#communication – Page 7 – Blog about neuroblastoma research

A warm welcome to our new PhD students!

A warm welcome to our new PhD students Ronja and Erin! Both received the prestigious Irish Research Council – Enterprise Partnership Scheme Award. Indeed, I am a proud PI. This competitive scheme brings the most promising researchers to advance our knowledge across many disciplines, e.g. Law, Astronomy, Sociology, Biomedical Sciences and many more. A key element of this scheme is to work together with an Enterprise Partner.

We will work closely with the Conor Foley Neuroblastoma Cancer Research Foundation – a research charity led by the family who lost their child to neuroblastoma. An inspirational example of never giving up.

We will continue to dissect neuroblastoma biology using innovative platforms such as tumour-on-chip and 3D scaffold-based models in collaboration with our colleagues in the Tissue Engineering Research Group at RCSI and the Fraunhofer Project Centre at DCU.

This announcement is timely to celebrate Childhood Cancer Awareness Month in September.

Two talented and dedicated young scientists are joining our team. In 4 years time, we will have another pic of their graduation on the same stairs.

Upwards and onwards!!

Sightseeing discoveries in Baltimore

Coming to live and work for a short period ignites opposite feelings. Should I see all the places recommended by Tripadvisor or do it at my pace as it happens? What if I miss something worthy? Perhaps, your own intuition balances somehow both.

I have discovered and loved two buildings in Baltimore. One is the building of Barnes & Noble bookstore in Inner Harbour and the other is Mount Vernon Place Church. Both have a great history behind and give a very warm feeling when you are inside.

Barnes & Noble bookstore is located in the former Power Plant. The features are easily spotted. From outside, the building looks like a Plant for modern social activities. Ugly slightly, isn’t it? Though, it is a different feeling when you enter the bookstore. The Plant scaffolds, chimneys and pipes are nicely crafted into a warm welcoming environment. Even lights are dimmed as back then. Rambling through the bookshelves and feeling the magic of the place and unread stories on them. You can pick up a book, sit where you are and enjoy the reading. Maybe it is the feeling of my childhood full of books and hours of reading?

Mount Vernon Place Church is next to the Washington Monument and recalls old Catholic Cathedrals in a Victorian Gothic Style. Built in 1872, the Church is actually the United Methodist Church from the very beginning. It is beautiful inside as well as outside. The stained glass and carvings have Nature themes. A big rose window in the rear of the church was inspired by the one in Notre Dame. It has an interesting history which you can read here. I discovered this place by chance and am glad that this chance came from my host family. I saw the interior not only the Church but also Asbury House. The mansion was a home to the first bishop of the Methodist Church in America – Francis Asbury (1745-1816). Have a look at the pictures, the furniture is well preserved, the staircase is similar to the one you can see in Slane Castle. Its light design makes it looks flying. Indeed, not everyone could use it at that times. Servants had a plain version at the back of the house, so none could have seen them moving in and out. Lots of blue and carved wood in the rooms. Incredibly beautiful.

Mount Vernon Place Church & Asbury House

Taste of Guinness in Baltimore

What is a must-see in Ireland? Right: visit Guinness brewery at St. James’s Gate and have a pint of right Guinness. It is one of the most recognised and famous beer brands. Rumours say Dublin is the only place where Guinness tastes Guinness. Traditions, traditions and traditions. Though the one we like most Guinness Draught is a relatively new addition – it was introduced almost 200 years after the brewery establishment in 1759 by Arthur Guinness.

So, what if you like tastes ‘outside the box’? Then Guinness brewery in Baltimore is for you. Respecting the Father, they do completely different stuff. Imagine, 16 different tastes, including the one we know! You can have a guided tour of the brewery, hear the great story and do a beer tasting. Have you tried one? Not, the one in the pub or with the friends at BBQ. It is a special way to feel the bouquet of flavours and taste the difference. There is a difference between the beer drunk straight from the bottle and from the glass. Because you can smell it as simple as that.

Taste of Guinness, the Guinness Brewery opened in Baltimore, MD, the USA in 2017

During our guided tour, we rambled inside the experimental brewery, learn the basics of beer production, tasted 4 types of beer: Guinness Blonde, Oatmeal Pale Ale, Guinness Draught and Guinness Milk Stout. Three were absolutely new for me. I liked Oatmeal Pale Ale, found Milk Stout a bit dessert style, Blonde – too citrusy. Do not forget, another 12 you can taste at the bar in a special set! However, to enjoy the most you have to bring your friends. All is much better with the right company!

Beer tasting comrades at the Fri night out

Halfway through

Can you control the time? I can’t and know none who can. It flies, when things around you work out, and drags on when not. The time flies for me here in Baltimore. It feels so intense sometimes and then slightly slows down. I take pictures almost of everything: the path’s signposts when rambling in the network of Johns Hopkins Buildings, the first frosty morning, joyful deer at the backyard of my host family house, outdated clothes in the shop…

In the past, I had a similar journey to Ireland. It was 3 months research placement during my PhD. Did I like it – oh, yes I did! I travelled a lot, felt romantic and changed my life on my return home. But I did not run a diary or tag my way on Facebook. I have learnt the lesson: do it even more intense as you can’t travel back in time and write down your experience. It may be funny or educational to read in a couple of years! I become addicted to it though not always have time to do it.

I like the people who I am working with. They are a fantastic bunch of self-motivators and open-minded personalities. They are workaholics either naturally like me or because of the exciting projects they do like I do. Who knows, but very likely because of both. Isn’t it a dream to have an exciting project and great people around you? The luck like this gives you wings.

The American enthusiast studying Russian and my Mum

The host family – is my other great luck! This luck was crafted as a parallel story when none knew how the Fulbright application and an American enthusiast learning Russian may intersect. You would not believe, but parallel lines can be non-parallel sometimes! His journey to my home city in Russia paved the way to the opportunity to stay at his aunt’s house.

Every day 50 min drive to and from Hopkins opens up the other side of the local lifestyle and infrastructure. What are the rush hours? How many drivers are signalling before taking a turn? How do they call the shopping trolley? How parking system works?

Experiencing life as an American working in Baltimore.

Labour Day BBQ

Ok. This Monday is Labour Day – a public holiday celebrated on the 1st Monday in September in the US. According to the US Department of Labor, this holiday marks “a creation of the Labor movement and is dedicated to the social and economic achievements of American workers”. In contrast in Europe and Russia, it is celebrated on May 1st and known as May Day or International Workers’ Day and may or may not be a public holiday.

It is also the unofficial end of summer when many people arrange family gatherings or holidays. So, did our lab. We were all invited to our boss’ house to have a BBQ and chit-chat. As you may expect almost everyone in the lab has a multicultural background which is very proud of. You are in America, babe! I am not an exception. A proud Irish-Russian.

Irish black and white pudding, red and white cheddar and homebaked soda bread were among top 10 favourites

Everyone took advantage of and benefited from that mix. We had Mexican, Argentinian, French, Irish, Jewish, Ethiopian and American Indiana, Idaho, Florida, Maryland bites. Juicy steaks (raw, medium and well done) and burgers grilled by the host Andy were delicious. Have to admit that meat was tastier than I used to buy in Ireland. Should probably look for a new butcher when I come back!

What did surprise me the most? I have been thinking about it on the way home… None of 15 guests did check their mobile or take a pic of food/selfie during that time! Though everyone had this thing in the pocket. We were chatting and laughing. Maybe it is just that people… Fantastic company and a great day out.

Saying Good Bye to Our Summer Students

When I look back at the end of July, I am always surprised how quickly 8 summer weeks passed by. Summer students usually come very shy and uncertain and then they are flying through many complicated research terms and techniques. We help them to learn and they pay back by fantastic enthusiasm, commitment, and hard work. This summer was the same!

One of our experiences was donut’s tasting. We tasted donuts from Boston Donuts, the Rolling Donut, Boomerang Donuts and Krust Bakery. Many shapes, textures, and tastes. Krust Bakery did our favourites. 🙂

A new, three-dimensional approach to cancer research

Appeared in today’s Irish Times. Lovely crafted by Dr. Vanesa Martinez

Although the discovery could be applicable in principle to any a solid tumour, Dr Piskareva’s target is neuroblastoma, a relatively common child cancer which affects a specific type of nerve cells in unborn children. “It’s quite aggressive and unfortunately there are many children who have metastasis when they are diagnosed, and this is the most challenging group to treat.”

https://www.irishtimes.com/news/science/a-new-three-dimensional-approach-to-cancer-research-1.3505347

Bad days come and go …

The researcher’s path includes days when you feel so low because your grant or paper was rejected or even both within a very short time frame. It happened to me a couple of weeks ago. At this point, I felt helpless sarcastic and non-motivative reading reviewer’s comments. One reviewer mixed up neuroblastoma with a brain tumour, so their comments were not relevant. Another just found no time to read through, the sentence was very short – ‘not a priority or interest‘. One more went to their area of expertise asking to fulfil it rather than comment on the actual focus of the study. Such comments are so common that any submission of results or a proposal could be considered as a draw. It has been neither my first time not the last. More to come.

At that time a friend of mine shared the reflection by a breast cancer survivor and now volunteer patient advocate at Europa Donna Ireland – The Irish Breast Cancer Campaign.

“Lastly, I would also like to say that research makes a difference to my life in another way, a less concrete but equally important way: it gives me hope. To know that excellent, focused research is happening in this country, to think that even I might be able to contribute to the success of this work, even to imagine that my daughter might grow up without fear of breast cancer – this gives me enormous hope.” (The full story can be read here)

These words make a big difference for me as a researcher. They motivate to go further and make the difference for little patients.

Irish Neuroblastoma Research Charity

Continuing the fundraising theme, I would like to introduce The Conor Foley Neuroblastoma Cancer Research Foundation. It is founded by the family aiming to raise awareness and funding for neuroblastoma – one of the most aggressive childhood cancer. This charity is being driven by parents who lost their son to neuroblastoma. They want to fill this gap as well as bring attention to the lack of funding for childhood cancer research.

Their son Conor was diagnosed with neuroblastoma at the age of four. He was a teenager when he relapsed. He had been 10 years cancer-free. After all possible treatments, neuroblastoma took over.

His mom Margaret says:

“We always dealt with Conor’s illness privately. There were no Facebook pages tracking Conor’s progress. The day we launched the website for Conor’s charity was very emotional for me. I feel like he is out there now in the big world now with his charity. He will never get to do the things that most 18-year-olds do. He won’t go inter-railing in the summer, he’ll never go bungee jumping off some bridge, but I feel that he’s part of the world, doing something good for other children and their families. We valued our time with Conor so much, we want to help researchers who will give families, even more time, more options, perhaps even a cure for their children when they get the same awful news that we did. I think he would approve of that.”

We are continuing Conor’s legacy in removing and breaking down medical science barriers, and we have set up this foundation with the ultimate objective of finding a cure for NBL.Our aim is to secure continuous annual funding for NBL research in Ireland. With this funding we want to help develop an NBL research consortium to link with international research groups and collaborations.

August is a very quiet month

It is very quiet in the lab this month. No troubleshooting, no more long working hours, endless repetition of experiments, smiles and upsets… Almost all students completed their projects, submitted their works for grading and graduated. The last student is finishing at the end of August.

Time to focus on the collected data, reading literature, writing papers and new grants.