Cambridge Confidence in Concept: translating innovative science into patient benefit
Lead Research Organisation:
University of Cambridge
Department Name: UNLISTED
Abstract
Abstracts are not currently available in GtR for all funded research. This is normally because the abstract was not required at the time of proposal submission, but may be because it included sensitive information such as personal details.
Technical Summary
The Confidence in Concept scheme is a key part of MRC’s translational research strategy and provides annual awards to institutions, to be used flexibly to support the earliest stages of multiple translational research projects. The award can be used by the institution to support a number of preliminary-stage translational projects. The projects supported should aim to provide sufficient preliminary data to establish the viability of an approach –– before seeking more substantive funding. It is intended to accelerate the transition from discovery research to translational development projects by supporting preliminary work or feasibility studies to establish the viability of an approach.
Organisations
- University of Cambridge (Lead Research Organisation)
- AstraZeneca (Collaboration)
- Brainlab (Collaboration)
- Apollo Therapeutics (Collaboration)
- Takeda Pharmaceutical Company (Collaboration)
- Johnson & Johnson (Collaboration)
- Alzheimer's Research UK (Collaboration)
- SAS Trace Element Centre (Collaboration)
- KING'S COLLEGE LONDON (Collaboration)
Publications
Rosa M
(2021)
Emerging roles of adhesion G protein-coupled receptors
in Biochemical Society Transactions
Shoukat MS
(2021)
Use of machine learning to identify a T cell response to SARS-CoV-2.
in Cell reports. Medicine
Clark AJ
(2021)
CGRP, adrenomedullin and adrenomedullin 2 display endogenous GPCR agonist bias in primary human cardiovascular cells.
in Communications biology
Davies K
(2020)
Advances in the assessment of T-cell clonality
in Diagnostic Histopathology
Stovell MG
(2020)
Phosphorus spectroscopy in acute TBI demonstrates metabolic changes that relate to outcome in the presence of normal structural MRI.
in Journal of cerebral blood flow and metabolism : official journal of the International Society of Cerebral Blood Flow and Metabolism
Suchankova A
(2021)
Measuring the rapid kinetics of receptor-ligand interactions in live cells using NanoBRET.
in Methods in cell biology
Marti-Solano M
(2020)
Combinatorial expression of GPCR isoforms affects signalling and drug responses.
in Nature
Littlejohns TJ
(2021)
Genetic, lifestyle, and health-related characteristics of adults without celiac disease who follow a gluten-free diet: a population-based study of 124,447 participants.
in The American journal of clinical nutrition
Foers AD
(2021)
Classification of intestinal T-cell receptor repertoires using machine learning methods can identify patients with coeliac disease regardless of dietary gluten status.
in The Journal of pathology
| Description | "Small molecule allosteric modulators of incretin receptors as treatments for type II diabetes" |
| Amount | $1,000,000 (USD) |
| Organisation | AstraZeneca |
| Sector | Private |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Start | 08/2019 |
| Description | A novel therapeutic platform to increase tumour immunogenicity |
| Amount | £14,800 (GBP) |
| Organisation | Wellcome Trust |
| Sector | Charity/Non Profit |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Start | 04/2020 |
| End | 03/2021 |
| Description | Amelioration of Aberrant Glycosylation and the Maternal Adaptation to Pregnancy |
| Amount | £1,415,887 (GBP) |
| Organisation | Medical Research Council (MRC) |
| Sector | Public |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Start | 01/2023 |
| End | 01/2027 |
| Description | Bioassay of cervid prions in Drosophila |
| Amount | £476,000 (GBP) |
| Organisation | Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC) |
| Sector | Public |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Start | |
| Description | COMMIT - Continuous Online Metabolite Monitoring. |
| Amount | £1,137,648 (GBP) |
| Funding ID | NIHR200986 |
| Organisation | National Institute for Health Research |
| Sector | Public |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Start | 03/2020 |
| End | 03/2024 |
| Description | CRUK Early Detection Primer Award |
| Amount | £100,000 (GBP) |
| Organisation | Cancer Research UK |
| Sector | Charity/Non Profit |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Start | |
| Description | Cambridge Cardiovascular Pump Priming Grant |
| Amount | £25,000 (GBP) |
| Organisation | British Heart Foundation (BHF) |
| Sector | Charity/Non Profit |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Start | 02/2020 |
| End | 07/2020 |
| Description | Development of an artificial intelligence solution for the analysis of histopathological images in coeliac disease |
| Amount | £35,834 (GBP) |
| Organisation | GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) |
| Sector | Private |
| Country | Global |
| Start | |
| Description | EPSRC Impact Acceleration Account Follow-on Fund University of Cambridge |
| Amount | £50,000 (GBP) |
| Organisation | ESRC Impact Acceleration Account Cambridge |
| Sector | Academic/University |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Start | 07/2019 |
| Description | EPSRC Project grant |
| Amount | £783,024 (GBP) |
| Organisation | Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) |
| Sector | Public |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Start | 07/2020 |
| Description | Funding for a regulatory strategy report commissioned from Global Regulatory Services (GRS) Ltd |
| Amount | £15,000 (GBP) |
| Organisation | Wellcome Trust |
| Sector | Charity/Non Profit |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Start | 01/2021 |
| Description | Identification of a T/ B-cell signal of Coronavirus immunity for better prediction of an individual's Coronavirus immune status |
| Amount | £65,000 (GBP) |
| Organisation | Trustee for Snudden Family Trust |
| Sector | Charity/Non Profit |
| Country | Australia |
| Start | |
| Description | Image analysis in coeliac disease, with the ultimate aim of combining this with the TCR analysis funded by the MRC CiC for optimum diagnosis. |
| Amount | £250,000 (GBP) |
| Organisation | Innovate UK |
| Sector | Public |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Start | |
| Description | Molecular mechanisms controlling peptide selection for immune recognition |
| Amount | £1,947,412 (GBP) |
| Funding ID | 219479/Z/19/Z |
| Organisation | Wellcome Trust |
| Sector | Charity/Non Profit |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Start | 09/2020 |
| End | 04/2025 |
| Description | NIH Programme Grant - Detection of blood-borne prions |
| Amount | £1,000,200 (GBP) |
| Organisation | National Institutes of Health (NIH) |
| Sector | Public |
| Country | United States |
| Start | |
| Description | NIHR, I4I PDA |
| Amount | £1,600,000 (GBP) |
| Organisation | National Institute for Health Research |
| Department | NIHR i4i Invention for Innovation (i4i) Programme |
| Sector | Public |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Start | 12/2021 |
| Description | Neonatal Wireless Transmission System |
| Amount | £10,000 (GBP) |
| Organisation | United Kingdom Research and Innovation |
| Department | Global Challenges Research Fund |
| Sector | Public |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Start | 05/2019 |
| Description | Purchase of an Agilent TapeStation |
| Amount | £10,000 (GBP) |
| Organisation | Pathological Society of Great Britain & Ireland |
| Sector | Charity/Non Profit |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Start | |
| Description | Utilising the 'first-in-class' small molecule positive allosteric modulators of the human GIPR to aid glycaemic control in type II diabetic patients |
| Amount | $630,000 (USD) |
| Organisation | Takeda Cambridge Ltd |
| Sector | Private |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Start | |
| Title | Detection of placental dysfunction using changes in glycosylation of secreted proteins as a novel diagnostic marker. |
| Description | 1. We aim to exploit our molecular findings relating to placental stress to develop a diagnostic assay that will identify incipient complications of pregnancy related to placental dysfunction, such as pre-eclampsia (PE), with high sensitivity and specificity, allowing earlier clinical intervention than currently possible. The test will be based on pregnancy-specific glycoprotein 5 (PSG5), a protein uniquely secreted by the placenta. Our pilot data show that the way sugar moieties are added to PSG5 (glycosylation) is altered under conditions of placental stress, and that we can detect these changes in routine blood samples. 2. Funding will support screening of serum PSG5 isolated from cases of PE against a panel of lectins to identify those that best detect different patterns of glycosylation. The most discriminatory lectins will be incorporated into an antibody-lectin-based ELISA that captures PSG5 from serum samples and enables quantification of both normal and aberrantly glycosylated PSG5, providing a ratiometric index. Performance will be assessed using existing samples from a prospectively collected cohort of healthy and complicated pregnancies. 3. Proof-of-principle that changes in glycosylation of placental proteins provide the basis of a novel diagnostic test of placental dysfunction that has a higher positive predictive value than existing assays. • to screen and identify the most appropriate lectins that bind normal and aberrantly glycosylated forms of PSG5 respectively • to develop a pilot antibody-lectin-based ELISA assay using commercially available antibodies to capture PSG5 and detect different patterns of glycosylation using specific lectins • to assess the sensitivity and specificity of the test using a pre-existing collection of serum samples from pregnancies that are uniquely well-characterised clinically |
| Type Of Material | Technology assay or reagent |
| Year Produced | 2020 |
| Provided To Others? | No |
| Impact | We developed another alternative, lectin-to-lectin ELISA assay. We hypothesized that many glycoproteins contain more than one glycan, and therefore more than one lectin could be used to recognise glycoproteins. We also anticipated that changes in glycan sugar moieties in misglycosylated proteins should be recognized differentially by two different lectins. In principle, the assay contains a capture lectin and a detection lectin. The capture lectin was coated on to wells, and was used to pull out all glycoproteins from the serum. After washing, the detection lectin, which is biotinylated, was used to detect glycoproteins. Misglycosylated proteins should show a difference in the signal. Indeed, our pilot results from a working prototype with 10 normotensive controls and 10 preeclamptic serum samples showed 1.5 fold (p=0.017) difference in AAL-PSA combination. We are waiting for oOur clinical collaborator, Prof Annetine Staff from University of Oslo was going to send 50 PE and 50 NTC samples for further verification the specificity and sensitivity of this new assabut this has been delayed due to the pandemicy. Furthermore, there are over 20 commercially available lectins, and therefore over 400 potential combinations of lectins. In order to get an indication of the likely best lectin combinations, we have sent the same 20 serum samples for glycan structural analysis to a collaborator, Prof Stuart Haslem at Imperial College London. This work has been seriously delayed by the pandemic, which has affected their research priorities, and lockdown. We had hoped to have the results back. Despite the various technical setbacks, our results confirm that we can detect changes in glycosylation of a pregnancy-specific glycoprotein unique to the placenta (PSG5) in cases of pre-eclampsia. We have therefore achieved some of our objectives. However, we have found that the currently available antibodies are not suitable for the development of a sensitive and specific assay. We have refined the method to explore a lectin-lectin assay and are awaiting glycomic data from a collaborator at Imperial College in London. To realise the potential of this project we would need more time and critically, new tools to improve the assay. A collaboration with Abcam would be a route to such tools (ie anti-PSG5 antibodies that recognise non-glycosylated epitopes) but after their initial interest before the pandemic this has faded. |
| Title | Developing a novel image analysis software to assess pre-implantation kidney biopsies |
| Description | We aim to develop computer software that automatically reproduces the 'Remuzzi' score currently assigned by Renal Histopathologists in assessing biopsies from kidneys retrieved for transplantation. This score, based upon the degree of chronic damage to key anatomical structures, informs selection of that kidney for transplantation, and its use in Cambridge is associated with increased numbers of kidney transplants, with better outcomes. We have teamed with SAS (a leader in providing analytic solutions for clinical trials) and the funding provided by this application will support the first aim of the overall project: to demonstrate that we can adopt modern image classifiers that use Convolutional Neural Networks (CNNs) to accurately assign a Remuzzi score to a digitalised image of a kidney biopsy. This period will involve installing the required computational architecture in Cambridge, developing the kidney image library and working with key personnel within SAS and our histopathology department to generate a computer-based Remuzzi [1] score. Success, gauged by developing a scoring algorithm that approximates the human assessment, would prompt a more substantive program that incorporates complex machine perception capabilities to identify individual anatomical features within the kidney, and thus more closely approximate human interpretation. This project will dovetail with a NIHR-funded PITHIA trial (Pre-Implantation trial of Histopathology In renal Allografts; www.pithia.org.uk) that examines how implementation of a National Digital Pathology Service affects UK kidney transplant numbers. The ultimate aim is to develop a computer-based image analysis to avoid the need for human histopathologist review in every case. • Develop a complete kidney biopsy image library, by identifying and digitally uploading pre-implantation biopsies held in Cambridge. We have approximately 1000 biopsies stored as conventional glass slides and we anticipate that the initial project will require 200 digitalised biopsy images. (0-3 months) • Install the necessary virtual and physical computational architecture required for training, refining, and testing the algorithm (0-3 months). This will involve establishing a data pipeline between Cambridge and SAS (0-3 months). • Establish and foster collaboration and skills transfer between the clinical team and SAS (0-9 months). • Develop one or more Convolutional Neural Network models that can correctly assign the Remuzzi score (or a component of it) to a digitalised biopsy image. Performance should match similar models described in the literature and performance should not be inferior to human assessment by a non-expert assessor (3-9months). |
| Type Of Material | Data analysis technique |
| Year Produced | 2019 |
| Provided To Others? | No |
| Impact | We commissioned a report from NPL to establish recommendations for annotations of histopathology images, the first step to establishing standards in this area. We continue our collaboration with SAS which has enabled the progress so far. We are looking to build out a team to acquire further histopathology expertise (for diversity in labelling our data stack), computer science expertise (from university of Cambridge CCAIM) as well as support from partners for a regulatory strategy. The aim is to use this to develop a minimum viable product, acquire the relevant approvals and perform live testing in at least 1 UK centre within the next 18 months. We were able to show, for the first time, that an automated approach could successfully detect chronic injury in the kidney and approximate the assessment of a human pathologist in transplant biopsies by achieving good agreement with a human pathologist. This proves the approach is feasible, and is strengthened by the approach to produce interpretable output for the models, which could be used as the basis for a future human-ai collaborative interface. We aim to take this forward to develop the first live system of this kind in the UK in the next 18months-2 years. |
| Description | Collaboration with ARUK drug discovery Institute |
| Organisation | Alzheimer's Research UK |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Sector | Charity/Non Profit |
| PI Contribution | This year we have new data demonstrating that trazodone can influence the protein eIF2B. eIF2B is made up of 2 copies of 5 separate subunits, and the combination and regulation of these 10 subunits has emerged as a novel site of regulation of protein synthesis. Our data shows that trazodone can influence the composition of the subunits of eIF2B, adding further evidence that this is where trazodone acts. However, we still haven't been able to show direct binding. |
| Collaborator Contribution | We are collaborating with the ARUK drug discovery institute to try to resolve this, as they have been able to produce eIF2B protein efficiently, which should provide enough material for definitive experiments. The role of PDE6? is also being further explored. |
| Impact | We have begun the PET scanning of control patients and patients with Alzheimer's disease. Unfortunately the COVID pandemic has put a temporary halt to the experiment but the scans we performed before the pandemic went extremely well and has so far supported our hypothesis. We hope to start testing trazodone in these patients a soon as possible, but it will likely require securing additional funding. |
| Start Year | 2021 |
| Description | Health Economics Team at Kings College London |
| Organisation | King's College London |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Sector | Academic/University |
| PI Contribution | At this early stage of the collaborate work we have been working with KCL to provide them with the background information to undertake the modelling work. This has included discussions around the current evidence base for the potential clinical impact of the wireless monitoring system in order to determine inputs to the model. |
| Collaborator Contribution | KCL have mapped out a plan to deliver on the modelling work, and to ensure that our clinical study will collect data that can be used in the model. |
| Impact | Research plan o Interdisciplinary: Medical Devices / Health Economics / Clinical Research |
| Start Year | 2021 |
| Description | Research collaboration being developed with Brainlab AG |
| Organisation | Brainlab |
| Country | Germany |
| Sector | Private |
| PI Contribution | We are currently working on using the AGORA code for the follow-on study for PRAM-GBM, which will complete in October 2020. 2021 update. The AGORA-RT work has been picked up as part of the CRUK funded RadNet radiotherapy research project, and is being incorporated into a multi-centre clinical trial called Hamlet.rt. This would open in 10 centres across the UK, and we await to hear news from CRUK regarding funding of the multi-centre expansion of the study, |
| Collaborator Contribution | Research collaboration being developed with Brainlab AG. Brainlab have a new head of UK research collboarations and we have reached out to them in regards to the next planned PRAM-GBM study. |
| Impact | We were unsuccessful in our application to MRC DPFS, and our aim is to obtain clinical data in the successor to the CRUK funded PRAM-GBM study. As above- the Agora-RT concepts are now part of the Hamlet.rt study, which is an NIHR CRN portfolio study of predictive radiomics in radiation therapy. No additional funding beyond that mentioned above. Awaiting on news of an additional £41,000 of funding from CRUK for multi-centre expansion of the study |
| Start Year | 2020 |
| Description | SAS collaboration, likely to present at future SAS meetings. NPL collaboration |
| Organisation | SAS Trace Element Centre |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Sector | Private |
| PI Contribution | This project required the building of a new relationship between the clinical team and our industry collaborator (SAS), where have made significant steps forwards in establishing the computing infrastructure, |
| Collaborator Contribution | Our weekly collaboration with SAS continues and we are close to reaching our defined goals. Future work will take these processes forward and look to develop key capabilities required for industrialisation. The most important of these is a transition from a predominantly manual, unidirectional prepossessing workflow; where data are labelled, processed and trained in steps, to one where data are ingested and processing steps are automatic within a shared platform that both the machine predictions and the human annotation can interact. Clearly, in our vision of a human-AI interface with an overseer correcting outputs, such a platform is essential for the final product, but, there are also huge gains in efficiencies offered by using a trained model to complete much annotation load, which can be corrected by a human and fed back to the model as new training examples |
| Impact | Data library and the skills collaboration team between the clinical team and SAS. In our time so far we have been able to: 1. Establish local administrative and ethical approval for our work. 2. Install and develop the computing architecture required for this work. 3. Make progress towards a collaborative agreement between Cambridge University and SAS 4. Establish the collaboration team, with weekly meetings during which there is sharing of data, progress reporting and defined goal setting week by week. 5. Perform data extraction of the entire cohort the clinical images. 6. Initiate a collaboration between the university and NPL for the purposes of ensuring best practice for data management and setting novel standards for DICOM-pathology images. 7. Establish initial proof of principle capabilities in one of our 4 domains of image analysis |
| Start Year | 2019 |
| Description | Takeda Pharmaceuticals commissioned an external company (Sandexis medicinal chemistry) to perform a lead likeliness, patent analysis and in silico ADME studies |
| Organisation | Takeda Pharmaceutical Company |
| Department | Takeda Pharmaceutical Company Ltd |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Sector | Private |
| PI Contribution | We have made considerable progress on the functional aspects of the compounds. We have use pharmacological tools to determine the molecular basis of their action and screen for new compounds. However, to date our compounds, remain low potency. We have performed additional screens to try to enhance potency. We are now looking to screen these new compounds through the work of a newly recruited PhD student in our lab. Furthermore, a subset of the new molecules have shown negative allosteric activity which is also of commercial interest for obesity. We are looking to move these compounds forward in the 2 years. Data has progressed at a slower rate in 2020 due to Covid-19 restrictions. However, we have good evidence of potential for the negative allosteric activity and will be looking to assess their activity in adipose tissue. |
| Collaborator Contribution | We have held discussion with Takeda Pharmaceuticals regarding validation of the GIPR PAMs. Takeda Pharmaceuticals commissioned an external company (Sandexis medicinal chemistry) to perform a lead likeliness, patent analysis and in silico ADME studies. • Takeda: 'Determine the role that RAMPs and ß-arrestins may perform in modulating GIPR-mediated signaling and or internalization in physiologically important tissues.' For a sum of ~ (>$850,000). But it is not finalised. Now signed G103360 |
| Impact | AZ and Takeda Pharmaceuticals Takeda Pharmaceuticals commissioned an external company (Sandexis medicinal chemistry) to perform a lead likeliness, patent analysis and in silico ADME studies. Following this report, compounds were exchanged with Takeda Pharmaceuticals and are currently undergoing validation in the Takeda assays. Furthermore, we have held discussion with AstraZeneca regarding these compounds and others in our portfolio. These discussions were at a very early phase+ AstraZeneca Science Catalyst but unfortunately will not be followed on |
| Start Year | 2019 |
| Description | small molecule TLR4 antagonists for use in Alzheimer's disease and asthma |
| Organisation | Apollo Therapeutics |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Sector | Private |
| PI Contribution | We identified 2 leads plus 2 near neighbour compounds. We identified the novel binding site that these compounds bound to on the signalling domain of TLR4. This confirmed our hypothesis that the compounds bind directly to TLR4 and so de-risked investment in our project. Recombinant protein yields were sufficient for biophysical analysis and crystal trials which are underway for the follow up project with Apollo Therapeutics. |
| Collaborator Contribution | Apollo invested ~£4M into this project to develop small molecule TLR4 antagonists for use in Alzheimer's disease and asthma. This project is ongoing |
| Impact | During the course of the project in our other research work with David Klenerman we found that TLR4 antagonists may be a useful therapeutic in Alzheimer's and Parkinson's diseases. This, combined with our respiratory work, led to Apollo Therapeutics investing ~£4M to expand the drug discovery project. This work commenced in April 2018. The project with Apollo is ongoing. We have developed a number of potent TLR4 small molecule antagonists and are currently modifying them to achieve pharmacokinetic stability. The pharmacokinetic stability continues to be challenging and has resulted in us using different strategies to develop further TLR4 small molecule antagonist structures. Apollo have also generated a panel of inhibitory monoclonal antibodies against TLR4 to develop for clinical use. The small molecule drug discovery program and the antibody program are both very active at the moment. We continue to engage with Johnson and Johnson and Astra Zeneca who remain very interested in our project. In 2021 we hope to either have the project licensed to one of these two companies or to establish a spin out company to develop the TLR4 antagonists and/or antibodies further ourselves. |
| Start Year | 2018 |
| Description | small molecule TLR4 antagonists for use in Alzheimer's disease and asthma |
| Organisation | AstraZeneca |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Sector | Private |
| PI Contribution | We identified 2 leads plus 2 near neighbour compounds. We identified the novel binding site that these compounds bound to on the signalling domain of TLR4. This confirmed our hypothesis that the compounds bind directly to TLR4 and so de-risked investment in our project. Recombinant protein yields were sufficient for biophysical analysis and crystal trials which are underway for the follow up project with Apollo Therapeutics. |
| Collaborator Contribution | Apollo invested ~£4M into this project to develop small molecule TLR4 antagonists for use in Alzheimer's disease and asthma. This project is ongoing |
| Impact | During the course of the project in our other research work with David Klenerman we found that TLR4 antagonists may be a useful therapeutic in Alzheimer's and Parkinson's diseases. This, combined with our respiratory work, led to Apollo Therapeutics investing ~£4M to expand the drug discovery project. This work commenced in April 2018. The project with Apollo is ongoing. We have developed a number of potent TLR4 small molecule antagonists and are currently modifying them to achieve pharmacokinetic stability. The pharmacokinetic stability continues to be challenging and has resulted in us using different strategies to develop further TLR4 small molecule antagonist structures. Apollo have also generated a panel of inhibitory monoclonal antibodies against TLR4 to develop for clinical use. The small molecule drug discovery program and the antibody program are both very active at the moment. We continue to engage with Johnson and Johnson and Astra Zeneca who remain very interested in our project. In 2021 we hope to either have the project licensed to one of these two companies or to establish a spin out company to develop the TLR4 antagonists and/or antibodies further ourselves. |
| Start Year | 2018 |
| Description | small molecule TLR4 antagonists for use in Alzheimer's disease and asthma |
| Organisation | Johnson & Johnson |
| Department | Neuroscience Johnson and Johnson |
| Country | United States |
| Sector | Private |
| PI Contribution | We identified 2 leads plus 2 near neighbour compounds. We identified the novel binding site that these compounds bound to on the signalling domain of TLR4. This confirmed our hypothesis that the compounds bind directly to TLR4 and so de-risked investment in our project. Recombinant protein yields were sufficient for biophysical analysis and crystal trials which are underway for the follow up project with Apollo Therapeutics. |
| Collaborator Contribution | Apollo invested ~£4M into this project to develop small molecule TLR4 antagonists for use in Alzheimer's disease and asthma. This project is ongoing |
| Impact | During the course of the project in our other research work with David Klenerman we found that TLR4 antagonists may be a useful therapeutic in Alzheimer's and Parkinson's diseases. This, combined with our respiratory work, led to Apollo Therapeutics investing ~£4M to expand the drug discovery project. This work commenced in April 2018. The project with Apollo is ongoing. We have developed a number of potent TLR4 small molecule antagonists and are currently modifying them to achieve pharmacokinetic stability. The pharmacokinetic stability continues to be challenging and has resulted in us using different strategies to develop further TLR4 small molecule antagonist structures. Apollo have also generated a panel of inhibitory monoclonal antibodies against TLR4 to develop for clinical use. The small molecule drug discovery program and the antibody program are both very active at the moment. We continue to engage with Johnson and Johnson and Astra Zeneca who remain very interested in our project. In 2021 we hope to either have the project licensed to one of these two companies or to establish a spin out company to develop the TLR4 antagonists and/or antibodies further ourselves. |
| Start Year | 2018 |
| Title | New target glycoproteins, pregnancy zone protein (PZP) and dipeptidyl peptidase-4 (DPP-4), |
| Description | Despite the earlier setbacks, our latest data indicate that we can detect changes in glycosylation of two placental proteins (PZP and DPP4) in the serum of women with pre-eclampsia. We have therefore achieved most of our objectives. To take the project further we would need to maximise the sensitivity of our pilot test, which would require further development work in-house. This is necessary before we engage with an industrial partner with expertise in developing ELISA-based assays for clinical applications. We are not pursuing the proposed collaboration with Abcam as the PSGs are no longer our focus. |
| Type | Support Tool - For Medical Intervention |
| Year Development Stage Completed | 2022 |
| Development Status | Closed |
| Impact | The key principle underlying the assay concept has been strengthened but additional work is needed before commercial interest is likely. |
| Title | wireless vital sign monitoring system |
| Description | A wireless system would increase the uptake of skin-to-skin contact between parents and babies (also known as Kangaroo Care), which has been widely demonstrated to improve clinical outcomes of pre-term neonates including lower rates of: mortality, sepsis, hypothermia, hypoglycaemia, and hospital readmission |
| Type Of Technology | Systems, Materials & Instrumental Engineering |
| Year Produced | 2019 |
| Impact | We successfully applied for further EPSRC Follow on Funding to enable us to continue this translational phase of the project. Cambridge Enterprise (contact: Rachel Atfield) has taken the project on as a case and so we have been liaising with them in preparation for further funding applications. We have been developing a new concept design for the system that lowers the cost to the NHS by making the electronics part reusable. We are working with Cambridge Design Partnership to identify how we can best improve the cost of the system while still retaining optimal usability. We have been scoping the differences in design that will be required in the setting of delivery unit and transport in contrast to that of the NICU itself. In these area connectivity to mobile devices will be critical and modular components of the system may be more appropriate than the entire system. This award has been critical in us applying for and begin successful in obtaining substantial funding from NIHR for a product development award |
| Description | - CRUK Innovation Summit 2019 |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | Ania Piskorz presented at the summit highlighting her entrepreneurship activities involving our recently created startup Tailor Bio and our support from the MRC through the CiC award. This activity created awareness of Ania's science in a commercial setting and has expanded our network and opportunities to commercialise the output of this study. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2019 |
| URL | https://www.cancerresearchuk.org/funding-for-researchers/research-events-and-conferences/innovation-... |
| Description | 5. Provider of sessions on coeliac disease, COVID-19 and lymphoma for Cambridge Science Festival |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Media (as a channel to the public) |
| Results and Impact | 3 videos made and released by Coeliac UK on Facebook about this work (Sept 2020) i. https://www.facebook.com/CoeliacUK/posts/3130084173679284 ii. https://www.facebook.com/CoeliacUK/posts/3130252866995748 iii. https://www.facebook.com/CoeliacUK/posts/3130622940292074 Pint of Science evening talk, still available as a Pint of science youtube recording: i. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4rO50QpSma8 Major feature in Coeliac UK's Crossed Grain summer newsletter on Soilleux group's TCR sequencing and analytical methodologies as a potential new test for coeliac disease. Short feature in Coeliac UK's Crossed Grain autumn newsletter on the application of the Soilleux group's TCR sequencing and analytical methodologies to COVID-19. Invited as guest pre-dinner speaker at Coeliac UK's November online gala dinner alongside Jane Devonshire (masterchef winner, 2016) - described this work in lay terms. Churchill College newsletter: https://www.chu.cam.ac.uk/news/2020/may/27/latest-churchill-community-update/ Long article on CRUK website, detailing how cancer-associated research in the Soilleux group is also being applied to COVID-19: https://www.cancerresearchuk.org/funding-for-researchers/research-features/2020-05-28-cancer-detection-researchers-innovate-covid-19-testing |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2020 |
| URL | https://m.facebook.com/CoeliacUK/videos/focus-on-research-why-coeliac-disease-research/5655863276686... |
| Description | A novel split mode TFBAR device for quantitative measurements of prostate specific antigen in a small sample of whole blood |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A magazine, newsletter or online publication |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Regional |
| Primary Audience | Media (as a channel to the public) |
| Results and Impact | Appearance on - BBC Look East - BBC Breakfast |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2020 |
| Description | AI and computer vision could transform kidney treatment and save NHS millions |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A magazine, newsletter or online publication |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Media (as a channel to the public) |
| Results and Impact | A new partnership between Cambridge University and SAS could pave the way for a new approach to kidney treatment. Health Tech World spoke to Cambridge University's Gavin Pettigrew to hear about the new technology and its potential to save lives by automating the process of scoring biopsies. Renal transplantation is widely regarded as the best treatment for patients with end-stage kidney disease. Over the past 15 years, demand in the UK for kidney transplants has been rising, resulting in more elderly deceased donors being considered. The problem with elderly donors is that kidney function deteriorates with age. Kidney transplants from elderly donors are associated with higher risks of early failure. Early failure of a kidney graft is a disastrous outcome for the recipient. They undergo a major operation with no lasting benefit; and as a result, mortality rates are high for this group of patients. For this reason, many organs from elderly donors are either declined or discarded as unsuitable. One way to potentially offset these risks is to perform a biopsy of the kidney that assesses the degree of chronic injury or age-related damage to the kidney. This information is used to guide the decision to implant the organ. However, due to the time and specialist histopathology skills needed, this is not current practice. To address the issue, researchers at Cambridge University teamed up with analytics company SAS in 2018 to develop an AI tool that can assess digitised images of the kidney. The research project follows on from the PITHA trial (Pre-Implantation trial of Histopathology In renal Allografts), led by Mr Gavin Pettigrew, Reader in Experimental and Clinical Transplantation at the University of Cambridge. Through the trial, a digital platform was developed to allow specialists across the country to analyse potential donors. Having developed a means of digitising biopsy images, researchers embarked on this project with SAS to use AI to perform a similar interpretation of a biopsy that is currently carried out by a specialist histopathologist. The project aims to "revolutionise" kidney transplantation in the UK. Artificial intelligence (AI) and computer vision can automate the process of scoring biopsies for kidneys to better select kidneys for transplantation. "What we're trying to do with the algorithm and the artificial intelligence approach is to replicate the [process], break down the components and replicate the scoring system using our neural network", Pettigrew told Health Tech World. By minimising human involvement, an assessment of the digitalised kidney biopsy image using computer vision technology could enable the introduction of a National Digital Pathology scheme. Such a scheme could allow greater numbers of kidneys to be safely transplanted from elderly donors, leading to a significant increase in the number of kidney transplants performed each year in the UK. According to Pettigrew, there are relatively few trained specialist histopathologists in renal medicine and most pathology departments still rely upon "old fashioned" glass slides to analyse biopsies. He believes that in the next 5 to 10 years, all pathology specimens will be digitised and analysed on a screen rather than through a microscope. "A digital platform allows images to be sent to pathologists anywhere in the UK or in the world [which] could be a very effective means of sharing experience trying to rationalise the service," Pettigrew said. "You could have collaborators in the States for example and you can get the biopsy up at any time, and make comments on it." Aiming to increase the number of transplants and improve the function of the kidneys that are used, SAS and Cambridge University say the new method has the potential to save lives and transform the quality of life for more than 100 people each year who would otherwise require dialysis. Dialysis is an expensive process and mortality rates are high for people on the treatment. and using transplants for this many people could save the National Health Service (NHS) an estimated £3.5 million annually. "We know from large studies in the past that transplantation is by far the best way of dealing with patients who have got end-stage kidney failure," Pettigrew said. "A successful kidney transplant offers a very real survival advantage to the recipient [and] offers substantial improvements in quality of life. Dialysis is simply a temporary measure. "We hope to perform something like an additional 250 kidney transplants a year. Each kidney transplant saves approximately £30,000 annually over the costs of dialysis and improves both survival rates and patients' quality of life. The savings you achieve from having that many transplants over dialysis are very substantial." Although the trial is still in its early stages, Pettigrew believes the technology is "here to stay". "The trial is still ongoing about the use of the digital network. But the early indications are quite positive," he added. "We have established a model and a platform and I think it looks like that platform will continue into our proper clinical service going forward. We're close to being able to replicate what a histopathologist does with what we can do with our artificial intelligence algorithm. "If successful, we expect that automated digital pathology services will be widely adopted, even beyond the UK." "Hopefully, within the next year or two years, we'll be in a situation where we can think about properly implementing it into the clinic. It is believed the new approach would continue to drive better quality decisions and reduce errors as there would be access to the collective experience of multiple clinicians rather than relying on the intuition and judgement of an individual or small group. "SAS software can align the AI with the human process of specialist medical review and inform the decision-making process by highlighting the relevant features in the biopsy image," explained Simon Tilley, Director of Life Sciences for SAS EMEA. "It is technology augmenting normal clinical decision-making, in that medical experts can see how each organ has been scored. It is both interpretable and transparent, as it is possible to see how each score for each component has been arrived at." Pettigrew added: "This wouldn't have been possible at all without the insights from both parties and it has been immensely productive as a result. "We are at the forefront of the development of this technology. And that's as a consequence of having established such a collaboration." |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2021 |
| URL | https://www.htworld.co.uk/interviews/ai-and-computer-vision-could-transform-kidney-treatment-and-sav... |
| Description | AI-ed & Imaging in the Clinic - Organised and delivered by SAS, Maxwell Centre and Office for Translational Research |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | AI & Clinical imaging focus Cutting edge mathematical/computational approaches and models Increase interactions between industry, clinicians, maths and computer science researchers Discuss metrology in AI and medical imaging Promote interdisciplinary research Discuss entrepreneurship opportunities |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2021 |
| URL | https://otr.medschl.cam.ac.uk/events/ai-ed-imaging-clinic-organised-and-delivered-sas-maxwell-centre... |
| Description | Abstract selected for short-talk at Single Cell Biology Conference (Wellcome Sanger Institute) virtual edition. |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | Abstract selected for short talk Virtual edition presented by Carys Johnson, PhD Student at the Wellcome Sanger Institute. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2020 |
| Description | Artemis-A - School visits (e.g Landmark International School, Fulbourn; School visit (Soham Village College, Soham) |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Regional |
| Primary Audience | Schools |
| Results and Impact | We have presented the Artemis-A and talked about the project in four secondary schools in the area (Cambridge, Ely). These engagement activities were integral to the development of the app but also for informing plans to for how it would successfully be applied within secondary schools for the next stage of the project |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2019 |
| Description | Artemis-R |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Schools |
| Results and Impact | this is a network of researchers and practitioners who were interested in supporting mental health in schools. These engagement activities were integral to the development of the app but also for informing plans to for how it would successfully be applied within secondary schools for the next stage of the project. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2020 |
| Description | BPS-MPGPCR 2018 |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Industry/Business |
| Results and Impact | This was a research focussed meeting attended by GPCR researchers and industry. This meeting was to disseminate scientific finds. It resulted in us initiated a strong collaboration with the Monash group lead by Sexton and Wootten. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2018 |
| Description | Barriers to Kangaroo Care in the Neonatal Unit |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | • A conference poster and presentation entitled "Barriers to Kangaroo Care in the Neonatal Unit" was presented at the 5th International Family Integrated Care Conference 2022. This work quantified the characteristics of, and barriers to, Kangaroo Care deliver in a tertiary NICU in the UK |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2022 |
| URL | https://cypmedtech.nihr.ac.uk/child-health-technology/ |
| Description | British Neurosurgical Research Group Meeting 2019, John McIntyre Conference Centre, Edinburgh |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | Poster - National neurosurgical/scientific conference. This MRC CiC project award ended on 30th April 2020. Conferences/meetings attended (at which we have presented our 31P MRS) before this date are listed above. No further conferences etc have been attended specifically on this 31P MRS project, due to Covid restrictions. Informal meetings on this project with colleagues have taken place online |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2019 |
| Description | British Society for Cardiovascular Research, Coronavirus and the cardiovascular system |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | BSCR reported there were 174 international attendees with a recording made available on the BSCR webpage together with a meeting report including the question and answer session. Positive feedback means BSCR will repeat the format next year. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2020 |
| URL | https://bscr.org/event/bscr-autumn-2020-ol/ |
| Description | CLIRSPEC Summer School 2019 - Mid-infrared chemical and Biochemical sensors |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Undergraduate students |
| Results and Impact | Farah Alimagham attended a Summer School on Clinical Spectroscopy - CLIRSPEC Summer School 2019 - approx. 50 attendees, international, 2th- 5th July 2019, Low Wood Bay, Windermere, UK - and gave a short (approx. 10 min) talk entitled "Mid-infrared chemical and Biochemical sensors", not directly mentioning our sensor due to IP issues (and the fact that at the time of the Summer School we were still filling for the patent), but she mentioned continuous monitoring using mid-IR and also her porous silicon on fibre-work which we had published. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2019 |
| Description | CRUK Single Cell Workshop in Southampton 2019 |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | Here we presented some preliminary results on using our protocol to explore ongoing chromosomal instability in ovarian cancer cell lines. The presentation was well received and provided validation of our approach for research use. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2019 |
| URL | https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/single-cell-analysis-in-cancer-a-workshop-tickets-64716482742?utm_cam... |
| Description | Centre33 quarterly staff meeting |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Regional |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | Presentation of the project to a CPD session for Centre 33 practitioners. These engagement activities were integral to the development of the app but also for informing plans to for how it would successfully be applied within secondary schools for the next stage of the project |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2019 |
| Description | Clinical Neurosciences Away Day 2019, Wellcome Genome Campus Conference Centre |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an open day or visit at my research institution |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Local |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | Poster - internal departmental scientific conference. This MRC CiC project award ended on 30th April 2020. Conferences/meetings attended (at which we have presented our 31P MRS) before this date are listed above. No further conferences etc have been attended specifically on this 31P MRS project, due to Covid restrictions. Informal meetings on this project with colleagues have taken place online. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2019 |
| Description | Clinical Validation |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Regional |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | Catch -up school vision screening programme : 10,000 children have missed vision screening due to Covid in Cambridgeshire - collaboration between NWAFT, CUH and CCS Trusts will enable virtual vision screening to detect vision problems and avoid resultant visual impairment. led to clinical use within CUH and Cambridgeshire Community Trust Plans made for future related activity Own/Colleagues reported change in views or opinions Audience reported changes in views, opinions or behavious De |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2021 |
| Description | Coeliac UK online gala dinner |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | Invited speaker at Coeliac UK online gala dinner, November 2020 |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2020 |
| Description | Coeliac disease: can we diagnose it better? |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | Representing advances in coeliac disease research in the UK at the 18th International Coeliac Disease Symposium, Paris, Sept 2019 |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2008,2019 |
| Description | Focus group with GPs/clinicians |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Regional |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | Presentation and discussion around the technology and potential usability in the clinical setting |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2019 |
| Description | International Union of Basic and Clinical Pharmacology |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | IUPHAR reported nearly 100 international attendees with a meeting report available on the IUPHAR website. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2020 |
| Description | Invited Speaker at MRC Centre for Regenerative Medicine, Edinburgh |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | Requests for further information |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2020 |
| Description | Invited speaker at Columbia, Genetics and Development Seminar Series, New York |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | Invited speaker at Columbia, Genetics and Development Seminar Series, New York, United States. (Virtual seminar) Requests for further information. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2021 |
| Description | Invivoscribe's European dinner, European Haematology Association, Amsterdam |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | N/A |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2019 |
| Description | NIHR Child Health Technology |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | Child Health Technology 2021 conference. The audience was a mix of clinicians, service users, engineers, NHS management, and other stakeholders. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2021 |
| URL | https://cypmedtech.nihr.ac.uk/child-health-technology/ |
| Description | Partnership could transform kidney treatment and save NHS millions of pounds |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Engagement focused website, blog or social media channel |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Media (as a channel to the public) |
| Results and Impact | SAS and University of Cambridge have worked together in bid to increase organ transplants over dialysis Marlow, UK (May 13, 2021) The University of Cambridge has been working with analytics leader SAS to revolutionise kidney transplantation in the UK. Artificial intelligence (AI) and computer vision can automate the process of scoring biopsies for kidneys to better select kidneys for transplantation. The aim is to increase the number of transplants and improve the function of those kidneys used. This has the potential to save lives and transform the quality of life for more than 100 people each year who would otherwise require dialysis. Dialysis is expensive and using transplants for this many people will save the National Health Service (NHS) around £3.5 million annually. The partnership followed the creation of the PITHIA trial (Pre-Implantation trial of Histopathology In renal Allografts), led by Mr Gavin Pettigrew, Reader in Experimental and Clinical Transplantation at the University of Cambridge, and supported by the Office for Translational Research (OTR). It has been funded by the NIHR (National Institute for Health Research) and assesses the impact of a national, digital histopathology service - the first of its kind - on UK kidney transplant numbers. Renal transplantation is the best treatment for patients with end-stage kidney disease. To meet the increasing demand in the UK for transplantation, more and more elderly deceased donors are being considered. However, kidney function deteriorates with age, and kidney transplants from elderly donors are associated with higher risks of early failure and are considered 'marginal'. Early failure of a kidney graft is a disastrous outcome for the recipient, because they undergo a major operation with no lasting benefit; and as a result, mortality rates are high for this group of patients. Consequently, many organs from elderly donors are either declined or discarded as unsuitable. One way to potentially offset these risks is to perform a biopsy of the kidney that assesses the degree of chronic injury or age-related-damage to the kidney. This information is used to guide the decision to implant the organ. However, this is not current practice because of the time and specialist histopathology skills needed. By minimising human involvement, an assessment of the digitalised kidney biopsy image using computer vision technology could enable the introduction of National Digital Pathology scheme. Such a scheme could allow greater numbers of kidneys to be safely transplanted from elderly donors, leading to a significant increase in the number of kidney transplants performed each year in the UK. Mr Pettigrew said: "It has been a tremendous experience working closely with SAS in developing a solution to AI interpretation of renal biopsies. Being able to bring our clinical experience to open and productive discussions at all stages in the development of the project, has undoubtedly been extremely productive. It means all parties understand how the service works, and the eventual translation to the clinic will be very much a blend of human expertise and state of the art computational neural network technology. "Each kidney transplant saves approximately £30,000 annually over the costs of dialysis and improves both survival rates and patients' quality of life. So, if successful, we expect that automated digital pathology services will be widely adopted, even beyond the UK." It is believed the new approach would continue to drive better quality decisions and reduce errors, because there would be access to the collective experience of everybody compared to the experience and judgement of someone acting alone or as part of a small group. Access to this knowledge would be available at all hours, helping to make better decisions more quickly. "SAS software can align the AI with the human process of specialist medical review and inform the decision-making process by highlighting the relevant features in the biopsy image," explained Simon Tilley, Director of Life Sciences for SAS EMEA. "It is technology augmenting normal clinical decision-making, in that medical experts can see how each organ has been scored. It is both interpretable and transparent, as it is possible to see how each score for each component has been arrived at." To find out more about the research and the impact of this new service, you can register for the University of Cambridge's Symposium on AI and Clinical Imaging by taking place on May 27 from 2pm BST. About OTR The Office for Translational Research (OTR), is part of the School of Clinical Medicine. The OTR converts research ideas from the University of Cambridge into the development of new products and approaches for the treatment and prevention of human disease. About SAS SAS is the leader in analytics. Through innovative software and services, SAS empowers and inspires customers around the world to transform data into intelligence. SAS gives you THE POWER TO KNOW®. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2021 |
| URL | https://www.sas.com/en_gb/news/press-releases/2021/may/partnership-could-transform-kidney-treatment-... |
| Description | Pathological Society of Great Britain and Ireland |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | n/z |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2019 |
| Description | Pharmacology December 2020 BPS |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | This is the flagship BPS meeting each year. Over 1100 people registered virtually including researchers of all career stages, clinicians, publishers and teachers. Focus was to disseminate information. Outcoems have been interactions with pharma and other researchers. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2006,2020 |
| Description | Protein homeostasis in health and disease conference |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | The work was presented at Protein homeostasis in health and disease conference, cold spring harbour, virtual conference, which was eventually held in November 2020. Virtual discussions were held, including new evidence from other groups about eIF2B that helped shape our experimental approaches. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2021 |
| Description | SAS and University of Cambridge work together in bid to increase organ transplants over dialysis |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A magazine, newsletter or online publication |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Media (as a channel to the public) |
| Results and Impact | The University of Cambridge has been working with analytics leader, SAS, to revolutionise kidney transplantation in the UK. Artificial intelligence (AI) and computer vision can automate the process of scoring biopsies for kidneys to better select kidneys for transplantation. The aim is to increase the number of transplants and improve the function of those kidneys used. This has the potential to save lives and transform the quality of life for more than 100 people each year who would otherwise require dialysis. It is estimated this approach will save the NHS around £3.5m a year. The partnership followed the creation of the Pre-Implantation trial of Histopathology In renal Allografts (PITHIA) trial, led by Gavin Pettigrew, reader in experimental and clinical transplantation at the University of Cambridge, and supported by the Office for Translational Research (OTR). It has been funded by the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) and assesses the impact of a national, digital histopathology service - the first of its kind - on UK kidney transplant numbers. SAS software can align the AI with the human process of specialist medical review and inform the decision-making process by highlighting the relevant features in the biopsy image Renal transplantation is the best treatment for patients with end-stage kidney disease. And to meet the increasing demand in the UK for transplantation, more and more elderly deceased donors are being considered. However, kidney function deteriorates with age, and kidney transplants from elderly donors are associated with higher risks of early failure and are considered 'marginal'. Early failure of a kidney graft is a disastrous outcome for the recipient, because they undergo a major operation with no lasting benefit; and, as a result, mortality rates are high for this group of patients. Consequently, many organs from elderly donors are either declined or discarded as unsuitable. One way to potentially offset these risks is to perform a biopsy of the kidney that assesses the degree of chronic injury or age-related-damage. This information is used to guide the decision to implant the organ. However, this is not current practice because of the time and specialist histopathology skills needed. By minimising human involvement, an assessment of the digitalised kidney biopsy image using computer vision technology could enable the introduction of National Digital Pathology scheme. Such a scheme could allow greater numbers of kidneys to be safely transplanted from elderly donors, leading to a significant increase in the number of kidney transplants performed each year in the UK. Pettigrew said: "It has been a tremendous experience working closely with SAS in developing a solution to AI interpretation of renal biopsies. "Being able to bring our clinical experience to open and productive discussions at all stages in the development of the project, has undoubtedly been extremely productive. If successful, we expect that automated digital pathology services will be widely adopted, even beyond the UK "It means all parties understand how the service works, and the eventual translation to the clinic will be very much a blend of human expertise and state of the art computational neural network technology. "Each kidney transplant saves approximately £30,000 annually over the costs of dialysis and improves both survival rates and patients' quality of life. So, if successful, we expect that automated digital pathology services will be widely adopted, even beyond the UK." It is believed the new approach would continue to drive better-quality decisions and reduce errors because there would be access to the collective experience of everybody compared to the experience and judgement of someone acting alone or as part of a small group. And access to this knowledge would be available at all hours, helping to make better decisions, more quickly. "SAS software can align the AI with the human process of specialist medical review and inform the decision-making process by highlighting the relevant features in the biopsy image," says Simon Tilley, director of life sciences for SAS EMEA. "It is technology augmenting normal clinical decision-making, in that medical experts can see how each organ has been scored. And it is both interpretable and transparent, as it is possible to see how each score for each component has been arrived at." Companies University of Cambridge SAS UK and Ireland |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2021 |
| URL | https://buildingbetterhealthcare.com/news/article_page/Partnership_could_transform_kidney_treatment/... |
| Description | School Visit to Sawtry Village College |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Regional |
| Primary Audience | Schools |
| Results and Impact | Pre-recorded talk to secondary school students, on Neuroscience and careers in STEMM subjects, followed by live (via Microsoft Teams) Q&A session |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2021 |
| Description | Sensors Day 2018 "Design and Development of Mid-infrared Optical Sensors". |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Regional |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | Farah Alimagham also attended Sensors Day 2018, 10 October 2019, Fitzwilliam College, Cambridge (conference organised by the Sensor CDT), where she presented a poster entitled: "Design and Development of Mid-infrared Optical Sensors". It was very general and included continuous biofluid monitoring (as a general topic), bioreactor monitoring, and the use of meta materials for high-sensitivity chemical sensing. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2018 |
| Description | Sensors in Medicine 2019, London |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | At Sensors in Medicine 2019 (see above), Farah Alimagham presented a poster featuring our sensor. The title was "Mid-IR Sensor Systems & Devices for Medical Diagnostics and Monitoring" and the authors were Farah Alimagham, Tanya Hutter, Keri Carpenter, Peter Hutchinson, and Stephen R Elliott. This won Best Poster prize. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2019 |
| Description | The 60th ENC: Experimental Nuclear Magnetic Resonance Conference, Asilomar Conference Centre, California |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | presented our 31P MRS before this date are listed above. No further conferences etc have been attended specifically on this 31P MRS project, due to Covid restrictions. Informal meetings on this project with colleagues have taken place online. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2019 |
| Description | The NIHR Applied Research Centre (ARC) East of England |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Regional |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | These engagement activities are integral to the development of the app but also for informing plans to for how it would successfully be applied within secondary schools for the next stage of the project |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2021 |
| Description | University of Cambridge Primary School - "We are Scientists" |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Local |
| Primary Audience | Schools |
| Results and Impact | University of Cambridge Primary School: Our school outreach talk was part of an online event called "We are Scientists" at the University of Cambridge Primary School, which took place on 9th Nov 2020. Our talk was titled "We are Neuroscientists: studying the brain". It was a pre-recorded slide presentation with narration, followed by a live (via Microsoft Teams) Q&A session in which the audience of school-children asked us questions. The audience was local, approx. 60 staff and pupils. This talk is now on YouTube. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2020 |
| Description | University of Cambridge Virtual Summer Festival of Learning |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Local |
| Primary Audience | Postgraduate students |
| Results and Impact | Pre-recorded talk on Neuroscience and careers in STEMM subjects, part of the University of Cambridge Virtual Summer Festival of Learning online programme |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2021 |
| Description | University of Cambridge Virtual Summer Festival of Learning "Neuroscience: unravelling the brain" |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an open day or visit at my research institution |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
| Results and Impact | We achieved success with our pre-recorded talk, titled "Neuroscience: unravelling the brain" narrated by Prof Hutchinson, which was part of the University of Cambridge Virtual Summer Festival of Learning online programme (6th-24th July 2020), which was an international event. Ours was in the Free Open Talks section, free-to-access by members of the public - our talk had 190 views. This talk is now on YouTube. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2020 |