Author: ben.ede

Meet Dr Emma Vincent as she tells us about her research and the artwork inspired by her work that reflects on the pathways that we and our cells can make

Amy holt (1^st year PhD), Emma Vincent, Aleksandra Ryk (MRes) and Danny Legge (Postdoc)

Can you tell us a little about your work?

I work on the link between type 2 diabetes, obesity and cancer. People with type 2 diabetes and obesity have an increased risk of developing cancer across their lifetime. We want to find out why this occurs to stop it happening.

‘The discovery of new things is an incredible, fulfilling experience.’

I study metabolism within our cells, so essentially, I look at how cancer cells eat and fuel themselves in order to divide. So how they make all the building blocks they need to make a new cancer cell. To do that cells need to change the metabolic pathways that they use in order to make all these building blocks.

What message did you want the art based on your research to tell?

The message with the artwork that I am hoping to get across is something positive: I thought it would be nice to show that, by treating, managing and improving type 2 diabetes and obesity, it is possible to do something positive to help prevent disease progression and to lower cancer risk.

Eating more healthily and exercising more can help adjust your path towards a healthier life. I was thinking there are parallels between how cells change their pathways to determine their fate and how people can also change the decisions they make to positively influence their health.

Pathways by Sophie Rae

What do you think and feel when your see the artwork?

It makes me feel optimistic and perfectly captures the message I wanted communicate. The piece made me think more about the positive sides to my work. As a researcher you sometimes get bogged down in the fine detail and you can get quite single minded about making little discoveries. You can forget there is larger positive message in what you are doing. I think the most valuable thing I have got out of this experience is that it made me reflect on how what I do is perceived by other people – I don’t do that very often.

What do you feel is the biggest challenge in your field right now?

The biggest challenge is understanding what it is about obesity and diabetes that increases cancer risk. Research is making huge progress to understand the links, but the real challenge comes in finding things that can be targeted to reduce the risk and progression of cancer in people with type 2 diabetes and obesity, to make a real difference.

Another challenge with type 2 diabetes and obesity is making a positive change in a population of people. We know that unhealthy lifestyles are contributing to rising levels of obesity and type 2 diabetes. Encouraging and supporting one person to lose weight, for example, is a relatively easy challenge, but it’s difficult to scale that up in a large population.

What are you proud of in your career so far?

The discovery of new things is an incredible, fulfilling experience. During my postdoc in Canada we found a pathway that cancer cells use in response to nutrient restriction. So, if cancer cells can’t get enough nutrients, they switch to this pathway to stay alive. It is a pathway that nobody at the time thought cancer cells could utilise. This was a significant finding in the field and made me feel proud.

Do you have any words of wisdom for aspiring researchers?

There is no escaping that research is tough! But if you have that drive to discover what isn’t known then just keep going and be persistent. It can be a career of many rejections, but when you do make discoveries it is 100% worth the effort.

Emma Vincent is a Doctor of Cancer Metabolism in the School of Cellular and Molecular Medicine. Emma specialises in the links between obesity, diabetes and cancer risk.

Meet Professor Ann Williams who tells us about her research and the important message behind the Creative Reactions artwork inspired by her work.

Can you tell us a little about your research?

We have known for a long time that aspirin can help to prevent bowel cancer, but we don’t yet know the mechanism by which this occurs. We know that aspirin inhibits cyclooxygenases, a class of enzymes that produce prostaglandins such as PG2 which can promote cancer. However, drugs that inhibit selective cyclooxygenases are not as effective as aspirin at inhibiting cancer. This suggests that aspirin is doing something else to protect against bowel cancer.

‘I am incredibly lucky to be in a career where I learn something new every day’

The research we are doing is looking at the effects of aspirin that do not involve cyclooxygenase inhibition. We are modelling human tumour progression, to investigate the effects of long-term aspirin exposure on the proteins made by our cells.

The long-term goal of this research is to help inform how people should be taking aspirin. We still do not know if people should take aspirin every day, what dose is most effective and whether they should take it before or after bowel cancer surgery. Aspirin may be excellent as a preventative medicine however there are risks associated with its use. We need to understand a lot more about how it works before we recommend taking aspirin to healthy individuals.

More realistically aspirin appears to be very effective for people who are already at increased risk of developing the disease. For these individuals there is currently little the NHS can offer. These are the people who may benefit from taking regular aspirin, but we still need to fully understand how it works to know how much and often they should take it.

What inspired you into bowel cancer research?

Helping to prevent bowel cancer is hugely important to me, especially as my father died from the disease when he was only 55. Working with my supervisor and mentor, Professor Chris Paraskeva was also hugely influential: my first job with Chris came about after I asked a question at a scientific meeting. Chris approached me to ask about my PhD and encouraged me to apply for a postdoc position in his lab. I now tell my students that it is always worth putting your hand up, you never know who is listening and what may happen!

What do you feel when you see the artwork based on your work?

I think its fabulous! It shows the development of a colorectal tumour as it spirals out of control. It is really clever, and I hope it will appeal to both non-specialists and specialist alike.

Progression of Colorectal Cancer by Claudia Stoker

The great thing about doing this work is it gives people a chance to ask questions, to start a discussion. This is so important particularly with bowel cancer where people often ignore symptoms because they are embarrassed. If we can get people to go to their doctor if they think they have symptoms, the chances are that if it is a tumour, it will be caught at an early stage which can be cured by surgery.

What do you think will be the next big breakthrough in your field?

One of the big frustrations in this field is that there is screening available which is effective, but many people do not take advantage of it. In addition, it is evident from research that bowel cancer is becoming more prevalent in younger people. GPs don’t expect younger people to have bowel cancer and symptoms can be ignored: this means that younger patients can be diagnosed later with more advanced disease. Improving ways in which we can stratify younger people towards screening would be a great thing, it could help improve the prognosis for this group of patients too.

What do you enjoy most about your work?

There are many things: I am incredibly lucky to be in a career where I learn something new every day. You can be massively frustrated by scientific experiments, but never bored. Every question we answer generates many more questions. The research environment also means I get to work with brilliant people from a wide range of ages and backgrounds which is a huge privilege.

What are you most proud of in your career so far?

I am proud that our research has contributed to improving health through clinical trials and initiatives such as the 5-a-day fruit/veg campaign.

I also really like seeing aspiring researchers succeed! I have enjoyed helping some brilliant students who have gone on to do great things and have very successful careers.

Do you have any words of wisdoms for aspiring researchers out there?

Always ask questions and don’t be scared. It is very easy in a conference to hide away but be a little brave. These days it is acknowledged that research is a difficult career, you need to be resilient. But make the most of every opportunity, ultimately it is great privilege to work as an academic, it is a career path that encourages true creative exploration.

Ann Williams is a Professor of Experimental Oncology in the School of Cellular and Molecular Medicine. Ann specialises in studying the mechanisms by which low dose aspirin can help prevent bowel cancer.