Cancer Research Club - RCSI

Our Cancer Research Club symposium series continued on Wednesday afternoon, at Royal College of Surgeons (RCSI), Dublin, Ireland. The Bouchier-Hayes lecture theatre was at maximum capacity with over 60 scientists from all major universities and Institutes in Ireland coming together to network around the theme of “The Tumor Microenvironment”.

This event was organised by Dr. Tríona Ní Chonghaile & Dr. Helena Bonner from RCSI who provided a great series of lectures and invited guests.

Our first speaker was Alessandra Di Grande who is a PhD student in Tríona Ní Chonghaile’s group in RCSI. Alessandra was our chosen PhD award winner. Alessandra provided a great insight into BH3 mimetics and expression levels in the spleen and as potential targets for cancer therapy.

Second up was Dr. Melissa Conroy from TTMI, TCD who gave her presentation on the effects of obesity on Esophageal cancer and how obesity resulted in the localisation of immune cells at the omentum/liver. Localisation of immune cells resulted in a reduced ability for the body to respond to adenocarcinoma and raised key questions in how weight affects inflammation and the ability to fight cancer.

Our guest speaker form NUI Galway, Dr. Aideen Ryan, provided an incredible insight into the role of CD38+ cells and how priming with cyclophosphamide can improve outcomes upon treatment with the monoclonal antibody Daratumumab and the complexity of immunological signalling.

Finally our keynote lecturer was Prof. Fran Balkwill OBE from QMUL. Prof Balkwill gave an excellent insight into the structure of a cancer with her research on deconstruction and reconstruction of metastasized serous ovarian cancer at the omentum. You can find our more about Prof. Balkwill’s work in her publication in Cancer Discovery.

We have many more events scheduled for Galway, Belfast, London & Madrid in the coming months. We certainly hope to see you at this growing event soon.