New LICR Oxford Branch Laboratories Completed
On April 2nd, Dr. Xin Lu, Director of the LICR Oxford Branch, welcomed members of the LICR New York Office to the Branch’s new facilities in a state-of-the-art building on the Old Road Campus in Oxford. The new Branch is affiliated with the Nuffield Department of Clinical Medicine which is part of the Medical Sciences Division of the University of Oxford.
The LICR Branch will share its facilities with the research groups of the Structural Genomics Consortium, the Jenner Institute, the department of Clinical Pharmacology, the Institute of Biomedical Engineering, and the Radiation Oncology and Biology Unit. LICR President, Mr. Edward McDermott, in making a toast to the Branch staff said that LICR is pleased to be part of an environment that has such an exciting mix of different groups and encouraged the staff to take advantage of the synergistic research opportunities and enrich the culture of the new building. Also participating in the visit were Drs. Andy Simpson (Scientific Director), Jonathan Skipper (Executive Director of Intellectual Property and Licensing), Sarah White (Director of Communications), and former Scientific Advisory Committee member Sir Walter Bodmer, F.R.S., who is also a member of the staff in Oxford continuing to pursue research on human genetics and colon cancer.
Dr. Andrew Simpson (LICR Scientific Director), Sir Walter Bodmer, Dr. Xin Lu (Director, LICR Oxford Branch) and Mr. Edward McDermott (LICR President).
According to Dr. Lu, research at the Oxford Branch will focus on tumor suppression and metastasis, with particular interests in highly metastatic tumor types such as melanoma and lung cancer. Two new investigators have been appointed at the Branch in January. Dr. Colin Goding (Member), formerly head of the Signaling and Development Group at the Marie Curie Research Institute (UK), has a longstanding interest in molecular mechanisms of melanoma. Dr. Gareth Bond (Assistant Member), former Member of the Simons Center for Systems Biology at the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton (USA), is focusing his research in germline cancer genetics. They will move in to the new laboratories together with Dr. Lu and her team members in May.
Read the research profiles for Drs. Goding and Bond in this issue of NewsLink to learn more about the new LICR Oxford Branch investigators.
The administrative team from the LICR Oxford Branch in the atrium of the new building. From left to right: Ms. Alexandra Ward (Assistant to Dr. Xin Lu, Director), Mr. Neil Carveth (Laboratory Manager), Mr. Richard Anning (Branch Administrator), Ms. Fiona Murray-Zmijewski (Scientific Facilitator) and Mr. Mark Shipman (IT/Imaging Manager).