Latest news from BNOS and across the neuro-oncology network

The Peninsula Medical School (PMS) is a young successful and growing medical school and is part of the Faculty of Health within the University of Plymouth. Within its Brain Tumour Research centre of excellence, which has had its funding renewed for another 5 years, we are looking for an experienced lecturer to join the centre.

Based in the Faculty of Health, the Peninsula Medical School is committed to three core aims: outstanding clinical education; strong social engagement; and world-class research which all feature strongly in the student learning experience. A key strength is a close relationship with NHS partners, with early clinical contact for all students. The South West offers healthcare and learning opportunities of exceptional quality; Derriford is one of Europe’s largest hospitals and the only trauma centre in Devon and Cornwall. A further strength is our scholarly approach to education, supported by the Division of Education Scholarship. The Plymouth Institute of Health and Care Research is the core of research activity, providing a thriving community that conducts adventurous world-leading research with the explicit purpose of improving the health and care of the populations we serve.

We are seeking for talented and highly motivated applicants with relevant track records.  You must have a PhD, postdoctoral experience with a publication tack record and some experience in supervising graduate students.  The Brain Tumour Research centre of excellence focusses on low grade tumours and currently hosts three groups and roughly 25 researchers including PhD students.  The charity Brain Tumour Research will provide consumable support.  You will be based in the state-of-the-art Derriford research facility.  Mentorship by a Senior Researcher and support are an integral part of the post.

Although the position is predominantly research-focussed, you will also be expected to contribute to teaching activities within the medical school up to a maximum 30% teaching activity.  These activities will include delivering interactive human physiology sessions, Student-Selected Unit and academic tutoring.

Full details can be found here

We are delighted to announce the formation of the BNOS Student-Trainee Subcommittee which will formally represent the student voice within our community. Sarina Grewal and Aimee Goel are sitting as Co-Chairs.

The BNOS Student-Trainee Subcommittee welcomes PhD students, early-stage researchers and junior clinicians interested in neuro-oncology to join a multidisciplinary group of talented individuals.

Our group is keen to expand the current services of BNOS by representing different scientific interests from a clinical, translational and basic science viewpoint. This includes creating an interactive platform which encourages and facilitates research and educational activities in neuro-oncology and enhances collaboration and career development. The subcommittee also provides support to clinical trainees commencing or developing a research-based career.

The group activities will be wide-ranging and involve organising:

• Next-Generation Neuro-oncology webinars (monthly): bring together the leading researchers from the UK/internationally to give presentations about brain tumour research, translational research or clinical/case-based scenarios including MDT-type sessions where Neuroradiologist goes through imaging features of a case, Neurosurgeon through operative techniques, neuro-oncologist through subsequent chemoradiation etc.
• Masterclass sessions (quarterly) or Academic day (annual): will feature a range of interactive basic scientific and career-based workshops from expertise in neuro-oncology, including support with PhD/grant applications, how to write a successful paper, interpretation of clinical trials, career Q&As and mentoring sessions.
• Neuro-oncology paper of the week/month – an overview of an interesting paper – post on BNOS twitter page

If you’d like to be involved in the subcommittee, do let us know by emailing administrator@bnos.org.uk

The International Brain Tumour Alliance (IBTA) has created a resources page for Ukrainian brain tumour patients and healthcare professionals. 

The IBTA continues to work closely with the European Cancer Organisation (ECO) and the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) as part of its “Special Network: Impact of the War in Ukraine on Cancer”.

The Special Network (on whose Steering Committee the IBTA sits) has created a community for sharing intelligence, experience and contacts to help Ukrainian cancer patients caught up in the conflict.

The Network provides an information hub of resources and links in national languages at www.onco-help.org signposting and amplifying work being done for Ukrainian patients by other organisations as well. The Special Network is also addressing a large number of challenges currently being faced by Ukrainian cancer patients and those treating and supporting them.

Elin Baddeley, a researcher at Cardiff University is looking for experts to join an online Delphi panel to identify the key outcomes to be used in adult glioma research in the UK. Dr Robin Grant is a co-investigator of the study.

Taking part involves completing two rounds of a questionnaire, the first of which opens on Monday April 4. Completing each round of the questionnaire will take no more than 10-15 minutes. The final date to sign up to participate is Friday April 29

Download an information sheet on the study for more detail.

If you (or any of your network) are interested in taking part, please contact Elin directly via email baddeleye1@cardiff.ac.uk and she will provide you with a link to the survey. She is also happy to answer more questions on the study.  

If you are available, your contribution would be most welcome. Additionally, Elin would be grateful if you shared this invitation with those in your network you feel would be interested in participating.

Your expertise will be extremely valuable, and your participation will be much appreciated.

Assessment of Brain Tumours Using Machine Learning and MRI Radiomics

About the project 
Brain tumours kill more children and adults under the age of 40 than any other cancer but are under-researched compared to most cancers.  A priority is the need for a non-invasive, objective pre-treatment biomarker of brain tumours.  Radiomics, a new and emerging field, combined with Artificial Intelligence (AI), offers the potential not only for the development of such biomarkers, but also for pre-operative prediction of tumour grading and response to treatment.

The aim of the project is to build an AI-based tool for clinicians to use to assess brain tumours to help with treatment planning and to inform clinical decision-making. This will have a significant impact on patient treatment outcome (e.g. a reduction in the number of unnecessary invasive procedures).

The project will use machine learning to correlate radiomic, radiological and histological findings in meningiomas, bench marked against  the gold standard, highly predictive genomic data from meningioma tissue, in order to develop better non-invasive predictive models of tumour grade and clinical outcome.  Such models would help with clinical decisions about surveillance and surveillance intervals vs surgery +/- radiotherapy.

The project will be carried out in collaboration with the Plymouth Centre of Excellence for Brain Tumour which has a biobank of brain tumour samples and associated data, including genomic and MRI data.  This interdisciplinary project brings together clinical expertise in brain tumour and neuro-imaging and expertise in AI, software development, and biomedical data analysis. 

Visit the FindAPhD website for full details

Dear colleagues,

The President and Past-President of BNOS write this brief statement to outline their position in regard to the current situation in Ukraine.

We wholeheartedly condemn the invasion of Ukraine by Russian forces and we stand in absolute solidarity with the Ukrainian people. This war will have devastating consequences on the diagnosis, treatment and care of patients with brain tumours in Ukraine and we will offer any relevant support to individuals and colleagues in the UK and beyond who are affected by these events. It remains important that the British and international neuro-oncological communities stand united in our support for those patients and families suffering with a brain tumour diagnosis.

Paul Grundy, President of BNOS

Colin Watts, Immediate Past-President of BNOS

A Cochrane review has been published on Diagnostic test accuracy and cost‐effectiveness of tests for codeletion of chromosomal arms 1p and 19q in people with glioma

What are the implications of this review?

The limited evidence suggests that currently used techniques show good sensitivity for detection of 1p/19q codeletion. NGS and SNP arrays may have higher specificity when FISH is the reference standard, but this comes at greater cost per test.

Read the full review 

Positive action in neuro-oncology

Dear fellow members of the EANO, dear colleagues, dear friends, the Disparity Committee of the European Association for Neuro-Oncology (EANO) visions to create a diverse and equal community that contributes to the aims of EANO, and a reversal of disparity that could be harmful to professionals and patients. One of the objectives is to promote equality in clinical and scientific activities in neuro-oncology for women and men.

Equality can be promoted through positive action, which is defined as a range of measures allowed under the Equality Act 2010 which can be lawfully taken to encourage and train people from underrepresented groups to help them overcome disadvantages in competing with other applicants.

In this survey, we would like to evaluate indicators that might potentially be useful to measure gender balance in neuro-oncology. In addition, we would like to inquire which positive actions would be suitable to use in the field of neuro-oncology to promote gender equality.

We therefore would like to invite you to take part in this anonymous questionnaire which takes approximately 5-10 minutes to complete.

Please find the link for the survey here: 

On behalf of all members of the EANO disparity committee

Matthias Preusser

EANO President

BNOS is pleased to announce its affiliation with a selection of four MDPI journals, detailed below.

Via this affiliation, BNOS members are offered a discount* on the article processing charges (APC) to publish in an affiliated journal, as well as the possibility to set up dedicated Special Issues related to the Society conferences or research areas, to include selected papers published in open access form, at a discounted fee.
* Cannot be combined with other MDPI discounts. Only the highest will apply. If several authors of the same paper are society members, the discount will only be applied once.

Read the full details of the BNOS MDPI affiliation

The end of October marks one year since we launched our new online membership database, Wild Apricot, which also houses our Collaborative Research Consortium (CRC)!

The CRC is designed to help researchers connect with other researchers, should they be seeking additional expertise on grant applications, and/or collaboration for new research ideas.

More info here

Join here