforts- running at Wrexham, Wigan and Chester. If you haven’t already done so, please sponsor Charlotte at www.justgiving.com/charlotterunsten

A newly formed Sarcoma Support group for Merseyside and Cheshire met at the Centre on 14th June during National Sarcoma Week. Lindsey Bennister, Chief Executive of Sarcoma UK is pictured with Lead Cancer Nurse, Gill Hamblin and patient representative, Cameron Burry.

Daily Post
http://www.liverpooldailypost.co.uk/liverpool-news/regional-news/2011/06/06/race-for-life-sees-thousands-of-runners-in-sefton-park-to-fight-cancer-92534-28825979/

Lanashire One

Granada Reports
http://www.itv.com/granada/cancer-fight25178/

Download the special Sefton Park Race for Life Cancer Community Update

FUTURE EVENT - PET-CT Scanner Open Day 28th June, 11am-3pm

The Royal Liverpool University Hospital is holding an Open Day on 28th June to officially open the PET-CT Scanner. All are welcome to attend from 11am -3pm in the Nuclear Medicine Department in the hospital to meet staff and view the scanner. Light refreshments will be available. For more details please contact Elaine Noonan on 706 4464.

17th May

The Race for Life season started in the region on Sunday 15th May at Southport. Jithesh Puthen, Neville Cobbe supported the event which was attended by over 1700 women. The Race was the first of Charlotte Rawcliffe’s “Charlotte Runs Ten”, and she was accompanied by Laura Marsh, also of LCTU. You can sponsor Charlotte by visiting www.justgiving.com/charlottetrunsten

10th May
Congratulations to Professor Bertil Damato and Dr Sarah Coupland; the group's opthalmic images are featured on the front cover of Archives of Opthalmology journal (Vol 129 No 5, May 2011).

Limbal Juvenile Xanthogranuloma in an Adult
A 33-year-old man had a 2-week history of a yellowish painless limbal nodule (A). Histopathological examination shows infiltration of histiocytes, lymphocytes, plasma cells, and eosinophils (B and C) (hematoxylin-eosin, original magnification x400) and Touton giant cells (D) (hematoxylin-eosin, original magnification x1000). The lesion was positive for the macrophage marker CD68 (E) and negative for Langerin (F) and S-100 protein (G), confirming the diagnosis of juvenile xanthogranuloma (alkaline phosphatase antialkaline phosphatase, original magnification x1000).



2nd May
Professor Neoptolemos has been interviewed by a Portuguese TV station, tvnet, with regard to the TeloVac trial. You can view the interview here:

http://tvnet.sapo.pt/noticias/video_detalhes.php?id=66733

28th April
Charlotte Rawcliffe, Deputy Operational Director of LCTU is running an incredible ten Race for Life events across the region this summer to raise funds for CRUK. Members of staff from the Centre accompanying Charlotte on her runs include Laura Marsh, Seema Chauhan, Emma Squibb, Lauren Dodsgon, Liz Garner, Claire Hutchinson, Louise Rawling, Katie Bullock and Melanie Oates. You can sponsor Charlotte at www.justgiving.com/charlotterunsten

19th April
Liverpool’s famous Superlambanana has turned pink for CRUK. Researchers and staff from the Centre took the opportunity to pose for photos with the statue, which has been branded with Race for Life and Liverpool Cancer Trials logos.

15th April - TeloVac Trial BBC Coverage
The BBC 6pm and 10pm News covered the LCTU's TeloVac Pancreatic Cancer trial yesterday. Filmed at the Royal Liverpool Hospitaland the University labs on 5th April there were interviews with Professor Neoptolemos and two patients on the trial. Further details are available on the BBC's Medical Correspondant - Fergus Walsh's page: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-13088819

Video footage: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-13086164

31st March

Health and social care students from Hugh Baird College in Bootle came for a tour of the Centre

26th March

Liverpool based researcher Amro Ebbiary visited the Widnes CRUK shop to help behind the till.

16th March

27 members of the public visited the Centre on 16th March to find out how they could become involved in volunteering opportunities at the Royal, and at Liverpool Cancer Trials Unit. The visitors heard from Lead Cancer Nurse at the Royal Gill Hamblin, Dr. Seema Chauhan of LCTU, Joan Elmer, the Manager of Sunflowers Cancer Support Centre and local fundraiser Bernie Singleton. The visitors also enjoyed tours of the labs conducted by Dr. Ricardo Nunes Bastos and Dr. Shirley Smith.

9th March

Emma Squibb, Debbie Devine, Prof Andrea Varro and Dr. Sarah Lake represented the Centre at Liverpool Town Hall on 8th March, at an event held to mark International Women’s Day.

The theme of the evening, and the coming year is "Equal access to education, training, science and technology - pathways to decent work for women". The ladies met with the Lord Mayor Clllr Hazel Williams.

16th February - Liverpool City Council's Adult Health and Social Care Select Committee

Representatives of Liverpool City Council’s Adult Health and Social Care Select Committee Janet Kent and Mike Marsh visited the centre on Wednesday 16th February, meeting with Professor Neoptolemos, Professor Pettitt and Dr Seema Chauhan before being shown around the Professor Barr’s labs.