{"id":1757,"date":"2015-02-06T11:43:10","date_gmt":"2015-02-06T11:43:10","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.soton.ac.uk\/evoice\/?p=1757"},"modified":"2015-02-24T17:24:17","modified_gmt":"2015-02-24T17:24:17","slug":"cancer-immunology-campaign","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.soton.ac.uk\/evoice\/cancer-immunology-campaign\/","title":{"rendered":"Cancer Immunology Campaign"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Peter%20Johnson_jpg_SIA%20-%20JPG%20-%20Fit%20to%20Width_144_true\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Professor Peter Johnson, Professor of Oncology at Southampton and Chief Clinician at Cancer Research UK, is championing the Campaign for a Centre for Cancer Immunology.\u00a0 He talks to e-Voice about the background to the campaign and why immunology holds the cure for some cancers.<\/strong><\/p>\n

The campaign\u2019s goal is to raise \u00a325 million.\u00a0 What will the money be used for?<\/strong> We are going to build the UK’s first dedicated Centre for Cancer Immunology: this is founded on Southampton’s long track record, and will help us to accelerate progress in this rapidly-changing field. There will be a new building on the General Hospital site which will house the existing research groups, our clinical trials unit, and a number of important new recruits in discovery science.<\/p>\n

The University received an historic gift of \u00a310 million. \u00a0How did this come about and why are we choosing to put this towards the new Centre?<\/strong>\u00a0\u00a0This gift came from one of our long-standing supporters, who recognised the excellence of the translational research in Southampton and wanted to help us do more. They also made a matching gift to the Cancer Research UK campaign to fund the Crick Institute in London, with the explicit intention of linking cancer immunology research between the two places.<\/p>\n

What are the main aims of the new Centre? <\/strong>We need to expand and accelerate our programme of research into cancer and the immune system: how cancers evade immune detection, how they can be made recognisable again, and how we can switch on the body’s responses to treat them. \u00a0This will encompass a range of work spanning from basic discovery of the precise mechanisms involved right through to clinical trials of new types of treatment.<\/p>\n

Can you explain in simple terms what immunology does and how it can help save lives from cancer? <\/strong>The immune system is one of our main defences against the outside world: it is how we cope with infections and injuries. \u00a0Cancer\u00a0has to escape the surveillance of our immune system in order to develop at all: we generate hundreds of tiny cancers every day which are mostly caught at a very early stage by the immune system and eliminated. The ones that are a problem are the ones that have evolved to get past our natural defences. \u00a0By finding ways to restore the immune recognition of cancers we can devise treatments that will control them, and keep on controlling them: immunity can be life-long if we get it right.<\/p>\n

Why is it such an exciting time for scientists\/clinicians working in cancer immunology? <\/strong>We have always believed that triggering immune responses to cancer would be a good way to treat it, but for many years we saw only limited effects in our clinical trials. \u00a0The last 3 years have changed all this. \u00a0We have seen unprecedented success against a number of different cancer types by using antibodies that can throw the switches in the immune system. \u00a0This has opened up whole new fields of research, and we need to work out how to use this new knowledge as effectively as possible. There is a huge amount to do.<\/p>\n

What impact will a new Centre make on the University\u2019s current cancer immunology research and global research in general? <\/strong>Southampton is in a great position to make a leading contribution in this area. \u00a0We have over 40 years\u2019 experience in the field, and superb expertise in both basic science and its clinical application: the team we already have is excellent, and the new Centre will allow us to make it better still.<\/p>\n

When and where is the Centre planning to be open<\/strong>?\u00a0The new centre will be in front of the General Hospital. \u00a0If all goes to plan we should be opening it in early 2017.<\/p>\n

How will the Centre be funded once it is established? <\/strong>Almost all our research is funded by grants from Research Councils, charities such as Cancer Research UK, and industry collaborations. \u00a0We will be able to bring in more grants by expanding our research facilities. \u00a0At the moment we are completely full so we urgently need the extra space.<\/p>\n

What have been the high and low points so far?<\/strong>\u00a0\u00a0The high point was getting backing from the University for our fundraising campaign, and finding ourselves in the vanguard of the University’s plans to expand its philanthropic support. This is something all universities now have to do, and if we can produce a successful first example it will have follow-on benefits across the campus. \u00a0The low point was probably a very long discussion about parking space at the General Hospital: I know we have to make sure our plans cause as little disruption as possible, but I now know more about parking management than is really healthy.<\/p>\n

We talk a lot about \u2018Connectivity\u2019 at the University, as the connections we make\u00a0change the world.\u00a0 Can you explain how the immunology campaign fits in with the Connectivity theme?<\/strong>\u00a0\u00a0This field relies upon the connection of many different disciplines, and bringing the distinct cultures of discovery science and clinical medicine\u00a0together\u00a0to bear on the problem is crucial. \u00a0We have collaborators all over the world, so it is a genuinely global undertaking for us.<\/p>\n

\u2018The cure for cancer? You\u2019re it\u2019 \u2026.. why is this a good title for the campaign?<\/strong> This sums up really nicely the whole idea that we contain the makings of successful treatment within our own defences, if only we can wake them up to the danger that cancer poses. \u00a0It has an obvious intuitive appeal, but it also benefits from being true in many cases. Our task is to make it true for more people, sooner.<\/p>\n

How would you describe your role in the project?<\/strong>I am very excited to be part of the team that is going to make this Centre a reality. \u00a0My role is to help make sure we have the right research teams, that they have the resources they need, and that we are building a Centre that will make a real difference to people with cancer.<\/p>\n

What motivates you to be so involved in this project?\u00a0\u00a0<\/strong>I have always believed that immunology would play a big part in modern cancer treatment, even through the years when it wasn’t fashionable science. \u00a0It is why I came to Southampton in the first place. \u00a0Seeing the sort of results that are coming through our trials now is incredibly energising: I can’t wait to see what the next few years will bring. \u00a0We are on the cusp of some very exciting discoveries.<\/p>\n

This sounds like something we should all be very proud is happening right here at the University.\u00a0 How can our staff support this project?<\/strong> This is an important project, not just for what it will deliver in scientific terms, but as an example of what Southampton can do to attract philanthropic funding. \u00a0We would like to make sure all the University’s staff feel they have a stake in this, and can spread the word about our appeal. \u00a0This is not just about cancer and medicine: this is about being an ambitious organisation that can make a real difference to people’s lives.<\/p>\n

We can all support the campaign.\u00a0\u00a0 Whether it\u2019s engaging in the campaign\u2019s social media, promoting the website, spreading the word to friends and colleagues, fundraising for the campaign or making a donation, your help will\u00a0make the Centre a reality, accelerating our immunology research and ultimately saving more lives from cancer.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Help us raise \u00a325m for the new Centre for Cancer Immunology at Southampton <\/a><\/span>and save more lives from cancer.<\/strong><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Professor Peter Johnson, Professor of Oncology at Southampton and Chief Clinician at Cancer Research UK, is championing the Campaign for a Centre for Cancer Immunology.\u00a0 He talks to e-Voice about the background to the campaign and why immunology holds the cure for some cancers. The campaign\u2019s goal is to raise \u00a325 million.\u00a0 What will the…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":97356,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1757","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.soton.ac.uk\/evoice\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1757","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.soton.ac.uk\/evoice\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.soton.ac.uk\/evoice\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.soton.ac.uk\/evoice\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/97356"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.soton.ac.uk\/evoice\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1757"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/blog.soton.ac.uk\/evoice\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1757\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2137,"href":"https:\/\/blog.soton.ac.uk\/evoice\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1757\/revisions\/2137"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.soton.ac.uk\/evoice\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1757"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.soton.ac.uk\/evoice\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1757"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.soton.ac.uk\/evoice\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1757"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}