Science and Technology Group

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Next Meeting: Prof J A Madrigal: Bitcoins and the Blockchain.

20th September

Stem Cell Therapies<ref>[http://www.eurostemcell.org/leukaemia-how-can-stem-cells-help How stem cells can help treatment of leukemia - Eurostemcell.</ref>

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Prof Madrigal

Leukaemia is a group of blood cancers that produce large numbers of immature, non-functional white blood cells that weaken (or completely block) the immune system.

Patients with leukaemia were among the first to be given a treatment where transplants of blood stem cells made it possible to obtain cures. Today this form of therapy is given to thousands of patients with leukaemia around the world.

Stem Cell Therapies Prof J A Madrigal, the Anthony Nolan Foundation and the Royal Free Hospital 18 October, 18:30. Prof Madrigal will talk to us in our next meeting about stem cell transplantation. The technique has applications in the treatment of a variety of conditions, but especially blood cancers. The first successful unrelated donor transplant of stem cells (‘bone marrow transplant’) was carried out in 1971, but there have been many advances in the field since then.

Members may be aware of the work of the Anthony Nolan Foundation of which Prof Madrigal is the Scientific Director. This charity is very active in creating a database of potential donors, which is crucial for the success of unrelated donor transplantation.

Stem cell transplants have extra difficulties compared to the transplant of solid organs, because the donor is, in effect, donating his own immune system to the host, which can give rise to the host’s own tissues being attacked by the donated cells (‘graft vs host disease’). This is one of the reasons why a good tissue match is so important. Of course, stem cell transplants have the great advantage that they can be made by live donors who suffer no adverse health effects as the result of the donation, in contrast to, e.g. kidney donation.

Stem cells, i.e. cells with the potential to form different tissue types are of a field of great research interest. In 2013 the Group heard from Prof Robert McLaren about their use as a treatment for repairing retinas which have deteriorated. It is hoped that stem cells will be able to be used to ‘grow’ new organs, although this work is still experimental, as we heard from Prof Steve Minger in 2008.

Alejandro Madrigal, MD, PhD, FRCPath, FRCP, HonDSci, DSc, Drhc, FMedSci

Prof Madrigal is Professor of Haematology, Royal Free Campus & UCL Cancer Institute, Scientific Director, Anthony Nolan. He is an internationally respected and influential scientist in the field of stem cell transplantation, and histocompatibility and immunogenetics, whose seminal research work has been the platform on which many recent advances in bone marrow transplantation have depended. His work has impacted upon clinical practice and has influenced the development of new tissue typing reagents by healthcare industries, and has defined viral and tumour specific targets that are used worldwide in vaccination and cell therapy. His past achievements, as President of the European Group for Blood and Marrow Transplantation from 2010-2014, continue to be recognised internationally.

Prof Madrigal began his medical career in Mexico and subsequently undertook a WHO Fellowship at Harvard University’s Dana Farber Cancer Institute; followed by a PhD degree at the Imperial Cancer Research Fund, London. He was awarded the Stanford Dean’s Fellowship and a Leukemia Society Fellowship whilst a Postdoctoral Research Fellow at Stanford University. He has led research at Anthony Nolan since 1993, creating the Anthony Nolan Research Institute and leading as Scientific Director since 1995. He has held the Academic Chair of Haematology at the Royal Free Hospital and University College London since 1997. He has published over 570 papers, many in peer-reviewed journals (e.g., Nature, Lancet and PNAS) and has more than 5,330 citations.

Prof Madrigal is currently Pro-Vice-Provost (International) for Latin-America at UCL, having served as Pro-Provost for the Americas from 2011 and Pro-Vice-Provost up until September 2015. As a Fellow of the Royal College of Physicians, he has acted as International Advisor representing Mexico since 2011 and, in addition, as a Fellow of the Royal College of Pathologists, as Country Advisor for Mexico since 2015. Also in 2015, he was appointed as a BUPA Association Member, elected as an Academic Corresponding Member of La Real Academia Nacional de Medicine, Spain and as an Active Member of the European Academy of Science and Arts in Salzburg. He was elected Fellow of the prestigious Academy of Medical Sciences in 2013 and a Member of the Mexican Academy of Surgery in 2014.

Prof Madrigal has received several awards and prizes, for example, the EBMT Stockton Prize and the ASHI International Scholarship Prize. He was awarded a Doctor of Science Degree in 2002 by UCL, has been honoured with three Doctor Honoris Causa degrees (the most recent at an award ceremony in February 2017 from the University of Guadalajara) and many international awards, including in 2007, the Ohtli Award by the Government of Mexico and he received an Academic Distinction from the National Academy of Medicine in 2008. He received a Silver Award from the Department of Health in 2010 and in December 2016 received a Gold Award (in public acknowledgment of his expertise, dedication, high quality work and contributions to the NHS in the United Kingdom).

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2017 Programme

Dates for 2017 are as follows (all meeting are on Wednesdays, usually the 3rd one of each month):

Month Day of Month Speaker Title
February 15th Prof Martyn Thomas Cybersecurity
March 15th Prof Anil Seth Machine Consciousness
April 19th Prof Peter Wilson Anti-Microbial Resistance.
May 16th, Dr Giles Yeo Are your genes to blame if your jeans don't fit?
June 21st Prof Stephen Devereux CAR(T)s, BiTes, checkpoints and weaponised antibodies.
September 20th Dr Paolo Tasca Bitcoins and the Blockchain
October 18th Prof J A Madrigal Stem cell therapies.
November 22nd Dr Uday Phadke How to give Tech Businesses Scale

2018 Programme

Dates for 2018 are as follows (usually 3rd Wed of each month):

Month Day of Month Speaker Title
February 21st James Luke Artificial Intelligence
March 14th Paul Newman NOT CONFIRMED template:Autonomous Vehicles
April 25th David Howey Energy Storage
May 23rd
June 20th Dr Michael Radcliffe Allergies
September 11th
October 24th
November 28th