This new series of webinars, called Future Leaders in Convergence Science, brought to you by the Cancer Research UK Convergence Science Centre at Imperial College London and The Institute of Cancer Research, will give a platform to our PhD students to present their research, and share their experience of navigating between disciplines and finding their scientific identity as convergence researchers.

Please join us online on Wednesday 8^th November, from 15.00-16.00 for this 3^rd edition:

 

Hosted by Professor Kevin Harrington, Head of the Division of Radiotherapy & Imaging, The Institute of Cancer Research.

 

Jehanne Hassan – Division of Radiotherapy & Imaging, The Institute of Cancer Research (Professor Alan Melcher) & Department of Life Sciences, Imperial College London (Dr Masahiro Ono).

 

“Investigating the temporal dynamics of T cells following immunotherapy”

The blockade of immune checkpoints PD-1 and CTLA-4 have become a standard care for the treatment of melanoma. However, the T-cell subsets modulated by the checkpoint blockade and the alterations of their in vivo dynamics are yet to be identified. In this study, we used Nr4a3-Timer-of-cell-kinetics-and-activity (Tocky) to analyse temporal changes of activated T cells following TCR signalling in vivo. By analysing melanoma-bearing Nr4a3-Tocky mice, we elucidate in vivo dynamics of tumour-reactive T cells following the dual blockade of PD-L1 and CTLA-4. This revealed OX-40+ T-cells as key target cells, which led to a new combinatorial therapy including an OX-40 agonist, demonstrating a proof-of-concept for the use of Tocky in the rational design of immunotherapy regimens. 

 

&

 

Gitanjali Sharma – Division of Radiotherapy & Imaging, The Institute of Cancer Research (Dr Gabriela Kramer-Marek) & Department of Chemistry, Imperial College London (Dr Philip Miller).

“The PET Imaging of PD-L1 Expression in Brain Tumours”

High levels of programmed death ligand-1 (PD-L1) have been associated with Glioblastoma Multiforme (GBM) invasiveness and immuno-resistance. Presently, there is no standardised approach to assess PD-L1 expression level that would help predicting the response to immune checkpoint inhibitors. Therefore, we investigated the ability of radiolabelled antibody (⁸⁹Zr-Atezolizumab) and affibody molecule (¹⁸F-AlF-NOTA-Z_PD-L1) to measure the PD-L1 expression levels in GBM xenograft models. Our results suggest that the radioconjugates are very promising agents for facilitating the design of treatment regimens for GBM patients.