Manchester

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Overview

Our Centre

Manchester ECMC is leading the way in cancer research with an unwavering focus on offering the best treatment options to patients through precision medicine.

Our work takes into consideration the complex genetics and evolution of cancer and how this affects the way in which an individual responds to treatments. This is done through a renewed concentration on molecular profiling, biobanking, imaging, biomarker discovery and radiotherapy related research; as well as a focus on prevention and early detection. Manchester ECMC is also a paediatric centre.

The centre supports the newly refurbished NIHR Clinical Research Facility (CRF) at The Christie Hospital, now operating as one of the top recruiting centres in Europe. Our active early phase I/II clinical trial programme operates across many cancer types, delivering novel experimental cancer medicine drugs to approximately 300 patients a year. These adaptive studies use digital technology and digital science to optimise patient engagement and clinical decision making.

We are closely aligned with the Manchester Cancer Research Centre, Cancer Research UK Manchester Institute and the University of Manchester- the latter having declared Cancer as one their five research beacons. Manchester ECMC is also a part of ‘ECMC North’- a network of six northern ECMC’s to give patients better access to the broadest range of experimental cancer medicine clinical trials possible. All of these collaborations and networks are driving forward the continuous development of our research.

Manchester ECMC is committed to remaining at the forefront of revolutionary cancer research and our specific aims include:

improving cancer patient health outcomes- maximising benefit and tailoring treatment
engineering widespread patient access to early phase clinical trials, within which innovative translational research can thrive
focusing on early phase clinical trials of molecularly targeted agents
continuing to contribute to the network’s universal effort to prevent and control disease via our world-class facilities

Organisations affiliated with the Manchester ECMC :

Contact the Centre Coordinator:

Suzie Bickley

ManchesterECMC@manchester.ac.uk

Address

Christie Hospital NHS Foundation Trust
550 Wilmslow Road
University of Manchester
Manchester M20 4BX

Team Members

Dr Natalie Cook

Adult Centre Co-Lead

natalie.cook@manchester.ac.uk

Dr Cook is a Senior Clinical Lecturer in Experimental Cancer Medicine at The Christie NHS Foundation Trust/Institute of Cancer Sciences, University of Manchester. She is also the clinical lead for Manchester Experimental Cancer Medicine Centre and is director for the MRes in Experimental Medicine at the University of Manchester. She previously trained in Medical Oncology in Cambridge, UK, where she completed a PhD, funded by a CRUK Clinical Training fellowship.

In 2012, Dr Cook was awarded the Rothwell Jackson Postgraduate Travelling Fellowship and travelled to Canada to undertake a 2 year drug development research fellowship, based at the University of Toronto and Princess Margaret Cancer Centre. In her current position she is co-investigator on a portfolio of over 50 early phase clinical trials, and is a Principal Investigator on over 20 trials. She has research interests in clinical trial design, pre-clinical model development, colorectal cancer and carcinoma of unknown primary site.

Professor Caroline Dive

Adult Centre Co-Lead

caroline.dive@cruk.manchester.ac.uk

Professor Caroline Dive is internationally renowned for advancing circulating biomarker research, with a strong focus on circulating tumour cells (CTCs), particularly in lung cancer. Manchester ECMC has extensive capabilities in biomarker science, with particular strengths in circulating, tissue and imaging biomarkers. The Centre, under Professor Dive’s direction has developed a broad portfolio of circulating biomarker assays, with world-leading facilities for the enumeration and molecular characterisation of circulating tumour cells (CTCs).

Professor Dive has also overseen development of a comprehensive ‘tool kit’ to assess circulating nucleic acids (cfDNA and miRNA) and a series of sensitive GCPL multiplex ELISA panels for biomarkers of angiogenesis and cell death.
More recently, Professor Dive and her ECMC team has developed a unique approach to study small cell lung cancer using patient-derived circulating tumour cell explant mouse models (CDX). CDX tumours will shed light on mechanisms of drug resistance, facilitate novel drug target identification and be used to test novel agents.

Dr Guy Makin

Paediatric Centre Lead

guy.makin@cmft.nhs.uk

+44 (0) 161 701 8418

Dr Guy Makin is a Senior Lecturer in Padiatric Oncology at the University of Manchester and Honorary Consultant Paediatric Oncologist at the Royal Manchester Children’s Hospital (RMCH). He is the national lead for the Paediatric Network ECMC, for which Manchester is the lead centre. He is the Lead for the Centre for Paediatric, Teenage and Young Adult Cancer in The Institute of Cancer Sciences at the University of Manchester and the research lead for the Manchester Children’s Cancer Pathway.

Dr Makin's clinical expertise is in the treatment of childhood solid tumours, particularly neuroblastoma, and he is a member of the NCRI Children’s Cancer and Leukaemia neuroblastoma sub-group. Guy was the UK lead for the European phase II study of TVD in refractory neuroblastoma, and am the UK chief investigator for the European VERITAS study of tandem high dose therapy for refractory neuroblastoma.

He is also interested in new drug development and have lead research looking at novel agents in childhood cancer, and in the importance of hypoxia in drug resistance, with a focus on neuroblastoma and osteosarcoma. He is a member of the NCRI CCL New Agents Group, and am the early phase trial lead for RMCH, and is also a member of the NCRI Children’s Cancer and Leukaemia Clinical Study Group.

Operational Team

Amanda Rees

Head of Research Operations for Manchester ECMC & The Christie ECMT

amanda.rees14@nhs.net

+44 (0) 161 918 7545

Dr Damian Mullan

Consultant Radiologist

Damian.Mullan@christie.nhs.uk

+44 (0) 161 446 8558

Alkesh Patel

Pharmacist

alkesh.patel@christie.nhs.uk

+44 (0) 161 918 7651

Jane Rogan

Biobank Contact

jane.rogan@christie.nhs.uk

+44 (0) 161 446 3659

Adult Expertise

Treatment Modalities

Small Molecules

Immunotherapy

Gene therapy

Radiotherapy

Surgery

Chemoradiotherapy

Radioimmunotherapy

Facilities/Translational Research

Phase I studies: including multicentre studies, and First-Time-In-Human studies.

Phase I population: adult solid tumours and haematology/lymphoma. Wide range of mechanisms studied. Areas of cancer specialism:

Lung
Lymphoma
Breast
Prostate
Colorectal
All solid tumours

Specific areas of translational research interest

Develop informative biomarkers (discovery, optimisation, validation, PK/PD, biological effective dose)
Develop and validate generic indicators of tumour apoptosis and anti-angiogenesis
Develop clinical proteomics/metabolomics
Conduct early phase Clinical Immunology trials and translational PD
Develop, integrate and expand imaging methodologies in preclinical models and early clinical trials
Increase capability to deliver targeted radiotherapies
Develop radiogenomics and image guided radiotherapy
Integrate GCLP compliant Laboratory QA systems into early clinical trials

Technology/equipment available within the centre

Pharmacodynamics and pharmacokinetics to GCLP
PET imaging, MRI imaging
Radiotracer design and manufacture
Genomics and molecular pathology
Proteomics

Sample collection

Multiple tumour specific banks
Integrated Banking facilities are in development within the MCRC

Paediatric Expertise

The Manchester paediatric ECMC is based at the Royal Manchester Children’s Hospital (RMCH) in Central Manchester. RMCH is also the lead centre for the paediatric network. Children under 16 years are treated at RMCH, 16 to 24 year olds are treated at the Teenage & Young adult (TYA) service at the Christie Hospital.

RMCH has a long history of treating children in early phase clinical trials, and the research nurse team are experienced in the management of these patients. RMCH is a new purpose built Children’s Hospital that opened in 2009. Children with leukaemia and solid tumours are treated on ward 84, and on the adjacent dedicated day case and outpatient units.

The RMCH also have a research active stem cell transplant unit that is one of two in the UK performing stem cell transplants for inherited metabolic disease. It has the full range of specialised services needed for successful conduct of early phase trials, including an on-site clinical trials pharmacy, and there is a team of 10 consultants, several of whom have lead or are leading national and international trials, and 3 research nurses.

Three of the consultant team are University of Manchester academics, and the Centre for Paediatric, Teenage, and Young Adult Cancer, hosted by the Institute of Cancer Sciences, has a number of research programmes that relate closely to the clinic. There are also have close links and ongoing collaborative projects with other centres within the Institute, particularly in the areas of biomarker development and immunotherapy.

At RMCH there is a close relationship with the paediatric ECMCs in Liverpool and Leeds, and these Centres work together to ensure that they offer the maximum range of early phase trials to the children of the North West and Yorkshire.

The research nurse team take the lead on tissue banking in both leukaemia and solid tumour patients, and they aim to recruit all of their patients to the national leukaemia and solid tumour banks.

Case Study

Case Studies

Circulating tumour cells in lung cancer

Circulating tumour cells are being extensively investigated in the network as a potential route to monitor response to treatment and the development of resistance.

Scientists at the Manchester ECMC published a seminal paper in the Journal of Clinical Oncology in 2012 on the pronostic significance of CTCs in small cell lung cancer (SCLC) and have set up CTC analysis in five SCLC trials.

Recently published in Nature Medicine, Manchester ECMC has also developed a unique approach to study small cell lung cancer. Circulating tumour cell samples taken at patient presententation and again at relapse will shed light on the mechanisms of drug resistance, facilitate novel drug target identification and be used to test novel agents.

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Operational Team

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