Tag: #childhoodcancer

Hot off the Press!

We are over the moon with our work being recognised by the American Society of Gene & Cell Therapy Molecular Therapy Family of Journals. The results are published in a Special Issue focused on the Advances in Paediatric Cancer Therapy. It is a true milestone in a challenge we undertook in collaboration with Prof Helen McCarthy at Queen’s University Belfast, with High-Risk, High-Gain funding from the Higher Education Authority North-South Research Programme. We did prove the HEA Ambition to highlight the huge potential of their initiative. Now, I can share the score for our application – it was 99/100*! Oh, my!!!! We are so happy that our idea was recognised back then. *I am still struggling to reach this threshold in other applications. 😉


Indeed, great research is teamwork, trust and collaboration – huge appreciation goes to Chayanika Saha, Federica Cottone, Eve O’Donoghue, Rabia Saleem, and Binyumeng Jiang. You are the Rising Stars!

Ellen receives her IACR/EACR Junior Scientist Award 2025


However, my extreme credit goes to Ellen King, PhD, who took on my ambitious challenge (go/no-go!), trusted me, went above and beyond, and turned her PhD project into this publication with passion and diligence. Just for context, it took us 12 months with 7 rejections to receive the quality approval mark for this publication. All this time, she was on top of the reviewing and publishing game after graduating with her PhD in 2025, developing her own immuno-oncology portfolio in London. Onwards and upwards Ellen King, PhD!


We are proud to collaborate with the family of John Foley CMC, FIMCA, MIET. – the true inspiration for not giving up! Their story of the neuroblastoma battle is heartbreaking and inspiring at the same time.
The Higher Education Authority funding helped us to secure follow-up funding from the Health Research Board (HRB) & the Conor Foley Neuroblastoma Cancer Research Foundation ( via HRCI – Health Research Charities Ireland) and Neuroblastoma UK. We appreciate their trust in our ambition and vision. THANK YOU!

The VHI Mini Marathon 2026 – the Start of our Childhood Cancer Awareness Campaign. 

Yesterday, 30,000 runners, joggers, and walkers took part in the 44th VHI Women’s Mini Marathon. We were ages 14 to 92, from diverse cultural, educational, and fitness backgrounds. Each set their own ambition and target. It was my fourth race. My targets stayed the same: raising awareness for Childhood Cancer Research, supporting the Conor Foley Neuroblastoma Cancer Research Foundation, and finishing within 1 hour and 15 minutes with a smile.

The atmosphere was cheering and empowering, and the weather was very kind to us. I was in a pink wave, and we started about 12:30ish. Running in a big company with your allies is enjoyable and empowering. I was sinking into the diversity and variety of running women and supporters along the road, enjoying every minute. Some took over me, and I took over some. Somewhere after 5K, I was tapped by my TERG colleagues, so the race became even more enjoyable.

The Vhi Mini Marathon 2026 kicks off our Childhood Cancer Awareness and Fundraising Campaign. We will support two amazing childhood cancer research charities: the Conor Foley Neuroblastoma Cancer Research Foundation (CFNCRF) and Neuroblastoma UK (NBUK). We would be very grateful if you could support our call before and during Childhood Cancer Awareness Month via GoFundMe.

Our anti-cancer vaccine work at the International Society for Cell and Gene Therapy 2026

We presented at the International Society for Cell and Gene Therapy Meeting 2026 – an excellent opportunity to showcase your research and expand your network. Delighted for our team, we secured two oral presentations: an elevator pitch by Rabia Saleem and one by me.

Some of my highlights, on top of the top-notch science, are:
– The Welcome address was a Thing. A craic of Irish music and dancing. What a start! Felt very proud to be Irish. Thank you to ISCT, the International Society for Cell & Gene Therapy & Karen English for capturing Irish flavours so well.
– 1540 posters covering various areas of cell and gene therapy, Plenary sessions – short and sweet, an excellent showcase of many projects via Elevator Pitches (2 min each) or Oral presentations (10 min each). Active interactions at the poster session. Rabia Saleem poster attracted Cytotherapy Editor – well done!
– Creative exhibition stands and interactions. NO to plain pens and water bottles, YES to puzzles, LEGO toys, travel pillows, stress balls, and the highlight – make your own bear!

Looking at Brain Tumors, One slice at a Time 

’m writing to you from the Biomedicum, a research facility at the University of Helsinki. As you can probably guess, I didn’t travel here for the Finnish weather, but to collaborate with a team that is part of the European Mac4Me consortium. This group specialises in a fascinating imaging technique called multiplex immunohistochemistry. In simple terms, they take patient tissue samples or samples created in the lab and cut them into incredibly thin slices—just 4 micrometres thick, which is about 4/100ths of a millimetre. They then use multiple rounds of staining with antibodies to visualise different tumour markers and map out exactly where these markers are located within the sample. You can see an example of this stained tissue below. 

Cutaneous squamous cell carcinoma samples stained for 4 different markers using multiplex immunohistochemistry. 
Viiklepp K Journal of Investigative Dermatology. 2025 

For this project, I brought along different versions of a “brain-like” hydrogel I’ve created in the lab. These hydrogels have varying stiffness and molecular compositions, and they contain Neuroblastoma tumour cells growing within them (you can see simple cell staining below). My goal here is to use the lab’s advanced imaging machine to observe how these tumour cells behave. I want to see if they are multiplying, if they seem stressed or healthy, and how they adapt to the different molecular environments of the hydrogels. 

This approach will be incredibly valuable for studying how the tumour’s surroundings—the microenvironment—influence the spread of Neuroblastoma to the brain. It will also help us understand what happens when we add new molecular components to the hydrogel to more closely mimic the brain environment. Looking ahead, I plan to use this same technique for an even more complex experiment: by growing immune cells together with the neuroblastoma cells, I hope to visualise and identify the specific pathways the cancer cells use to communicate with and potentially suppress the immune system. 

Neuroblastoma cell line (in blue) in a hyaluronic acid-based hydrogel. Day 1 left and day 5 right. 

Written by Pierluca Cancellieri, Mac4Me MSCA PhD

Two New-Minted PhD in 2025!

What a year – two young and talented postgraduate students have been minted with a Doctor of Philosophy Degree in September and December of 2025. They are Dr Lin Ma and Dr Ronja Struck. Hard work and dedication are the cornerstones of this challenging but rewarding journey.

They sailed through scattered showers and sunny spells, gale winds and stormy snow with sunshine developing elsewhere, turning chilly under clear skies on some days with temperatures below/above zero. The full spectrum of emotions and hard work was spiced up by the uncertainty of COVID-19 restrictions. Well done to Ronja and Lin!

My greatest thanks to Lin’s examiners Prof Sue Burchill (University of Leeds, UK),  Dr Joan Ní Gabhann-Dromgoole  (RCSI, Ireland) and the independent chair Prof Kevin McGuigan (RCSI, Ireland)!!

My greatest thanks to Ronja’s examiners, Prof Martina Rauner (Dresden University, Germany), Prof Fabio Quondamatteo (RCSI, Ireland) and the independent chair Dr Inmar Schoen (RCSI, Ireland)!!

This work would not be possible without the generous support from the Irish Research Council (Research Ireland) and the Conor Foley Neuroblastoma Cancer Research Foundation to Ronja, and from the RCSI-Soochow University StAR International PhD Programme to Lin.

How cancer cells communicate?

Hot off the press! The study carried out by Thomas Frawley during his PhD has just been published in Journal of Personalized Medicine.

Cancer that is resistant to treatment is a big challenge because it often leads to lower survival rates. Tumour cells release small extracellular vesicles, which can influence other cells in the body by carrying various proteins. The study focused on understanding what proteins are in these particles from resistant and sensitive cancer cells and how they affect non-cancerous cells, like those involved in forming blood vessels. Our study discovered that these packages from resistant cancer cells contain special proteins involved in how cells produce and use energy. These findings suggest that these proteins could be used as markers to monitor disease progression or treatment response, using less invasive methods such as blood tests.

A schematic summary of Frawley’s study, also known as a graphical abstract. J. Pers. Med. 2025, 15(12), 584; https://doi.org/10.3390/jpm15120584 (registering DOI)

Understanding how resistant cancer cells influence their surroundings could lead to new ways of diagnosing and treating high-risk neuroblastoma. Detecting these proteins through blood tests could help personalise treatment strategies, making them more effective without the need for invasive procedures. This research opens the door to using tiny particles from blood to better understand how cancer progresses and responds to therapy.​

I’m Pierluca!

Good afternoon, readers! Pierluca here, writing to you as one of the newest members of this incredible team. For those who haven’t met me yet, I’m a PhD student joining the RCSI family for the next three years.  

My story starts in Brindisi, a charming harbor town in southeastern Italy. From there, my academic journey took me to the Netherlands.  During my two research projects, I explored how high-fat diets impact liver metabolism and investigated ways to prevent metabolic reprogramming and cell death.  

Now, I’m bringing that curiosity to RCSI, where my focus is shifting to something even more complex: cancer metastasis. In the lab, I’ll research how neuroblastoma invades the brain to form metastases. Using 3D bioprinting and scaffold models, I’ll grow Neuroblastoma Kelly and Kelly-cis cells to observe how they infiltrate brain-like structures and hijack the immune system.  

Science is intense, so balance is key! When I’m not in the lab, you’ll find me Hiking when the sun is shining or Playing cards in a cozy pub when the rain pours. Cooking with friends is a great way to spend some relaxing time at home and when I am alone, I enjoy a good book (currently reading The Master and Margarita, highly recommend!). 

Stay tuned for more about me and my research! 

Written by Pierluca Cancellieri, Mac4Me PhD student

Hi everyone! I’m Chunyu

Hi everyone! I’m Chunyu, and I’ve recently started my PhD journey in the field of bioengineering and neurobiology. My academic background includes an MRes in Biomedical Research from Imperial College London, where I developed a deep interest in microfluidic technologies and their applications in disease modelling. 

Currently, my PhD project focuses on identifying the function of macrophages—the body’s frontline immune cells—when they first interact with neuroblastoma (NB) cells using a brain and liver organ-on-a-chip (OoC) model. By recreating these organ environments on a chip, I aim to explore how macrophages respond to NB invasion and how this early interaction might shape the progression of the disease. This research could open new doors for early intervention and treatment strategies in childhood cancers like neuroblastoma. 

When I’m not in the lab, you’ll probably find me outside—going on hikes, enjoying a good swim, or finding a tasty Hotpot restaurant. I love blending my curiosity for science with a love for the outdoors, and I’m excited to share updates from both worlds as I go through this PhD journey. 

Thanks for stopping by, and stay tuned for more science and a few outdoor adventures along the way! 

Written by Chunyu Yan, Mac4Me DC

Colouring cells in research

Sometimes, the most fascinating parts of science are invisible to the naked eye—like in these images captured with a confocal microscope! 

What you’re seeing here are DC 2.4 cells, a mouse dendritic cell line. These immune cells are key players in recognising foreign substances (like bacteria, viruses, or even cancer cells) and activating the body’s immune response. 

In this experiment, we cultured the DC 2.4 cells on a sponge-like material composed of collagen and glycosaminoglycans (GAG), two natural components commonly found in body tissues. This material is called a scaffold, and it provides cells with a 3D surface to grow on, more closely mimicking their natural environment within the body. 

To make the cells visible under the microscope, we used two fluorescent stains: 

  • DAPI (blue), which marks the nucleus—the control centre of the cell, 
  • Phalloidin (green), which highlights the actin filaments that give the cell shape and structure. 

We’re testing how well these immune cells survive, attach, and spread on the collagen-GAG scaffold over time. By utilising a 3D environment, we can gain a deeper understanding of how cells behave in more realistic conditions. This is especially important for research into cancer immunotherapy and vaccine development. 

This image tells us that the DC 2.4 cells can successfully grow and interact with the scaffold! 

Written by Federica Cottone

Charting New Territory in Neuroblastoma: A Marie Curie Fellow’s Perspective

As a DevelopMed Marie Skłodowska-Curie Fellow, I am committed to advancing childhood cancer research by investigating the biology of neuroblastoma, a complex and aggressive paediatric solid tumour. My research focuses on the high-risk form of the disease, where amplification of the MYCN oncogene is strongly associated with poor prognosis.

The project aims to elucidate the pathway crosstalk regulated by MYCN—specifically, how it alters normal cellular signalling and governs the critical cell fate decisions between proliferation and apoptosis. By employing mass spectrometry-based proteomics combined with systems biology approaches, I am constructing a comprehensive map of MYCN-driven signalling networks to identify potential therapeutic targets that could improve clinical outcomes for affected children.

A distinctive and rewarding aspect of my fellowship is my role as a visiting scientist at the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland (RCSI), where I collaborate with Dr. Olga Piskareva’s lab, an internationally recognised leader in 3D neuroblastoma research. Here, I am gaining hands-on experience with 3D neuroblastoma spheroid culture systems, which more accurately recapitulate tumour behaviour compared to traditional 2D models. These advanced systems enable a deeper understanding of drug responses, tumour architecture, and cellular interactions in a physiologically relevant context.

This collaborative framework between UCD and RCSI fosters a dynamic, translational research environment and exemplifies the core values of the Marie Curie programme—innovation, collaboration, and real-world impact.

Every stage of this journey—from pathway elucidation to 3D model validation—contributes to the overarching goal of developing more effective, targeted therapies for children diagnosed with neuroblastoma.

Written by Rashmi Sharma