Liverpool Paediatric ECMC

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Overview

Our Centre

Liverpool is an Innovative Therapies for Children with Cancer (ITCC) accredited centre, is part of the Adult and Paediatric Networks and has established close working links with other UK ITCC centres (particularly Leeds and Manchester). It is well located for geographically distributed studies for the North of England, Wales and Ireland.

There are close links with the Paediatric Cancer Biology Group of Liverpool University and the Liverpool Clinical Trials Unit (CRCTU), with work focusing on neuroblastoma and medulloblastoma and relationships are being established with the adult ECMC. There is an established and reliable functional imaging department which includes the use of an intraoperative 3T MR scanner.

Finally, the hospital is able to provide accommodation for families of patients in the form of The Ronald McDonald Home away from Home provision which will make it easier for families needing to travel to Alder Hey for early phase clinical trials.

Address

Alder Hey Children's Hospital
Eaton Road
West Derby
Liverpool, L12 2AP

Team Members

Scientific & Operational Team

Dr Lisa Howell

Lead

Expertise:

Paediatric

lisa.howell@alderhey.nhs.uk

Paediatric Expertise

Treatment Modalities

Immunotherapy
Radiotherapy
Surgery
Cell Therapy
Therapeutic vaccines
Chemoradiotherapy

Phase 1 capability

First-in-man studies

Site for multi-centre phase I studies
Co-ordination and management of phase I studies through the Liverpool Cancer Trials Unit
Phase I population: Adult solid tumours and haematological malignancies
Phase I mechanisms: Immunotherapy, cell therapy

Centre specific translational research interest

Pancreatic cancer and haemato-oncology
Biomarker discovery and validation
Clinical pharmacology

Technology / equipment within the centre

Laboratory

Good Clinical Practice Laboratory
Freezers and fridges (9 minus 80°C freezers, 6 minus 150°C freezers, 3 minus 20°C freezers, 1 minus 30°C freezer and 2 large 4°C degree fridges). All temperatures are monitored with independent probes attached to the Pharmagraph Environmental Monitoring System. The total storage space exceeds 600,000 1.5 ml tubes
Customised Matrix Laboratory Information Management System with individual trial workflows – hierarchical and fully auditable
Immunomonitoring: Plate reader and washer, Luminex, reader/imager, beta counter, Tomtec cell harvester
Cytometry: FACSCanto/FACSFortesa, centrifuges, nucleocounter
Molecular biology and histology: PCR machines (including LightCycler and Bio-Rad), ProKyma bead separation, Maxwell rapid sample concentrator robot, OneTouch, Ion torrent next generation sequencer, TMA arrayer, heating block, Chemidoc digital imager

Assays – Clinical Trial Support

Immunohistochemistry and in-situ hybridisation (RNAScope)
Proliferation assays (T-cell response to immune therapy and vaccines)
Cytokine quantification using Luminex (various panels but principally 27plex from Bio-Rad)
Minimal Residual Disease (MRD) by FACS analysis
P53 codon 31 SNP analysis (in CLL) by FACS
Real Time PCR analysis
Limiting dilution NGS analysis of Tp53 (for CTC detection and analysis)

Other facilities

CRUK Liverpool Cancer Trials Unit
Seven further chemotherapy clinics covering Cheshire and Merseyside

Other offsite facilities and equipment

Royal Liverpool Clinical Research Unit (MHRA Standard and Supplementary Phase I Accredited Site)

Sample Collection

Tissue banking activity: Pancreas Cancer Biobank, UK Chronic Lymphocytic Leukaemia (CLL) Trials Biobank, Clatterbridge Cancer Centre (CCC) Biobank
Centre contacts responsible for sample collection: Pancreas Cancer Biobank (Dr Bill Greenhalf), UK CLL Trials Biobank (Dr Mel Oates), CCC Biobank (Dr Maria Maguire)