Contact magazine: Innovations and developments

Children with cancer who also have learning difficulties and autism often have additional needs when it comes to their care. Jeanette Hawkins, CCLG’s Chief Nurse, tells us more about a project aiming to improve support for this group of patients.

Charley Scott’s daughter was diagnosed with cancer as a two-year-old. She tells us about an accessible new information resource that she and her husband Jon have created to help other children and families, influenced by their own experiences.

Molecular radiotherapy (MRT) is an evolving form of children’s cancer treatment. Dr Mark Gaze, Caroline Elmagrahi and Georgia Azzopardi, of University College London Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, tell us more about what it is and what work is being done to develop its usage.

Prof Robert Wynn, Consultant Paediatric Haematologist and Director of Bone Marrow Transplant at Royal Manchester Children’s Hospital, leads the GRANS clinical trial. He tells us how this innovative treatment is showing promising results for children with hard-to-treat leukaemia.

New and innovative cancer treatments go through many steps to make their way from ‘bench to bedside’. Professor Pamela Kearns, Dr Sarah Al-Jilaihawi and Dr Jessica Douglas-Pugh from the University of Birmingham’s Cancer Research UK Clinical Trials Unit (CRCTU) explain more about this process.

Artificial intelligence (AI) has helped scientists propose a promising new drug combination for DIPG brain tumours. Prof Chris Jones, Director of the Brain Tumour Research Centre of Excellence at the Institute of Cancer Research (ICR), and Dr Fernando Carceller, Paediatric Neuro-Oncology Consultant at The Royal Marsden Hospital, tell us more.

Michelle Eldred’s daughter, Amelia, was diagnosed with bone cancer in 2017 on her seventh birthday. Here, Michelle tells us about a pioneering procedure which helped Amelia remain active after a leg amputation.

Caroline Brown, Lead Complementary Therapist for Paediatrics, Teenagers and Young Adults at The Royal Marsden Hospital

Dr Alison Finch is a nurse and researcher from University College London Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust (UCLH). She explains how ambulatory care is positively impacting young people’s experiences of treatment and how a CCLG Special Interest Group has been formed to develop this care nationally.

Gareth Veal, Professor of Cancer Pharmacology at the Newcastle University Cancer Centre, leads a team helping doctors to personalise treatments through an innovative process called ‘therapeutic drug monitoring’. Here, he tells us more about his work.

Pritesh Patel, Senior Specialist Pharmacist in Paediatric Cancer at Great Ormond Street Hospital for Children and CCLG member

Single-cell transcriptomics linked to lineage tracing to interrogate the role of intra-tumour heterogeneity in shaping therapeutic susceptibility and resistance in paediatric cancer