Podcasts about cancer research uk

In this episode of Behind the Genes, we explore how personalised cancer vaccines are being developed, and how genomics and AI could help make these treatments more precise.  Our host, Florence Cornish is joined by:  Dr Victoria Goss, Associate Professor of Early Diagnosis and Translational Research at Southampton Clinical Trials Unit and head of the Southampton Clinical Trials Unit Cancer Vaccine Launchpad team  Professor Lennard Lee, Associate professor at the University of Oxford, Consultant Medical Oncologist, NHS  Ali Richards, a participant who took part in a cancer vaccine clinical trial  Together they discuss how cancer vaccines train the immune system to recognise cancer, how genomic information can help identify the unique features of an individual's tumour, and how AI could help researchers analyse genomic data and accelerate the development of new cancer vaccines.   “The reason I said yes was because my treatment really was punishing. It was so many side effects to it. The cancer never made me feel sick, but the treatment made me really sick. So I said yes because I just wanted to help other people not have to go through what I went through.”    Transcript [00:00:00] Florence: What if a vaccine could help treat cancer? Hello and welcome to Behind the Genes, the podcast that brings you the stories, research, and innovations shaping the future of genomic healthcare. Today, we're going to be talking about cancer vaccines, how they're being developed with the help of AI, what role genomics has to play, and what it could mean for patients.  [00:00:23] Florence: I'm Florence Cornish, and joining me today we have Dr Victoria Goss, who leads cancer vaccine research at Southampton Clinical Trials Unit; we have Professor Lennard Lee, who is a medical oncologist and Associate Professor at the University of Oxford; and Ali Richards, who took part in the Southampton Cancer Vaccine Programme.  [00:00:45] Florence: I think before we get into cancer vaccines specifically, it might be good to start with the basics. So vaccines are something most of us have heard of and probably experienced as well, but we don't always necessarily understand how they work. So Lennard, can I come to you to explain what a vaccine actually is, how it works with our immune system, maybe at the most basic level for those who might not have a scientific background?  [00:01:19] Lennard: Thanks, Florence. What's a vaccine? Very, very simply, something that protects your body from disease. We've had a few when we were younger, like which protects you against meningitis or hepatitis or different types of infections that can affect children.  [00:01:36] Lennard: And it really does show that your immune system is really powerful. Every day, it looks around trying to work out what's there which shouldn't be there and takes care of it. And ideally, your immune system just works in the background without causing any problems. And so what a vaccine does is it really helps the body understand something that's abnormal.  [00:01:55] Lennard: And the vision here is that you can use this technology to hopefully patrol against cancer, because half the people out there will never get cancer. They are the maybe the lucky ones or maybe the ones with a good immune response. And so a vaccine is basically giving your immune system a wanted poster:  [00:02:11] Lennard: "This is what threat looks like. This is what you need to control".   [00:02:16] Florence: And I think you mentioned some great examples there. There are lots of common examples of vaccines people might have heard of. I think maybe the flu vaccine is probably a common one that people are thinking about in the wintertime. I think another one is maybe the HPV vaccine.  [00:02:29] Florence: Lennard, could you explain a bit more to our listeners about the HPV vaccine? What it is, how it works? I think people often think of it as a type of cancer vaccine, but actually it's targeting a virus. Is that right?   [00:02:41] Lennard: Yeah, that's correct. So this is now a vaccine which has been rolled out across the NHS, and it's actually worked really well to get rid of a few cancer types, which is incredible.  [00:02:51] Lennard: And why is that important? Well, cancer can be caused by many, many different things. Sometimes it's because you've done things like smoking or weight plays a role or just bad luck or the genes that you've inherited. But some cancer types are caused by viruses. And so many people nowadays are getting the HPV vaccine to stop cancer types like cervical cancer, hopefully head and neck cancer, and many of the rarer cancer types.  [00:03:21] Lennard: And so again, what you're doing here is you're taking the immune response, telling it the body shouldn't get this virus and hopefully prevent some of the bad consequence of getting this viral infection, like cancers.   [00:03:33] Florence: Thank you. That's really helpful to understand. So we've talked about how vaccines can be used to treat viruses, and I think most of us, when we hear the word ‘vaccine', we probably do associate it with something that stops us from getting ill.  [00:03:46] Florence: Victoria, could you tell us about how vaccines could be used to treat cancer?   [00:03:50] Victoria: Yeah, absolutely, and it is great to be here today. Thank you. So Lennard's already sort of spoken about preventative vaccines, and when we think about cancer vaccines, we're thinking about therapeutic vaccines. So we're thinking about training the immune system to recognise the cancer as something that needs to be dealt with because cancer is really tricky because it's our own cells that have gone wrong, if you like.  [00:04:16] Victoria: But that means it also is very good at evading those signals which tell the immune system that it needs to be cleared. So the analogy that Lennard has already given of a cancer vaccine sort of creating a wanted poster sort of builds on an analogy from one of your previous podcasts where they described the immune system as like the police almost trying to catch criminals, which are the cancer cells.  [00:04:41] Victoria: And the cancer vaccine analogy builds on that. So you've created a wanted poster which is training and giving the police more information about what those cancer cells look like. And then when we think about building on that with sort of personalised cancer vaccines, which is an incredibly exciting step when we think about the development of how cancer vaccines can be used, sort of really individualised therapy going forward, that wanted poster gets even more specific.  [00:05:07] Victoria: It's almost like giving a phone number or an address for that specific cancer type that is very specific to that patient. So the therapeutic vaccine is, is targeting the immune system. It's training our immune system to recognise the cancer as something that needs to be dealt with.   [00:05:26] Florence: It's funny you mentioned that analogy because I was just about to point listeners to that episode. If anyone wants to learn more about cancer vaccines specifically, you can check out our previous Genomics 101 podcast episode called ‘What Are Cancer Vaccines?' So Ali, I think I'd love to bring you in at this point because you have experienced this from the patient side of things.  [00:05:49] Florence: Could you tell us a little bit about your journey, your cancer diagnosis and treatment, and maybe more about the clinical trial you were part of, if you feel comfortable sharing that?   [00:05:57] Ali: Yeah, sure. Hi, Florence. It was Christmas 2015, and I felt a lump in my neck. And maybe because I'm a woman and we're always taught to treat lumps seriously, in the January I made an appointment with the GP, and she very quickly fast-tracked me through to the hospital.  [00:06:19] Ali: And January 2016, I got a diagnosis. It was a tumour on the base of my tongue at the left, and I was told it was caused by a variation of the HPV virus. So yeah, that was all a bit of a shock. I was shocked and I was scared, but I was also really angry because I look after myself. I eat well, all those things.  [00:06:45] Ali: It's just bad luck that it was a virus that my body couldn't deal with. I just, I felt guilty as well because of what I was gonna put the family through. So I had various scans and tests. I had an operation to remove my tonsils, although we soon discovered there weren't any left anyway. And they took a biopsy, which I didn't know at the time, but turned out to be important later on for the trial.  [00:07:15] Ali: Then I had to have a whole load of prep beforehand because of the impact of the treatment. So I had to have restorative dentistry, audiology tests. I had a PEG fitted, that's a feeding tube, in my stomach, and I thought, "Surely it's not going to be this bad." But that PEG, that feeding tube was a blessing in the end.  [00:07:40] Ali: And I had a mask made, and the mask fits you and basically pins you down to the radiotherapy table so you don't move when... because it's very precisely targeted at your tumour. So yeah, I went on to have five sessions of chemo, which felt quite easy. The radiotherapy was the really, really tough part. I had, uh, seven weeks of it, 35 sessions.  [00:08:08] Ali: So that was, yeah, that was a challenge.   [00:08:11] Florence: Thank you, Ali. Thank you for sharing that. I think it's always really valuable to get that patient perspective when we're talking about things like this. Lennard, I wanted to come back to you now to talk about the different types of vaccines that exist and which ones are being used specifically in the treatment of cancer.  [00:08:30] Lennard: Um, thanks, Florence. And Ali, are you 10 years now down the line since your diagnosis?   [00:08:34] Ali: Yeah, it feels good.   [00:08:37] Lennard: Congratulations.   [00:08:38] Ali: Yeah, yeah. It feels good. I really valued the follow-up checks that I had, both from my oncologist, but also I got some through the trial, and it really helped restore some confidence in myself and my body to deal with things and to be able to move on as well.  [00:08:56] Lennard: Oh, well done. That's fantastic because you telling us that story just really brings it to life about how scary this can be and also the fact that you had to go through all those sessions, thirty-five sessions and, um, and now you're 10 years down the line and still talking and giving hope-   [00:09:11] Ali: Yeah ...   [00:09:11] Lennard: that new technology still comes, so thanks, Ali.  [00:09:13] Ali: That's a pleasure.   [00:09:14] Lennard: Um, yeah, so Frances, this is what's really exciting. What types of vaccines are there? Well, first thing to say is that we're really good in this country about vaccine research. If you look around the world, what are we good at? Well, everyone knows that we developed the pandemic vaccine, and actually that technology is something that we can control.  [00:09:31] Lennard: We're world leaders at. It's quite cheap technology, and it's something that we are really good at bringing to patients. And Ali's our testament where she got on the trial, she helped test it and really pioneered new ways of research. So what types of vaccines are there? Well, I think we talked to the first bit where Victoria taught us that some of them can treat cancers and some of them can maybe prevent cancers.  [00:09:53] Lennard: And the HPV's one which is maybe be able to do both one day, which is brilliant. What would like... what else do people know about? Well, people might know that there are different types of technologies. So if we think back a few years now, back to 2020, there are some which are viral-based, and some which are mRNA based.  [00:10:12] Lennard: Both of these were new technologies which the whole population of the world came together to create and some of them are peptide-based. So there's probably three different types here. The protein ones or peptide one, which you always had, and then in the last five years, it's an incredible time to be alive, where new vaccine technology comes through, it's more effective and safer.  [00:10:32] Lennard: These are the viral ones and mRNA ones, and everyone's now pursuing all of these to try and make sure that we can maybe treat cancer in future.   [00:10:41] Florence: Can I possibly pick your brain a little bit more about the mRNA ones specifically? I think as you mentioned, lots of people might have heard of those during COVID.  [00:10:50] Florence: Could you maybe explain a little bit more about those and how they work?   [00:10:53] Lennard: Yeah. So this is going to take us all the way back to GCE biology now. If you remember - and we are Genomics England, so we, we got to work out why genomics is important, and we'll probably get to this. But remember, genes make RNA, which then makes protein.  [00:11:11] Lennard: And so if you're trying to reprogramme the immune response, you could give your body a protein, the back end of it. You can maybe give it an RNA, which is a blueprint too. And so what an mRNA vaccine is, it's a way of giving the blueprint or the instructions to the body of what to recognise, what the cancer looks like, um, um, or what the virus looks like, and target it.  [00:11:32] Lennard: If you want the analogy, well, for those people who had the pandemic vaccines, the ones which was mRNA based was, uh, the Pfizer one, and that worked really, really well. Cheap to make, easy to produce, and, uh, it's just a jab. And so people are now exploring that for cancer treatment now. Take new technology, which has only been developed five years ago, technology, which is just a blueprint, cheap to make, easy to update, and now we're targeting cancer.  [00:11:59] Lennard: Um, so that's basically what an mRNA vaccine is, giving the body the blueprint or the instruction of what a cancer looks like and trying to target that cancer.   [00:12:08] Florence: And you kind of alluded to it a little bit in your answer, but, um, it would be good to know more about where genomics comes into all of this. You know, why is it such an important part of developing vaccines?  [00:12:18] Lennard: And that's a great question, and really comes back to our second strengths, which is that we're really good at vaccine research, and yet we are also world leaders at genomic research. It's a really exciting time because, um, when Victoria and me and Ally at school, we would-- we, we learnt about that race to sequence the first human genome.  [00:12:38] Lennard: It was really exciting because for the first time, we can see every single genetic base in every human, and that used to cost billions of pounds to do that, and it would take many months or years to do that Fast-forward a few years, and then now Genomics England delivered the next success for humanity.  [00:12:57] Lennard: I think it was about 2015 to 2017 where they, they did 100,000 Genome Project, where the UK led the world in sequencing 100,000 people, including people with cancer, to try and understand what caused their cancer, what the risk factors are. And why is that relevant now? Well, it's because if you know what a cancer looks like, then you know what the abnormality is, well, then you can vaccinate against it.  [00:13:22] Lennard: So we've now gone from this amazing arc of discovery here, where when we were at school, we worked out what the human genome looks like. We can sequence it end to end and see in all its detail. Then a, an amazing organisation came out the ground called Genomic England, which shows that you can run it in the NHS.  [00:13:39] Lennard: 100,000 people could do it. And now we're making the next big jump now, which is it's not just going to give you a diagnosis, but maybe becomes a drug and a vaccine in future. And actually, probably it already has because Ali's that example, a success example of it happening.   [00:13:54] Florence: Yeah, I wanted to actually ask you about that, Ali.  [00:13:56] Florence: So just as you were saying, Lennard, it kind of... The cancer vaccine sounds quite futuristic, but as you said, it's, it's sort of already happening. So Ali, do you remember kind of how you first heard about the cancer vaccine trial?   [00:14:11] Ali: Yeah. I had a bit of an unfortunate time because after all that radio and chemo, my cancer still hadn't gone, and I had to have an operation to remove lymph nodes.  [00:14:22] Ali: But my oncologist at Poole Hospital, who's a fantastic woman, she had been involved, unknown to me, in the some of the thinking behind the trial, and particularly that she could recruit people because they were sat in her office. So she asked me if I'd like to take part, and without knowing anything, I said yes.  [00:14:49] Ali: And the reason I said yes was because my treatment really was punishing. It was so many side effects to it. The cancer never made me feel sick, but the treatment made me really sick. So I said yes because I just wanted to help other people not have to go through what I went through. I didn't really understand it, if I'm perfectly honest.  [00:15:16] Ali: I didn't really know what was going on, but then I'm not, you know, a super brain like Lennard and Victoria. I knew that I just wanted to do something to help people going forward, not having to deal with the same. So yeah, I put my hand up and there I was on the trial.   [00:15:37] Florence: So you mentioned there the, the really horrible side effects that you got from your original treatment. Did you have, um, what was your experience with side effects with the vaccine? Was it similar? Was it different?   [00:15:47] Ali: Oh, no, the, the vaccine was like a holiday compared to the treatment. Absolutely. At, at worst, in the first few treatments, you felt a bit like you had a cold, bad cold coming on, maybe slightly flu-y, but you took, you were given Ibuprofen at the same time as you had the vaccine.  [00:16:10] Ali: So no, it, the treatment with the vaccine was an absolute breeze. Which is kind of like, yes, this is what I want for people. You know, not, not the radiotherapy, not the chemo. So yeah, it was, it was really very easy by comparison.   [00:16:29] Florence: Oh, I'm so glad to hear that that was your experience. I'm just curious now also, was there anything that surprised you about the trial?  [00:16:35] Florence: You said there that you didn't really, like, have an understanding of cancer vaccines. You, you agreed to it straight away. Was there anything that maybe, like, you weren't expecting or surprised you?   [00:16:45] Ali: I think it surprised me that it was really quite easy.   [00:16:48] Florence: Yeah.   [00:16:49] Ali: Uh, I was delighted to have the team I had looking after me because they were fantastic. It all felt very simple.  [00:16:59] Ali: And how nice that was. You know, if I could've had that instead of all my previous treatments, um, it would've, it would've made everyone's life so much easier. And I guess, I don't know about the cost of drugs, but I guess the cost to the NHS would've been less because I wasn't in and out of hospital, I wasn't having to have all these extra things done, and all this extra support like dieticians and so on because I had to have my feed tube replaced.  [00:17:35] Ali: So all of that is impacts on the NHS, whereas this was very simple.   [00:17:40] Florence: I wanted to come to you now, Victoria, and ask you about the outcomes of this trial that Ali took part in or other trials like it, and whether we know yet what the broader implications of, of these advances might be.   [00:17:55] Victoria: So I think what we need to think about when we're thinking about developing these treatments and sort of evaluating the treatments at each stage is that it goes through a very clear pathway of progression, and Ali was involved in one of the, the earliest stages of that progression.  [00:18:09] Victoria: And it's, it's always amazing to me to hear your story, Ali, and to know that patients are willing to take part in the research and that's what allows us to develop these treatments. So the trial that Ali was part of has now gone on to develop into a, a larger scale study which will be evaluated again.  [00:18:27] Victoria: And that all starts to form the evidence for how these treatments can be shown to be effective, and also how they can show... Also, you know, Ali's already touched on there about the cost implications, so how we can show that that can be beneficial as well. And then we can start to think about how they can be taken up and become part of routine standard of care for patients like Ali, as she was describing.  [00:18:50] Victoria: And all of that evidence comes together, which then gets evaluated and then it, and then it moves forward through that progression. But it's-- we have very clear, um, you know, a, a route that each new, new treatment has to go through, um, to be able to, to become part of standard of care.   [00:19:07] Florence: And Victoria, you also play a key role in the Cancer Vaccine Launchpad.  [00:19:12] Florence: For any listeners who might not be familiar with the Cancer Vaccine Launchpad, could you maybe tell us a little bit more about it?   [00:19:18] Victoria: Absolutely. So in its simplest terms, the Cancer Vaccine Launchpad is designed to help find patients who might be eligible to take part in trials like the one that Ali was part of.  [00:19:30] Victoria: It's an incredible project. Cancer Vaccine Launchpad is quite long, so we tend to abbreviate it to the CVLP, which I'll do from now on, if that's okay. The CVLP to me really demonstrates the power of collaboration because it's brought together so many different teams that have been necessary to make sure that, that what we're trying to achieve, so finding as many patients as possible for these trials, is possible.  [00:19:52] Victoria: We deliver this project on behalf of NHS England. I know that Lennard was involved right from the start as well. The reason that we need the CVLP is because one of the biggest challenges in research of these new treatments is finding the patients who might be eligible. So one of the reasons for that is because when we are running the trials to test these new treatments, there's a lot of different infrastructure that's needed to support the delivery of those trials.  [00:20:19] Victoria: So you need special pharmacy services, special research nurses. All of that has to come together to be able to deliver trials of new treatments. And actually, that means that actually those studies can often only take part in a small number of hospitals. So historically, you only had the opportunity to take part in those trials if you lived near one of those hospitals, which is, you know, like Ali did.  [00:20:42] Victoria: So what the CVLP is, what, what it has done, it has created a formalised network which enables referrals to happen from ... we're opening 83 hospitals now across England. We've just expanded out to the devolved nations as well, which is a really exciting development, and it creates that, that network which allows patients who might live further away from a hospital delivering one of those vaccine or immunology trials to be able to be referred in to see if they might be eligible.  [00:21:09] Victoria: So essentially, it's a bit like creating a big funnel. So you're finding all of the potentially eligible people that could take part in that trial, and you're funnelling them into the trial site to find those patients who are eligible.   [00:21:22] Florence: And what impact do you hope that this could have for the NHS and also for, like, individual patients as well?  [00:21:29] Victoria: So we've seen such positive results from the CVLP so far. The first study that we worked with was for a colorectal cancer vaccine trial. Before the CVLP started working with this trial, only 17% of the eligible patient population in England had the opportunity to take part because they lived near one of those hospitals delivering the trial.  [00:21:52] Victoria: After the CVLP started working with it, we had increased that to over 60% of the eligible patient population. So you could really see how it has expanded out access, and that's just a fantastic opportunity to be able to bring, to bring patients. We also were able to show that the UK was screening, so looking for patients at three times the global average.  [00:22:14] Victoria: So we really were able to see how the CVLP is supporting and accelerating recruitment to those trials I think the key thing for me has been the patient enthusiasm that we have seen though. So when we open up to a new trial where, that the CVRP is working with, we are always inundated with people who contact us to find out how they can be part of this network because they want the opportunity to take part.  [00:22:40] Victoria: We know that some patients have travelled for two hours to a trial site to find out if they could be eligible because actually they want the opportunity. So the CVRP has really sort of enabled that patient choice, which is a fantastic thing to be able to do. But it also builds on what Lennard was talking about earlier, which is the UK is really good at this research and actually what the CVRP is then doing is showing how we can really support recruitment to these trials to accelerate these trials and that only brings more trials to the UK which again creates more opportunities for patients which is exactly what we're trying to do.  [00:23:14] Victoria: We're trying to create more and more opportunities for patients to take part in these studies if they want to.   [00:23:20] Florence: Yeah. That's really incredible. Thank you for sharing that with us. I wanted to ask you a question now, Ali, because I think when we were talking about trials and projects like this, as Victoria said, we often think about kind of the high level impact, but also it's an opportunity to create connections as well between patients and families and, and I know that you, you had a patient's family reach out to you about advice as to-- about whether they should take part in a trial. Is that right?   [00:23:47] Ali: Yeah. I think it was the wife of a guy up in Liverpool who had throat cancer, and, um, she must have done some really good research on the internet. I'd done various bits of publicity both for Southampton Uni and cancer research around the trial. So she obviously found me and then stalked me on Facebook , which was absolutely fine.  [00:24:13] Ali: I didn't have a problem. So her husband was down to go on the trial, which is the next stage that Victoria had spoken about, and she just wanted to know, would I recommend it, would-- what was it like, that kind of thing. So I said to her, "I would absolutely recommend it, of course," and told her what my experience was.  [00:24:35] Ali: I couldn't guarantee his would be the same, of course, because things might have moved on. But it was a really, it was a kind of a nice feeling that I could say to her, "Get him to have it done because it's got to be the best outcome." I think his stage was much further on than me. So yeah, it had to be the way as far as I could see for him. And as far as I know, he went on the trial. Which is great.   [00:25:05] Florence: How, how did it feel to kind of make that human connection, maybe not something you were expecting to come out of a trial?   [00:25:13] Ali: No, it was really, it was really nice. I am a bit of a, a fangirl for, for Lennard and Victoria and all the team at Southampton.  [00:25:22] Ali: If anybody asks me about vaccines and cancer vaccines, I'm like, "Oh, yes." And you-- So yeah, I'm, I'm a bit of an evangelist. So to, to have somebody real-   [00:25:33] Florence: Mm ...   [00:25:34] Ali: ask me about that was great feeling.   [00:25:37] Florence: I think that's a, a really great example of how research can have impact far beyond, uh, one individual. And I think another great example of this is also artificial intelligence or AI as a potentially transformative force in, in healthcare.  [00:25:54] Florence: Lennard, when we come onto this topic, I wanted to hand over to you because I know that you've recently received funding for a project exploring AI, and how it could support cancer vaccine development in particular. Could you tell us a bit more about this project?   [00:26:08] Lennard: Thanks very much, Florence. And I also want to add, I feel very proud about what Ali did just there, where she's able to bring through opportunity for other people, too, which is amazing.  [00:26:19] Lennard: The NHS is there to not just do the technology of today, but also be one of the best healthcare systems in the world to bring through new technologies. And it's just really exciting about people wanting to help the NHS, advocating for new technologies to be tested, and actually that's what Genomics England i there to do, make sure the NHS gets new technology in there so that patients will get new treatments.  [00:26:41] Lennard: I just wanna just reflect what Victoria noted In the NHS, in their Cancer Vaccine Launchpad, patients are getting in at three times the rate of other countries.   [00:26:51] Ali: Mm-hmm.   [00:26:52] Lennard: That's really special. And also she's increased coverage to, uh, did you say 60% of population? That's 42 million people have potential access to this.  [00:27:01] Lennard: So that is huge, and I think it's really a passion project for so many people out there, PICT trials units, the research nurses and doctors, and also patients who make this all happen. So it is quite impressive. It is very impressive. Oh, yes, and AI. I probably should cover that too. Just beyond what's special about the NHS and Genomics England.  [00:27:22] Lennard: Well, AI I think is changing everything. I went to a garden party, and actually everyone's talking about how they're using AI to make their lives simpler, make them do things that they've never been able to do before, get the information instantaneously there. And I think that there's technologies which come through every so often in our lifetimes, which changes how we think, how we communicate, and actually makes us better in many ways.  [00:27:47] Lennard: And so the great opportunity here is what happens if we take that third strength now? So we've already said we're really good at vaccine research in the UK. The UK invented vaccines. We also are world leaders at genomics. We did the 100,000 Genome Project. What happens if we use this new technology now?  [00:28:06] Lennard: And what's a problem that we can solve? Well, let's say we did a whole genome sequence on someone, which is what Genomics England does every day for the NHS. Well, that creates a lot of data. Um, I tried to do the calculations before we went online. It's about 100,000 photos. You know, when you take on your phone, that's a lot of data.  [00:28:25] Florence: Wow. Yeah.   [00:28:26] Lennard: And that's a miracle what's happening in the NHS and Genomic England, and we need to make a cancer vaccine out of that. And so you need to process that. So that's time-consuming. It could be automated. And so what AI could do now in future is that we could use the supercomputer we built in the UK.  [00:28:43] Lennard: In fact, we are doing this already. We've built supercomputers in the UK, and we're going well beyond other tools out there and designing cancer vaccines. And the AI scientists which can do that can do it at weekends, at nights, and help design the drugs. And so what it does is it heralds a future where every patient can contribute into a model that's created in the UK, stored safely in our supercomputers.  [00:29:07] Lennard: It can now be made into drugs, and the UK will start to make things again, which will hopefully change cancer care across the world. We can deliver that legacy whereby our three strongest strengths come together - vaccines, AI, and genomics. It then super powers the NHS and everything that Victoria's done in the Cancer Vaccine Launchpad, so many millions of people around the world can get access to trials.  [00:29:31] Lennard: And people like Ali can also help hold up the NHS even further. So people once again look back to us and say, "If you want to get things done, come to the NHS because it provides world-class care for patients." And so that's a big initiative now. Use AI to make better drugs, safer drugs, more effective, more precise in the UK. And it's only possible because of everything that we've built here with our funders, ARIA, MRC, Cancer Research UK, people raising, raising money through cake bake sales to make this happen.  [00:30:02] Lennard: So it's very exciting.   [00:30:04] Florence: Yeah. I think AI can be a topic that people often have very strong opinions about. When it comes to AI in, in your line of work, are there any misconceptions you think people might have, or are there any benefits to using it that maybe people might not be aware of?   [00:30:21] Lennard: Oh, that's a tricky question, isn't it? I think you're right. Any tool that comes through can be used for good things and, and things that people will question because maybe we don't want to cross those boundaries. And yet I think what we're doing here is really special because we want to - as long as your heart's in the right place - we want to give more people like Ali hope so that she knows that one day the drugs in the NHS will be much safer so you don't get all those side effects, much more effective, much more precise.  [00:30:52] Lennard: And on top of that, people like Victoria will be able to bring even more trials in the UK which will change lives and change practices around the world through an amazing working launchpad. So I think that's the right use of AI, make people's lives better. I think there are other uses of AI which I probably scratch my head and say, "Well, should we be doing that?"  [00:31:10] Lennard: And that's what I think it's really special that we do think about these and talk about these things here, and then bring the public with us because I know that people reach out, and Ali's been reached out in the past before, and I think we need to have this discussion here. Is AI right to develop cancer drugs using capabilities from Genomic England to go through the NHS Cancer Vaccine Launchpad?  [00:31:31] Lennard: I say cautiously, yes, and we should do more of this. And I think the most important thing is there's a lot of people starting to use AI for benefit, and you know my views, Ali, and I don't know if they're right. Um, I'll be a bit cautious, but I do want to ask you, Ali, is this the right use of AI? Should this be what we develop?  [00:31:50] Lennard: I don't know what you're going to say.   [00:31:52] Ali: For me, I think it is. I do think AI is a bit if you put rubbish in, you get rubbish out. But if you- If you ask the right questions, if you give it data analysis and experts like you have set up the protocol in the first place and it makes everything faster and reliable, then it's got to be the right thing.  [00:32:16] Ali: It gets used and abused for things, that isn't what AI should be doing, in my opinion. It should be used to do-- to help us, to supplement the work that we're doing, uh, and make it even faster than you're already making it.  [00:32:38] Florence: Well, we've covered so much today from how vaccines work to the role of genomics, NHS trials, and of course, what all of this could lead to. So before we wrap up, I have two final questions for each of you. What do you think is the most important thing for listeners to understand and take away from personalised cancer vaccines?  [00:33:01] Florence: And what are your hopes for the future? I think we'll start with you, Victoria, if that's all right.   [00:33:08] Victoria: Yeah, absolutely. It's been a great conversation. Uh, there's so much to think about. I think when I think about what I'd like listeners to take away, I think it's that cancer vaccines, and particularly personalised cancer vaccines, really support and represent this paradigm shift that we're seeing towards a much more personalised, uh, treatment pathway.  [00:33:27] Victoria: You know, like we've described, generating a cancer vaccine that has come from the patient's tumour, so the, the, the vaccine is, is designed to recognise mutations that are specific to that patient. It is such an incredible thing to be sort of witnessing and to see how that's developing through into sort of really changing patient care, and that's, you know, we've spoken about this so much, but that's been due to such incredible collaboration across scientific disciplines, across the NHS, pathologists.  [00:33:58] Victoria: Everyone has come together to make all of this possible, and that's, that's an amazing thing to be a part of. In terms of my hopes for the future, well, I would like the Cancer Vaccine Launchpad to be open in every hospital across the UK to really sort of underpin that acceleration and to provide that opportunity for patients.  [00:34:17] Victoria: You know, I'd just like to give a, a final shout-out to everybody who has been part of the Cancer Vaccine Launchpad from its very start, who's enabled this to happen and, you know, it's just been fantastic to see how this has, you know, supported patient choice for trials. And I guess if there's one tiny other thing, perhaps we could see how this, you know, this, what we've put together could be applied to other disease areas as well.  [00:34:39] Victoria: But yeah, that, that would be my hope for the future, is it's open everywhere one day.   [00:34:43] Florence: And Ali, I'll come over to you next.   [00:34:45] Ali: I think what I'd say to any patient that was asked to go on a trial is, is just go for it.  [00:35:02] Ali: And you know, Victoria, Lennard, all the rest of the team, you know, you are not doing jobs. You're leaving a legacy in my view. That's such an important thing. So yeah, if you're offered a trial, get on it. And my hope for the future is that everybody can have kinder, gentler treatments. The radiologists and chemo nurses I came across were lovely, lovely people.  [00:35:31] Ali: But yes, I'd like to see them out of work and doing other things within the NHS because they don't need to do that work anymore. That, that's my dream.   [00:35:40] Florence: Mm. And Lennard, any, any final thoughts?   [00:35:44] Lennard: Thanks, Ali. I mean, your words gave me goosebumps about the amazing stuff that the whole community's doing for cancer vaccines, AI and genomic research.  [00:35:51] Lennard: It's so powerful. Um, okay. What's the final thing? I think it's hope. Look, the country's in a new place now. You've got brilliant scientists running clinical trials, like the Cancer Vaccine Launchpad, which is reaching out to every single hospital. You've got patients who are building up the NHS again to deliver future care, and scientists using AI and genomics to make cancer vaccines.  [00:36:11] Lennard: That is a good reason to be hopeful. When lots of things are going in other places of the world, great things are happening in the UK.   [00:36:20] Florence: This has been such a brilliant conversation.  [00:36:25] Florence: A huge, huge thank you to our guests today, Dr. Victoria Goss, Professor Lennard Lee, and Ali Richards, for joining me in our brilliant discussion about cancer vaccines.   [00:36:50] Victoria: Thank you so much for having me.  [00:36:55] Ali: Thank you, as always. I've learnt a lot.   [00:37:00] Lennard: Thank you very much, Florence, too, from me.   [00:37:10] Florence: If listeners have enjoyed this episode and you'd like to hear more, please subscribe to Behind the Genes on your favourite podcast app.  [00:37:16] Florence: I've been your host, Florence Cornish, and Behind the Genes is produced by Deanna Barac, Sharon Jones, Sophie McLachlan, and Patrick Wallace at Bespoken Media. Thank you for listening.   

Cancer is still the leading cause of death by disease in children and young people — yet in the last twenty years, only a handful of drugs have been approved specifically to treat it. Most paediatric cancer treatments are simply adult drugs, repurposed, often at real long-term cost to the children who survive. Today's guest is working to change that, and much more besides. Tony Hickson is Chief Business Officer for Cancer Research Horizons, Cancer Research UK's innovation engine, responsible for turning early-stage science into new treatments, diagnostics, and start-up companies. Tony's career spans big pharma, university tech transfer, and now the translational front line of cancer research, and he's helped build dozens of spinouts along the way. We'll talk about why charity and pharma need each other more than ever, and about C-Further, a bold new push to finally build medicines made for children, not borrowed from adults.01:25 Meet Tony Hickson05:21 What sets Cancer Research Horizons apart from tech transfer offices12:17 Myrix Bio's exit to Novartis, a standout story15:54 Can patient benefit and commercial success align28:53 Inside C-Further's first two therapeutic programs41:19 How researchers and partners can get involvedInterested in being a sponsor of an episode of our podcast? Discover how you can get involved here! Stay updated by subscribing to our newsletterTo dive deeper into the topic: Episode 32: Cancer Research Horizons, Enterome, OncoHost, TrakCel, TurbineCancer Research UK Deploys €700M to Foster Oncology StartupsCancer vaccines: 11 biotechs to keep an eye out for

Lucinda Rouse hears from some of the speakers at Third Sector's annual conference, which was held at the Royal Society of Medicine's 1 Wimpole Street in London on 23 and 24 June.They are: Simon Blake, chief executive of Stonewall; Fadi Itani, chief executive of the Muslim Charities Forum; Kate Lee, chief executive of the NCVO; Emma Pears, chief executive of SELFA Children's Charity; Dame Julia Unwin, chair of the Charity Commission for England and Wales; governance consultant Penny Wilson; Athar Abidi, head of social at Cancer Research UK; Taahra Ghazi, co-chief executive of ActionAid UK; and Alex Evans, founder of Barely Civil Society.Tell us what you think of the Third Sector Podcast! Please take five minutes to let us know how we can bring you the most relevant, useful content. To fill in the survey, click here. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

A daily low dose of aspirin could significantly reduce the risk of bowel cancer in people with Lynch syndrome, an inherited condition that increases the likelihood of developing certain cancers.   In this episode, we explore the findings from the landmark CaPP3 trial, hear from a participant living with Lynch syndrome, and discuss how genomics could help shift healthcare from treatment to prevention.  Our host, Sharon Jones is joined by:  Dr Katie Snape, Principal Clinician for Population Health at Genomics England  Professor Sir John Burn, Professor of Clinical Genetics at Newcastle University  Drew Hyde, participant in the Cancer Prevention Programme (CaPP3)  Links:  Listen to: How can genomics help us understand cancer?  "I think knowing is always a good thing. And obviously, I wish I'd known earlier, and then, I could have taken more measures earlier on. So I think knowledge is definitely a good thing. And it would be great if more people could be tested or could find out if they were carriers at an early age, I think."  You can download the transcript or read it below. [00:00:00] Sharon: Welcome to Behind the Genes. In today's episode, we'll explore the research which shows how a low dose of aspirin can halve the risk of bowel cancer in people with Lynch syndrome. We'll hear about the real-life impact of living with the condition, and look at how genomics can help shape a more preventative approach to care in the future. [00:00:20] I'm Sharon Jones, and to help us unpack all of that, I'm joined by our guests, Dr. Katie Snape, principal clinician for population health at Genomics England; Sir John Burn, professor of clinical genetics at Newcastle University; and Drew Hyde, a participant in the Cancer Prevention Programme, which is also known as the CaPP3 trial. [00:00:42] So to start with the basics, Katie, can you walk us through what cancer is in simple terms? [00:00:50] Katie: Sure, Sharon. So, our body is made up of cells. Those are the building blocks that, that make us as humans and other creatures and plants. And our cells need to keep dividing throughout our lifetime as our bodies are growing and working normally. [00:01:06] And so we need to have processes in place in our body where our cells can divide, but then also stop dividing when we don't need them to carry on dividing. What happens in a cancer cell is basically that cell becomes abnormal, and it doesn't follow the normal checks and balances and rules of cell division. [00:01:23] So it starts to divide and grow uncontrollably, and it can start to invade other tissues and obviously, that can cause serious consequences. [00:01:33] Sharon: We'll hear a lot more from Dr. Katie Snape in this episode. But before we move on, I just wanted to flag that there was an episode of our Genomics 101 explainer series with Katie dedicated to helping us get to grips with how genomics can help us understand and diagnose cancer. [00:01:47] Do go and check that out. We'll put a link to that in the episode description. [00:01:54] So the World Health Organization estimates between 30 to 50% of all cancers are preventable. So, Katie, when we talk about cancer being preventable, what does that actually mean? And what's an example of cancer prevention that people might already know? [00:02:11] Katie: Yeah. So some cancers are due to chance or just mistakes happening as our cells copy. [00:02:19] Other cancers are because there has been damage to the genetic information within the cell that can be caused by certain things that can cause damage to DNA. So for example, a sort of obvious answer would be skin cancer. Skin cancers can be caused by sunlight, the, the UV light in the sun, and particularly if we burn our skin or, or get sun damage to our skin, increases the chance of us developing a skin cancer. [00:02:44] So you can think of lots of other examples such as cigarette smoking and lung cancer, and so we know that there are a number of different risk factors that increase the chance of our cells developing damage and becoming abnormal cells and growing uncontrollably. So when we talk about prevention, we might think, well, could we reduce some of those risk factors and therefore reduce the chance of those cells getting damaged and becoming cancer cells? [00:03:10] So I gave the example of skin cancer. We might put sun cream on if we're going out in the midday sun, for example. That reduces the damage of the UV light onto our skin cells. Or we might help people to go into a smoking prevention programme or, you know, other risk factors, such as we know that being very overweight can increase the chance of cancer. [00:03:31] We might help people get into more exercise regimes or improve people's diets. So those are the sorts of things that we might do sort of for environmental risk factors. But we also know, particularly in this context, that sometimes people are born, they carry genetic changes within their cells that they're born with, that are inherited, that run through families, and those can also increase the chance of some cancers developing. [00:03:56] And for those people at higher genetic risk, then we might look to other ways that we might reduce that risk. We can't change the genetic changes in their cells, but we might be able to put things in place to reduce the risk for those individuals, and that might be medication, it might be surgery, or there could be other things that we might be able to offer. [00:04:15] Sharon: Yeah, and with that in mind, is there anything more, you know, that you can share about some of those risk factors that someone is more likely to develop cancer? [00:04:25] Katie: Yeah. So actually, the, the biggest risk factor for developing cancer is age. The older we get, the more times our cells have divided, the more chance there is of a copying mistake that, that, that can cause that cell to become abnormal and start growing uncontrollably. [00:04:41] And that's why cancer becomes more common the older we get. We obviously can't change our aging process. Then, as I've said, sometimes we're born with certain specific inherited factors that increase the risk. That might be one big high-risk genetic factor, such as having a cancer gene that's important for, for that process of cell division that isn't working properly. [00:05:04] Or it could be that we have multiple lower genetic risk factors that can kind of add up together to increase the risk. And those often interplay with some of those environmental factors that we've talked about, like smoking, for example, or weight, or alcohol or other things like that. So most cancers are due to aging, and then there's a sort of interplay of genetic factors, but environmental factors as well. [00:05:30] Sharon: That's really interesting to understand. And the focus of this podcast is sort of looking at kind of Lynch syndrome and what findings have come out around aspirin and having a low dose of aspirin. So I want to kind of explore what Lynch syndrome is and, and then bring in Drew to talk about his experience of having Lynch syndrome and how he got involved in the trials themselves. [00:05:49] So from what I understand, Lynch syndrome is a genetic condition that can make some people more likely to have the chances of developing into bowel cancer. And Drew, this is your opportunity to sort of talk about what that's been like living with Lynch syndrome. And, you know, I'd like to understand more about your story and how it came about that you discovered that you had Lynch syndrome, and to share with our listeners your journey. [00:06:13] Drew: Yep. So in my case, I discovered I had the colon cancer before I discovered I was a Lynch syndrome carrier Basically, at the age of 50, I noticed some change in my health. You know, I was becoming a little bit more tired. My bowel movements had changed or whatever. So, I went to the GP and the GP basically said, "Well, you're probably too young for cancer, so let's look at other alternatives." [00:06:37] And I had blood tests and I had low iron, so I was on iron tablets for three months and whatever. Then eventually I went back and finally the GP said, "Well, let's try a colonoscopy." And the colonoscopy revealed that I did actually have colon cancer. And then very quickly I had surgery and, uh, then following that, I kind of asked the question, "Well, why me?" [00:06:59] You know, I'm only 50, 51. Yeah. You know, why me? [00:07:02] Drew: And basically, I was told, "Well, it's probably genetics." And then I was referred to, you know, St George's and Katie and I had the test and discovered that I was actually a Lynch syndrome carrier, and that's why, you know, I'd got the colon cancer at the age of 50, so. [00:07:17] Sharon: I mean, that's quite a journey. I mean, how did you feel when you're already on one pathway and then having to kind of find out more, you know, what was your experiences? What was the impact on your life? How did you, how did you feel? [00:07:27] Drew: I think I was lucky in that I had a very good surgeon. I had surgery very quickly, so that was the first hurdle. [00:07:32] Then I had to go on to chemotherapy, and the chemotherapy obviously is far worse than any surgery or anything else that comes before or after. But having got through that, then I went through the St George's onto the Lynch syndrome system. So, the most important thing then really was to basically identify what that meant for me, but also because it was an inherited characteristic, what it meant for my family. [00:07:57] One thing that was interesting, and I say, you know, the, the GP was saying, "Well, you're too young to have cancer," is that there wasn't any history of cancer in my family, you know, looking at older relatives. So, you know, to be fair to the GP, that wasn't an obvious marker. So basically, yeah, it was let's, you know, find out what it means now going forward. [00:08:21] Sharon: So, can you just take us back to when you were diagnosed with Lynch syndrome? What sort of guidance were you given at the time about managing your cancer risk? [00:08:30] Drew: Well, following the surgery, I was given various statistics which were fairly grim on what your percentage survival rate were in three years, five years, 10 years based on the surgery, whatever. [00:08:39] And that was kind of a bit harrowing. But, you know, assuming I'd get through five years, I felt it was, my chances were quite good. As for myself living with, living with Lynch syndrome, that, you know, I was aware that having had the colon cancer, I then had increased risk of other cancers. So since then, I've been on a screening programme, and I have colonoscopies or gastroscopies every year or two years. [00:09:04] So that's been very good. So, I believe now that if any other cancers were to appear, I would probably know very early on because they would be detected through a screening process before they got to a point where they would be, you know, maybe too difficult to resolve, so. So that's-- I think the screening programme, has been very, very good. [00:09:23] The main issue for me was what it meant for my family, being a genetic thing. So very quickly, my children, who were teenagers at the time, were both tested, and they went through some counselling with Katie beforehand, you know, about what it would mean for them to get a positive or negative result. [00:09:42] Unfortunately, my daughter was tested as negative, but my son was tested as positive, so he's now on the same cancer screening programme, and has colonoscopies every two years. So yeah. The mystery really, though, is where I inherited it from because my father died when I was very young. My mother was in a care home at the time, and I wanted to get her tested. [00:10:07] And at the time, her GP wouldn't test her on the basis that she was unable to give consent. But fortunately, I had power of attorney, and we could persuade him to do the test. But she tested negative. So I'm assuming I inherited it from my father's side. But most of my grandparents on that side of the family lived into their nineties without any apparent cancers. [00:10:32] So it's still a bit of a mystery how I inherited it, but what was important for me was to know which side of the family I'd inherited it from because obviously with cousins and whatever on different sides of the family, I wanted to be able to tell them what the situation was. My brother also tested negative, which was a positive. [00:10:54] So at the moment, it's just my son and I that have the defective gene. [00:10:59] Sharon: I'm sorry to hear that about your son, but does it- [00:11:01] Drew: Well, well, I mean, he, you know, he has to go through a colonoscopy every couple of years, which, you know, obviously is not a pleasant experience. But at least he knows that, you know, the first sign of any problem, the medics will be aware of it, and he'll be able to react. [00:11:16] Sharon: Has it changed your outlook on life, having this window in possibly knowing stuff or not knowing stuff? How has that affected you and, and your son as well? [00:11:25] Drew: I think knowing is always a good thing. And obviously, I wish I'd known earlier, and then, I could have taken more measures earlier on. So, I think knowledge is definitely a good thing. And it would be great if more people could be tested or could find out if they were carriers at an early age, I think. [00:11:42] Sharon: Yeah. That is really important. And moving into about the trial more broadly, scientists have known that there's been a link between cancer and aspirin for some time, with fewer cancers observed in people who take aspirin. So coming to you, John, could you share a bit more about the history of inherited cancer research and how the focus of Lynch Syndrome came about? [00:12:02] Because this isn't new, is it? [00:12:06] John: No, absolutely, Sharon. And in fact, this story, my story in this space begins 40 years ago when I was one of the geneticists who set out to try and find the genes that we've just been talking about. At that time, the group of patients who were the most obvious to begin with were young people with a condition called familial adenomatous polyposis, or FAP for short. [00:12:26] And they'd get thousands of polyps in their bowel, and the only way to treat that was to actually remove the whole bowel when they reached adulthood, which is a fairly extreme intervention. And I was running, I was setting up a registry. We were trying to find the gene at that time, and we'd just found it, in fact, but we also were trying to find all the families. [00:12:44] And I'd taken over responsibility for all the genetic services in the north of England, in the North East and Cumbria. And we'd, I'd started identifying families with FAP, and we went to visit one of those families, and this was the kind of light bulb moment for me because I walked into the room and mum had had her colon removed, and her son, Jonathan, had just had his first colonoscopy at the age of 12, and it was clear. [00:13:07] And I was about to give them the good news, but as I walked in, I noticed that he had little bumps on his forehead called osteomas, little bony bumps. His mother had them just the same, and it was one of the features of this condition. So I knew he had the gene even though he hadn't yet got the polyps. [00:13:21] Sharon: Wow. [00:13:22] John: And it made me think, wouldn't it be nice if we could do something to prevent these things happening rather than just waiting for an operation? And as it happened at the time, I was leading the English end of a big study, which you'll probably be aware of, which we're, we're, we were doing the vitamin study on women with spina bifida babies, and we were just about to identify folic acid as a way of preventing spina bifida in pregnant women. [00:13:45] So I had these two thoughts in my head. Maybe we could set up a trial like this folic acid trial, and then one of my friends in Edinburgh said, 'Have you seen this paper from Melbourne?' Gabriel Kuhn had just done a big study looking at people with colon cancer. It seemed that people who took a lot of aspirin didn't seem to get as much bowel cancer in Melbourne as those who didn't. So that was the design set up. [00:14:08] We were applying to Europe for a concerted action, so we had to think of an acronym that began with CA. So I, I came up with Concerted Action Polyp Prevention. But then in 1993, just as we started that trial, we were involved in finding the first of the genes for Lynch syndrome. We had a big family in Northumberland where there were lots of people like Drew's family, and there were three generations of cancer in the family. [00:14:31] So CaPP2 was immediately born in my head. In 1999, we had our first recruit, and we recruited until 2005. We found, in total, 1,000 people in 16 countries to join in, and we gave them two aspirins a day or two dummy tablets. Two aspirins is quite a big dose, but back in my day when I was a junior doctor, we used to give many more tablets of aspirin to people with arthritis. [00:14:57] So two tablets wasn't such a big deal. Nowadays, it's seen as a very high dose. And it worked. Basically, to cut to the chase, when we looked in 2010, the people who were getting the aspirin were getting less bowel cancers. In fact, it was a 50% reduction. So the people who took two aspirins had half as many bowel cancers and fewer cancers of other types as well. [00:15:19] We realised, although, at this point, immediately we saw that it was working, we knew we'd need to do another trial to see whether a smaller dose of aspirin would be just as effective. So CaPP3 began, and the great news is that what we'll be reporting in the journals in the next few days when it gets published, is that the people who were taking  CaPP3 aspirin in any dose were tracking exactly the same as the 600-milligram group in CaPP2. [00:15:46] So we're pretty sure that it works. We're pretty sure that the small dose is just as good. And the great news was that we had fewer side effects in that group. And so in fact, no one had to go to hospital for a transfusion or anything, you know, like that. Whereas in the 600-milligram group, we had a few people who needed treatment because, as you know, and everyone knows, if you take aspirin, there's a higher chance of having an ulcer that causes a bleed. [00:16:10] And that was always the anxiety. But people like Drew were courageous enough to take the chance because they knew we needed to know the answer to this. And of course, when you compare it to the risk of getting cancer, taking an aspirin is a relatively small risk. [00:16:26] Sharon: So, what were your kind of considerations when you were designing the trial, having that knowledge? [00:16:32] John: Well, the first thing is it has to be fully informed consent, which means that you have to explain to people what that risk is. The important thing about aspirin is that doctors have a much worse opinion of it than it deserves because if you work in a hospital, you'll often see people coming in who've had a bleed. [00:16:48] It's not always caused by the aspirin. The thing is, if you're coming with a bleed and you're on aspirin, everyone blames the aspirin. Right. About half of them would've happened anyway. In fact, the, the irritation of the stomach is much more of a problem in older people So in fact, the average age of the people in CaPP2 and CaPP3 was about 45, 46 when they started. [00:17:08] Drew was a little bit older, but, but people in that sort of middle age group are much, much less likely to get into trouble than people in their 70s and 80s. And it's people also who've had a history of ulcers that have a bigger problem. We also knew that if you had a stomach infection called H. Pylori, which is itself a risk factor for cancer, and about one in six people carry that bug, and we knew that if we fixed that with antibiotics, that would significantly reduce the risk of bleeding as well. [00:17:37] So it was a manageable risk. It was something we could share with people. They knew they were taking a bit of a chance. But actually a good way of putting it in terms of the risk, for people in middle age, the risk of a low dose of aspirin is about the same as the risk of having a colonoscopy, which is very small, but it isn't completely without risk. [00:17:56] Sharon: Yeah, and Drew, kind of like hearing this sort of incredible, like, backstory about how we've got to these trials and where we are today What was your experience like as a kind of participant of this trial? [00:18:08] Drew: I understood I was going to be on 100, 300, or 600, but wouldn't know for at least three years, or was it five years? I can't remember. [00:18:15] And then sometime later in the post we got these packs, and it was ... I remember at the time thinking it was like a rather dull advent calendar - ... in that you'd have the days of the week- ... with the little, with the little windows, and you'd, you'd pop the tablets out three times a day and take them. [00:18:31] So I did that. I think, you know, I, I don't think I ever missed a day or whatever. Initially, I thought I must be on a really low dose, because I didn't actually notice any side effects. You know, I remember saying to my wife, I said, "Oh, I think I must be on the lowest dose, because I don't see any side effects." [00:18:46] It was a surprise years later when I was told actually I'd been taking 600, so. [00:18:51] Sharon: Wow. [00:18:52] Drew: It was quite an easy experience really. [00:18:54] John: We had a lot of problems. We had to pack the aspirin in six-month packs, because it was very expensive to pack this stuff up. It cost... We got the aspirin free from the Bayer company, but it cost us more than a million pounds to actually put it in, in the packs to satisfy the regulations. [00:19:10] Uh, and a lot of people complained that the packs were a bit big and awkward, but that was just, you know, a constraint. But it was not that big a deal once people got into it. But we did get a lot of complaints about the size of the packets, which we couldn't do anything about that. [00:19:24] Drew: They came regularly through the post, and, you know, so every three months or whatever I got another supply, and I just carried on taking them. [00:19:30] Yeah, so. [00:19:31] Sharon: What was going through your mind when you were kind of waiting for this potential outcome, Drew? Because you, like you say, it was, you know, it was a long time taking part. What was... Especially as you were opening your, you know, your package a day, knowing exactly what you were going to get. [00:19:44] Drew: Well, I, I kind of knew it would be a long-term thing. [00:19:47] I think I was committed for five years initially. But I carried on taking the aspirin for another probably five years after that. So yeah, I was just sort of happy to take the aspirin and then sort of wait to see what the results would be. As I say, that I didn't really notice any side effects, so I wasn't really worried that it was having any detrimental effect on me. [00:20:09] So I was curious to see what the, what the results would be. [00:20:12] Sharon: Yeah. John, the trial has provided like the evidence that, you know, low-dose aspirin can prevent bowel cancer. But are there any challenges that still exist with translating this research into clinic and ultimately patient care? [00:20:26] John: Well, yes, and I'm going to hand back to Katie, who's actually leading the charge on, on getting it into practice as well. [00:20:32] But just to say that I, I'm actually now literally on my other computer finalising my bid to go back to Cancer Research UK because we want to go for three more years. Wow. We said that we would follow people for 10 years after they'd finished their ... or after they'd started, so, you know, for at least 10 years. [00:20:50] So the last person to join didn't finish until 2024, so we won't get to that person. It's Robin and one of my patients. We won't get to Robin's 10-year anniversary until 2029. Oh, yeah. By which time, obviously, Drew will be even further on. But that will give us at least 10 years of follow-up because we know that there is this delayed effect, and that was seen right back at the beginning when people looked, for example, the nurses study in America, where they followed 86,000 nurses and just asked them if they took aspirin. [00:21:18] And nothing happened for 10 years, but those who were taking aspirin for more than 10 years saw a benefit. So in the general population, it probably takes that long to kick in. And so we need to keep going for just a while longer. It's not as expensive now because we're not giving people aspirin anymore. [00:21:33] Sharon: Yeah. [00:21:34] John: But one of the reasons we g- we made Drew's dose blind was because we wanted to know what the side effects would be when you didn't know how much you were getting There's a danger if you're getting a higher dose, you're more likely to complain. And actually, it did work out that the people on the lowest dose had the fewest side effects, even slight side effects. [00:21:51] The only thing we can't escape from is if you're taking aspirin, you get bruising more easily because it blocks the platelets, which are the little tiny blood cells which plug up little holes in your blood vessels when they leak. The good news is we now know that platelets turn out to be right, a major factor in triggering cancer. [00:22:09] And so the aspirin, by blocking the platelets, is actually reducing the risk of cancer, but also reducing the risk of cancer spreading in the body. So this is new research, and we've got another big research project in collaboration with a team in Cambridge who are, uh, pursuing this. Also, the other exciting news is that my other partner, Ruth Langley, is running a big trial of people with cancer, and those who are given aspirin as part of their treatment have less likelihood of getting spreading cancer later on. [00:22:39] So the aspirin is clearly doing something good at many levels in the system. Surprisingly, and we think it might be partly, partly because we used to have a lot of salicylate in our diet, which is what aspirin's made from. And we think that maybe we're putting back something that the body actually was used to having. [00:22:57] Yeah. But modern diets don't contain any, any salicylate because of the way we prepare our food. So it may well be that a little bit of aspirin's a good thing for everybody, but obviously, that's a choice that each person will have to make. [00:23:09] Sharon: Yeah. I mean, it's a real powerhouse of a, of a drug essentially, which you're finding out more about its benefits as, uh, as research goes on. [00:23:18] So Katie, can you just give us a bit of a broad overview of Genomics England's new adults program, which is kind of looking at this sort of area of work and, and what, how can it benefit people? [00:23:29] Katie: Yeah. Thank you, Sharon. So, the adults programme at Genomics England is being funded by government, and the government wrote about it in the 10-year NHS Health Plan, the Life Science Sector Plan to run a large-scale genomics population study. [00:23:44] So looking at how we can obtain genetic information from people in the population and look at more proactive and preventative healthcare, and can we generate evidence on where, how, and why the NHS should start applying genomics into kind of more population health measures. So, there's sort of two sides to this. [00:24:05] So the first is thinking about pharmacogenomics, which is basically about how genetic factors influence how we respond to drugs. So lots of people have had experiences of having side effects from drugs, we've just been talking about that with aspirin, or for drugs not working so well for them. And we know that there are certain drugs that genetic factors can influence whether you should take the drug at all, or if you do, what dose you should take, whether it's going to work for you or not, whether you might be more likely to get side effects or adverse reactions. [00:24:34] So part of the programme's looking at that. And then the other half of the programme will be looking at sort of is, are the genetic factors relevant for sort of serious and high-risk conditions in the adult population? So we could take bowel cancer as an example of that, a common condition, breast cancer, you know, common cancers or cardiovascular disease. [00:24:58] We know there are certain genetic factors for some people that have significantly increased their chance of developing those serious adult onset conditions. Can we find those people in the population and then put measures in place to prevent that? So, you know, even just thinking about Drew's story, he didn't have a family history of cancer. [00:25:16] The first time that he knew he had Lynch syndrome, he'd already developed bowel cancer. And we know that many people that have Lynch syndrome or other high-risk cancer genes are unaware of their status in the population, and so, um, the idea of this program is to really look at, well, if we were to, to look for some of these very high-risk genes in the general population, could we then put measures in place to reduce the chance of them developing the serious condition as a consequence? [00:25:44] So instead of Drew presenting with his bowel cancer, we'd actually already picked it up, despite the fact he doesn't have a family history, and we'd offered him, let's say, aspirin if we'd known the information at the time, and we could maybe have prevented him from developing bowel cancer. [00:25:58] So it's really exploring looking at that a little bit more. [00:26:02] Where can we get genetic information in the population? Where might there be a really well-evidenced, like all the work John's done over 40 years, is really well-evidenced now. Yeah. Yeah. Where are there these opportunities for us to turn the dial on some of these common adult onset conditions? [00:26:20] Sharon: What other challenges do you think with getting this out there do you see? [00:26:25] Katie: Uh, I think there's, there's lots of challenges. I think it's a really com- ... complex programme of work. The first thing is that the risks might be different for people in a population than have a family history. So where I've worked for, for years, and John as well in, in clinical genetics, we've seen the highest risk people, the people with lots and lots of cancer in their family because they're the people that are presented to healthcare services. So we've worked out the risks based on that population. It will be really different when we move to the population setting. We'll find fewer people, and the risks might be lower because there might be other factors that are giving them a lower risk. But that's not to say the risk is zero. [00:27:05] It's probably still raised. So then what we need to do is we need to consider, okay, well, what can we do to intervene, taking into account this change of context from people that we found through clinical services to people that we see in the population. And aspirin is a great example of this. [00:27:22] So, you know, if we find that someone has a Lynch syndrome gene, then taking aspirin, unless there's a really good reason for them not to take aspirin, is almost certainly going to be low cost to the NHS and really significantly reduce the chance of them developing bowel cancer with a low risk profile. So where are those opportunities? [00:27:41] And that isn't clear cut, and that's why we need a large scale research programme that can try to help the NHS answer some of those questions, so it can decide how best to spend its money in, in the people that are most likely to benefit from it with the least amount of risk or harm to them. [00:27:58] Sharon: That makes sense. And, and so, you know, going to you, Drew, what are your kind of thoughts on some of the challenges that Katie's highlighted? And is there anything else that you think needs to be improved in better supporting people living with inherited risk of cancer in the future? [00:28:14] Drew: In the brief sort of 10, 15 years or whatever since I've been s- suffering, awareness has increased greatly. [00:28:21] I mean, for example, my GP now knows about Lynch syndrome, whereas I don't think she did when I was first diagnosed, and I think there is a little bit more awareness out there, but I still think it's a lot less than there would be for, say, for breast cancer. So for example, when a high-profile personality reveals they've got breast cancer, you often get information about inherited risks. [00:28:44] You don't seem to get that with colon cancer. You know, when it's announced that so-and-so has died or is whatever, you don't get that same, you know, it, it might be a genetic thing. I mean, when I was first told people that I had bowel cancer, the response I got usually was, "Oh, poor diet, was it?" [00:29:04] And I always felt a bit upset, that, you know, actually my diet was fairly healthy. And that was the assumption that people had. So I think anything that gets the message out there that there is a risk, an inherited risk, I'm not sure what the statistics are now, Katie, is it one in 400 people might be a Lynch syndrome carrier or something like that? [00:29:24] You know, it's relatively high for something that is, if you know in advance you're at risk, you can do something about it. But like me, you know, I waited until it was too late, because I didn't know, and then had to have the surgery, so anything that promotes the message that there is a risk. I know some people don't want to know about their genetic makeup. Obviously, that's a choice. But I think to give people, as many people as possible, the choice must be a good thing. [00:29:54] Sharon: Yeah, absolutely. And I think one thing I've noticed through this thread is the sort of theme of funding and what gets funding and the amount of time it takes to, to kind of get that funding. [00:30:05] Is there anything you wanted to add around the kind of funding model, around why some things get funded, you know, uh, more prominent, like Drew's point, obviously, talks about if someone high profile kind of comes forward and says XYZ, that gets the spotlight shone on it, and there might be research going that direction compared to s- to, to other cancers. [00:30:23] John: So maybe I could speak at that. So partly because of my experience, I've now been made chairman of the grant committee at Cancer Research UK for prevention and population research. And there is a real drive to push more resource into prevention for the obvious reasons. [00:30:39] Katie: Yeah. [00:30:39] John: And also, it's got to be remembered, it's very difficult for the drug companies to fund this because it takes such a long time that the drug's- Mm [00:30:46] out of its patent before they actually get to use it. So, it's very difficult from a business point of view to fund research into prevention. But they are keen to help us, uh, but we really need sort of central government and the charities to focus on prevention if it's going to make a difference. [00:31:02] And just on Drew's point on diet, I mean, diet is still important even if you have Lynch syndrome. In our CaPP2 trial, the people who were overweight were more than double the risk of cancer. So it's not like an either/or. If you've got a higher genetic risk and you have a bad diet, then that's, you know, is going to contribute. [00:31:21] But the other exciting thing is, of course, we now have medical ways of treating obesity in, in people. So, one of the interesting areas is whether we should be, in the same way as we are for other high-risk populations with overweight, we should be giving overweight people with Lynch syndrome, help to lose weight because that will also reduce their risk. [00:31:41] It's also worth just dropping in at the last moment here is that this is also a good news story in terms of treatment and further prevention. We now have a new class of drugs called immune checkpoint inhibitors, which specifically target the types of cancer that Drew had and are much more effective in curing them And also, we've just been given funding to do a project called LynchVax, which I'll be helping with, but it's led by David Church in Oxford. [00:32:05] And this is developing a vaccine against cancers in people with Lynch syndrome. The great news is it'll probably work alongside aspirin because we know the aspirin is enhancing the immune response. So the two together may make this a curable condition. [00:32:18] Sharon: That's actually incredible. I mean, that, it gives so much hope for people. [00:32:23] And I just wanted to find out if you had any more kind of reflections as we close, because we're going to come to the end of our podcast today. If there's anything more that you wanted to share, anything that has been missed, or anything that you want our listeners to know, and I think I'm gonna come to you, Drew, first, because you're the person who's had to sort of live through this and, and go through this journey along the way. [00:32:41] Drew: I think just basically, if you're not sure, get tested. Obviously, there are financial constraints. I'm sure that running a DNA test is quite an expensive business. But I think if you've got any history of bowel cancer in the family, you've got any concerns about your health, speak to a GP and see if you can get tested as quickly as possible. [00:33:00] And then, to get a better message out there that there are risks of inherited colon and other similar cancers, so. [00:33:11] Sharon: Yeah, so it's getting that, messaging out, um, for people to understand more and make those informed choices. And Katie? [00:33:18] Katie: I mean, I would say that the power of, of our, you know, NHS and our academia and, and our healthcare system has been collaboration. [00:33:26] Sharon: Yeah. [00:33:27] Katie: There's so many moving parts. There's commissioners, there's funding, there's the evidence, there's research, there's healthcare implementation. The UK's a really amazing place to work in genomic medicine, and I think that's partly because of the amazing collaborations that we have, and the way that we can translate research into healthcare as John's team have done with this amazing study. [00:33:48] So let's all keep working together, please. [00:33:52] Sharon: Absolutely. And John, it feels like this is your lifetime's work. [00:33:58] John: Well, I've become aspirin man, it wasn't intended. But Katie's done fantastic work in her role as chair of the Cancer Genetics Group in the UK, so we've now implemented a, [00:34:06] we're the first in the world to really make this an absolute directive to the GPs and all, to all doctors to say, "People with Lynch syndrome need to be offered aspirin." And so that's a great step forward. But we also need to get it into the British National Formulary, and I'm working with their team so that the GPs are empowered to do this. [00:34:24] It's actually part of their care package. But I would just say we've still got a long way to go. We've now got a national list of all the people with Lynch syndrome, like Drew, to make sure we offer them all a colonoscopy, but there are only 14,000 people after several years of really pushing. [00:34:40] Sharon: Right. [00:34:40] John: We think in the national population in all ages, it's about 1 in 300. That's a lot of people. That means there's about 150,000 people like Drew in the country, and we've only found 10% of them. So we can't just rely on family history for all the reasons Drew explained. You know, I mean, Drew's dad probably died of Lynch syndrome, but we don't know because we've lost that record. [00:35:02] So now we're checking every bowel cancer to see if it might be caused by Lynch, and that programme is now kicking in, and we're picking up a lot more gene carriers as a result of that. But there's still a long way to go to get co- get people aware of Lynch syndrome, to think of it when someone presents with a cancer, not just of the bowel, but in the womb, in the kidney, in other parts of the body. [00:35:23] It's not just the bowel, but that's the most important group. [00:35:26] Sharon: Yeah. [00:35:26] John: So there's still a long way to go. [00:35:28] Sharon: Where you've come to now is still an incredible achievement, even though we've still got a long way to go, and I don't think we should ever lose sight of that. So we're going to wrap it up there. Thank you to our guests, Katie Snape, Professor Sir John Burn, and Drew Hyde, for joining me today as we discuss cancer prevention. [00:35:48] If you'd like to hear more like this, please subscribe to Behind the Genes on your favourite podcast app, and thank you for listening. I've been your host, Sharon Jones, and Behind the Genes is produced by Deanna Barac, Florence Cornish, Sophie McLachlan, and Dave Howard at Bespoken Media.  

It's the week in review on Palace Intrigue. Peter and Harriet married quietly in Gloucestershire as the guest list told its own story about the state of the Royal Family. Andrew's investigation added a Royal Ascot allegation while Sarah Ferguson allegedly negotiates a pension for silence. Harry wasn't invited to the wedding and blames William. Meghan's US approval rating fell, As Ever launched a matchbox, and a pre-royal video of her calling hundred-dollar candles obnoxious resurfaced. Kate's shoes disappeared into a red carpet at Cancer Research UK. Idris Elba was knighted. Edward and Sophie rode a Lisbon tram. And William is hoping for a Taylor Swift wedding invitation.Palace Intrigue is a daily British royal family podcast covering King Charles, Meghan Markle, Prince Harry, Kate Middleton and the House of Windsor. New episodes every day. Follow on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you listen. Part of the Caloroga Shark Media network.

Princess Kate made a surprise appearance alongside King Charles and Queen Camilla at a reception celebrating 125 years of Cancer Research UK, but online attention quickly shifted to her red polka-dot dress, with some critics comparing the look to Minnie Mouse. Then a viral video created an unexpected sensation when Kate's perfectly matched red shoes appeared to disappear into the red carpet. Plus: William rolls up his sleeves at a South London food bank, Idris Elba is knighted by King Charles, Queen Camilla opens a new healing garden for NHS patients, and Duchess Sophie delivers a stark warning during a major speech in Portugal.Palace Intrigue is a daily British royal family podcast covering King Charles, Meghan Markle, Prince Harry, Kate Middleton and the House of Windsor. New episodes every day. Follow on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you listen. Part of the Caloroga Shark Media network.

Social challenges surged during COVID, creating a powerful wave of participation and connection. Now, as the landscape matures, many organizations are asking where these P2P campaigns truly fit and how to evolve them with intention.In this episode, Marcie Maxwell sits down with Gareth Mulcahy, Head of Proposition at Cancer Research UK. Gareth brings a candid perspective on why social challenges still matter, and how his team continues to adapt their portfolio to stay relevant, responsive, and rooted in supporter needs.Gareth shares what it takes to operate at the speed social challenges demand, from shifting internal mindsets to launching campaigns in months rather than years. He also dives into how meaningful storytelling and thoughtful campaign design can help challenges stand out in an increasingly crowded space. Along the way, the conversation tackles how to guide leadership through changing results, and how to discern whether social challenges are the right fit for your organization at all.Together, we'll explore:The role social challenges play in a modern fundraising portfolio and what drives sustained successHow speed, storytelling, and authenticity shape standout campaignsWhen to lean into social challenges and when it may be time to step backMentioned LinksCancer Research UK​Stay Connected on LinkedInConnect with GarethConnect with MarcieConnect with the Peer-to-Peer Professional Forum (00:00) - Welcome to The P2P Soap Box (02:07) - Introducing Gareth Mulcahy (05:08) - Why do Social Challenges Still Matter at Cancer Research UK? (09:16) - Ramping Speed (24:04) - Learn More

It's not something we like to dwell on too often, but the chance for each of us getting some kind of cancer during our lifetime is significant. After all, it's the second leading cause of death worldwide according to the World Health Organisation, just behind heart disease. Cancer Research UK puts the estimated lifetime risk of a man or woman getting cancer at nearly one in two. Research has shown the extent to which cancer cases have been growing in recent decades. And not just among the elderly. A study published in BMJ Oncology in September 2023 showed that there had been a “striking” 79% increase in new early-onset cancer cases from 1990-2019. Early-onset is a term used to describe cancer in the under-50s. Why is that then? Isn't it normal for cancer deaths to increase as the global population grows? Is the situation the same everywhere in the world? In under 3 minutes, we answer your questions! To listen to the latest episodes, click here: What are the latest advances in lung cancer treatment? Can men get breast cancer? ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠What is Quantum medicine and is it a scam?⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ A Bababam Originals podcast written and realised by Joseph Chance. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The number of moles we have on our bodies largely depends on sun exposure. According to the Mayo Clinic, “Most people have 10 to 45 moles that appear during childhood and the teenage years.” Moles can vary in thickness, shape, colour, and they sometimes even have hair. They can pop up between your toes, on your scalp, on your earlobes or under your nails-anywhere really. Rest assured, most of the time these small brown spots are completely harmless, but still it's worth knowing some key info about moles. That's especially true given they can sometimes be cancerous, turning into a type of skin cancer called melanoma. According to Cancer Research UK, “there are around 16,700 new melanoma skin cancer cases in the UK every year.” What are moles actually made of ? Which genetic factors are at play then ? How can you tell if a mole is dangerous ? In under 3 minutes, we answer your questions! To listen to the last episodes, you can click here: ⁠⁠Which bread is best for your health?⁠⁠ ⁠⁠Has the climate breakdown really begun?⁠⁠ ⁠⁠How small is a micropenis?⁠⁠ A podcast written and realised by Joseph Chance. First broadcast the 03/04/2024 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Something about homeopathy that often gets questioned begins to make more sense when you hear it through the lens of science, and that's exactly what this conversation with Dr. Alex Tournier brings into focus. Alex shares how his journey started during a struggle with chronic fatigue, when a simple homeopathic remedy led to a surprising recovery and sparked his curiosity. With his background in physics, he explains the role of water, its unique properties, and how it may store and transmit information through oscillatory patterns. We also talk about the skepticism around homeopathy, the importance of experimental evidence across biological systems, and the ongoing work at Homeopathic Research Institute to build a stronger scientific dialogue. It's a grounded, thoughtful conversation that invites a more open-minded look at how homeopathy might work. Episode Highlights: 05:05 - Dr. Alex Tournier's Background and Journey into Homeopathy 10:52 - The Role of Water in Homeopathy 12:05 - Exploring Homeopathy's Mechanism of Action 18:04 - Quantum Electrodynamics and Water Properties 24:41 - Oscillatory Patterns and Biological Interaction 30:49 - Challenges in Homeopathy Research 35:36 - Consciousness and Field Effects in Homeopathy 40:14 - The Homeopathic Research Institute (HRI) Overview 44:38 - Thoughts on Skepticism and Open-Mindedness About my Guests: Dr. Alexander Tournier is a physicist and interdisciplinary researcher known for his work in the biophysics of water and complementary medicine research. He studied physics at Imperial College London and later pursued advanced theoretical physics at University of Cambridge. He completed his PhD in biophysics at University of Heidelberg, where his research focused on water-protein interactions and the physical properties of water in biological systems. Following his academic training, Dr. Tournier spent about a decade working with Cancer Research UK, conducting interdisciplinary research that applied physics and mathematics to biological questions. His work during this period strengthened his interest in understanding complex biological systems and the role that water plays in living organisms. In 2007, he founded the Homeopathy Research Institute, an international organization dedicated to promoting scientific research in homeopathy and complementary medicine. He later became a scientific collaborator at the University of Bern, where he continues to explore the physics of water and its possible relevance to biology and medicine. Find out more about Dr. Alexander Website: https://www.hri-research.org/ YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/user/homeopathyresearch Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/homeopathyresearchinstitute/# Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/HRIResearch If you would like to support the Homeopathy Hangout Podcast, please consider making a donation by visiting www.EugenieKruger.com and click the DONATE button at the top of the site. Every donation about $10 will receive a shout-out on a future episode. Join my Homeopathy Hangout Podcast Facebook community here: https://www.facebook.com/groups/HelloHomies Follow me on Instagram https://www.instagram.com/eugeniekrugerhomeopathy/ Here is the link to my free 30-minute Homeopathy@Home online course: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vqBUpxO4pZQ&t=438s Upon completion of the course - and if you live in Australia - you can join my Facebook group for free acute advice (you'll need to answer a couple of questions about the course upon request to join): www.facebook.com/groups/eughom            

After having four inches of his manhood removed in a drastic surgery to save his life, Steven Hamill feared he would never fulfil his dream of being a father. The 33-year-old food industry worker was diagnosed with penile cancer in April 2019, after suffering a raft of distressing symptoms. Steven first visited his GP in March that year complaining of pain and swelling in his genitals, and was diagnosed with balanitis – inflammation of the head of the penis that can be caused by infection or irritation. He was sent home with a topical cream. But after developing worsening, intense pain coupled with an extremely unpleasant odour, Steven was rushed to A&E after fainting and waking in a pool of his own blood. There, doctors gave him the devastating diagnosis: penile cancer, advanced enough to require a partial amputation. Steven was terrified. 'Every time I went to bed I would think, 'is this the night I'm going to die? Will I see next week? Should I make plans for next week?',' he said. Today, however, Steven is cancer-free, and the proud dad of a four-year-old boy. And despite the taboo nature of his cancer, he has taken the brave step to go public – in a bid to raise awareness of the symptoms and encourage men not to delay seeking help. 'I was really lucky that even after I had four inches removed it left me with around four inches,' Steven says. 'So it's still fully functional and working.' Around 700 men are diagnosed with penile cancer in Britain each year – the disease most commonly occurs in men over the age of 50. A significant proportion of cases are thought to be preventable. Cancer Research UK estimates more than 60 per cent are linked to known risk factors, including infection with certain strains of human papillomavirus (HPV), smoking, and chronic inflammatory skin conditions such as lichen sclerosus. The disease is notoriously hard to spot because symptoms can easily be mistaken for less serious problems, which men are often too embarrassed to talk about. As a result, late diagnosis is increasingly common, with many men ignoring early warning signs – which can, as in Steven's case, result in amputation.  Of men diagnosed early, however, more than 90 per cent survive at least five years after diagnosis. Major risk factors include smoking, not being circumcised, a weakened immune system and older age. Symptoms include a growth, lump or sore that does not heal within four weeks, a rash, bleeding, abnormal discharge, as well as unexplained weight loss, extreme fatigue and abdominal pain. #therealstevenstories #stevenhamill #timetotalkaustralia www.patreon.com/timetotalkaustralia

Jamie Hartmann-Boyce and Nicola Lindson discuss emerging evidence in e-cigarette research and interview Dr Pamela Ling, University of California San Francisco. Associate Professor Jamie Hartmann-Boyce and Associate Professor Nicola Lindson discuss the new evidence in e-cigarette research and interview Dr Pamela Ling, Professor of Medicine and Director of the Center for Tobacco Control Research and Education at the University of California San Francisco. In the March 2026 podcast Pamela Ling talks to Nicola Lindson about her newly published study that recruited approximately 500 13 to 21 year olds to test whether Instagram support groups can help people to quit vaping compared to referral to a quitline. This randomized clinical study was funded by the UCSF Helen Diller Comprehensive Cancer Center and the Tobacco-Related Diseases Research Program and is published in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine. The intervention, Instagram direct message support groups, was delivered over 5 weeks and involved motivational interviewing, social support, skill building, and group quit attempts. The control group was referral to Quitline in California, the resources for this included telephone, online, texting or mobile app. Pam Ling's study found that social media support groups were acceptable to adolescents and young adults and improved abstinence rates on average over 6 months compared to quitline referral. Pam Ling discusses the finding that social media platforms may be a useful way to deliver social supports for nicotine vaping cessation that is accessible and utilised by young people. This podcast is a companion to the electronic cigarettes Cochrane living systematic review and Interventions for quitting vaping review and shares the evidence from the monthly searches. Our searches for the EC for smoking cessation review carried out on 1st March 2026 found: 1 new (Papadosifaki et al, Archives Hellenic Medicine 2026;43(2):205-211) and 3 linked reports (10.1093/ntr/ntag038; 10.1093/sleep/zsag028; 10.1017/S1463423626100942). Our search for our interventions for quitting vaping review carried out on 1st March 2026 found: 1 new (discussed in this podcast 10.1016/j.amepre.2026.108314), 5 linked reports (10.1016/j.acap.2025.103181, 10.1038/s41386-024-02012-z, 10.1186/s40814-026-01782-1, 10.1016/S2468-2667(26)00021-6, 10.1016/S2468-2667(26)00020-4) and 2 new ongoing (ACTRN12626000031369 2026, NCT07392125 2026). For further details see our webpage under 'Monthly search findings': https://www.cebm.ox.ac.uk/research/electronic-cigarettes-for-smoking-cessation-cochrane-living-systematic-review-1 For more information on the full Cochrane review of E-cigarettes for smoking cessation updated in November 2025 see: https://www.cochranelibrary.com/cdsr/doi/10.1002/14651858.CD010216.pub10/full For more information on the full Cochrane review of Interventions for quitting vaping published in November 2025 see: https://www.cochranelibrary.com/cdsr/doi/10.1002/14651858.CD016058.pub3/full This podcast is supported by Cancer Research UK.

In this episode, Dr Chloe Burke talks to Dr Monserrat Conde, a researcher at the Nuffield Department of Primary Care Sciences, University of Oxford, UK. The interview covers a short report on the results of a consultation exercise creating recommendations for future research exploring e-cigarette use and later cigarette smoking in young people.The background of work on e-cigarettes that led to this current study [1:06]The evidence and gap map [03:14]Monserrat's iterative approach to set up the consultation exercise [04:49]A surprising aspect from the stakeholder engagement [06:41]The lessons learned from integrating existing research with stakeholder engagement [09:03]Discussing two of the 23 final recommendations [11:27]The take home message of the study [13:41]About Chloe Burke: Chloe is a Senior Research Associate in Evidence Synthesis based in the Bristol Medical School, University of Bristol. Her current role applies evidence synthesis methodologies (e.g. network meta-analysis) to health-related topics, including addiction. She has a background in psychiatric epidemiology with a focus on applying causal inference methods (e.g. Mendelian randomization) to the topic of substance use and mental health. She holds a PhD in Psychology from the University of Bath, which investigated the co-use of cannabis and tobacco and depression risk. She is currently co-chair of the Society for Research on Nicotine and Tobacco Genetics and Omics Network.About Monserrat Conde: Monserrat (BSc, PgDip, MSc, PhD) is an interdisciplinary researcher at the Nuffield Department of Primary Care Health Sciences at the University of Oxford, where she currently focuses on evidence synthesis, implementation research and knowledge mobilisation. The study discussed in this episode was funded by Cancer Research UK. The authors have no conflicts of interest to disclose. Original article: Recommendations for future research exploring e-cigarette use and later cigarette smoking in young people: Results from a consultation exercise https://doi.org/10.1111/add.70038The opinions expressed in this podcast reflect the views of the host and interviewees and do not necessarily represent the opinions or official positions of the SSA or Addiction journal.The SSA does not endorse or guarantee the accuracy of the information in external sources or links and accepts no responsibility or liability for any consequences arising from the use of such information. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Jamie Hartmann-Boyce and Nicola Lindson discuss emerging evidence in e-cigarette research and interview Jodi Gilman, Department of Psychiatry at Harvard Medical School and Massachusetts General Hospital. Associate Professor Jamie Hartmann-Boyce and Associate Professor Nicola Lindson discuss the new evidence in e-cigarette research and interview Dr Jodi Gilman, Associate Professor of Psychology in the Department of Psychiatry at Harvard Medical School and Massachusetts General Hospital. In the February 2026 podcast Jodi Gilman talks about their secondary analysis of a randomised clinical trial looking at cannabis use and nicotine vaping cessation outcomes among adolescents and young adults. Participants were 16 to 25 and reported vaping nicotine regularly and did not smoke tobacco. The full study assessed the efficacy of varenicline for nicotine vaping cessation. For more detail on the parent trial listen to the interview with Eden Evins in the April 2025 podcast. Jodi Gilman discusses the finding that, among adolescents and young adults attempting to reduce or stop nicotine vaping, baseline cannabis use was not associated with nicotine vaping abstinence. Varenicline was helpful for nicotine vaping cessation regardless of cannabis use. This finding indicates that co-use of cannabis may not be a barrier to successful nicotine vaping cessation treatment. This podcast is a companion to the electronic cigarettes Cochrane living systematic review and Interventions for quitting vaping review and shares the evidence from the monthly searches. Reference for the paper by Gilman discussed in this podcast, January 2026 search: 10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2025.47799. Parent study by Evins: 10.1001/jama.2025.3810. Our searches for the EC for smoking cessation review carried out on 1st February 2026 found: 4 linked reports (10.1016/j.cct.2026.108215; 1; 0.1111/add.70294; 10.1007/s11606-024-08797-5; 10.1016/j.lana.2025.101351) Our search for our interventions for quitting vaping review carried out on 1st February 2026 found: 1 new study (10.1111/jrh.70109) and 2 linked reports (10.1002/adaw.34496; 10.1007/s11606-024-08797-5). For further details see our webpage under 'Monthly search findings': https://www.cebm.ox.ac.uk/research/electronic-cigarettes-for-smoking-cessation-cochrane-living-systematic-review-1 For more information on the full Cochrane review of E-cigarettes for smoking cessation updated in November 2025 see: https://www.cochranelibrary.com/cdsr/doi/10.1002/14651858.CD010216.pub10/full For more information on the full Cochrane review of Interventions for quitting vaping published in November 2025 see: https://www.cochranelibrary.com/cdsr/doi/10.1002/14651858.CD016058.pub3/full This podcast is supported by Cancer Research UK.

It's Payroll Giving Month, and we're diving deep into one of fundraising's most overlooked opportunities. Host Simon Scriver welcomes back Mevi Slade from Cancer Research UK and Ollie Lashbrook from Macmillan Cancer Support—both linvolved with the CIOF Payroll Giving Special Interest Group, to explore why this tax-efficient giving method deserves more attention. In this episode, you'll discover: - What payroll giving is and how it works (spoiler: it's simpler than you think!) - Why 59% of people have never heard of this scheme—and why that's actually good news - How to overcome the "it's too laborious" objection from employers - The role of Professional Fundraising Organisations (PFOs) in donor recruitment - Why running payroll giving internally gives you the perfect case study for corporate partners - How to position payroll giving as an employee benefit, not just another admin task - Why this income stream works for charities of all sizes—not just the big players Whether you're in corporate partnerships, individual giving, or just curious about untapped fundraising opportunities, this episode reveals why payroll giving might be the most underutilised tool in your fundraising toolkit. Connect with the guests: Mervi Slade: Linkedin Ollie Lashbrook: Linkedin LinkedIn: Search "Payroll Giving" group Website: payrollgivingmonth.com Click here to subscribe to our email list for exclusive fundraising resources, early access to training, special discounts and more If you enjoyed this episode, don't forget to hit follow and enable notifications so you'll get notified to be first to hear of future podcast episodes. We'd love to see you back again! And thank you to our friends at JustGiving who make the Fundraising Everywhere Podcast possible.  

If you're feeling low on motivation to start exercising or to keep up the good work, this episode is for you.In this episode, I'm joined by Christie. Christie is here to remind you that even when life changes overnight, strength, movement and hope can still be found.Christie had to relearn how to walk after cancer and then to relearn how to cycle. Just one month after lung surgery, she took part in Tour de 4, founded by Chris Hoy. She cycled 38 miles and raised over £10,000 for Cancer Research UK, as part of an event that raised more than £3 million for cancer charities. Amazing!In this conversation, we talk about finding motivation after life-altering treatment, using movement as medicine, and focusing on the here and now.If you're inspired, join us for our BOOST30 challenge in March or for a fundraising event later in the year.JOIN BOOST30: https://fundraiseformenopauseandcancer.raiselysite.com/Boost30GET INVOLVED: https://fundraiseformenopauseandcancer.raiselysite.com/To sponsor Chrissie's next event, go here: https://gofund.me/16fe7fc67Episode Highlights:00:00 Intro06:06 Post-Cancer Recovery Challenges07:51 "Facing Cancer with Resilience"12:17 Thriving as Amputee and Survivor19:01 "Monumental Charity Event Experience"23:21 Adapting to Running with Prosthetics27:23 "Embracing Change, Winging It"28:30 Couch to 5K and Community33:13 Boost30 Challenge: Empower & SupportConnect with us:For more information and resources visit our website: www.menopauseandcancer.org Or follow us on Instagram @menopause_and_cancerJoin our Facebook group: www.facebook.com/groups/menopauseandcancerchathub

Today, our guest is a transformative figure in bowel cancer treatment. Professor Jenny Seligmann, a Consultant Medical Oncologist and Professor of Gastrointestinal and Translational Oncology at the University of Leeds, is renowned for leading the groundbreaking FOxTROT and ARIEL trials. These studies challenged traditional practices by demonstrating the advantages of administering chemotherapy before surgery, a change now saving lives and influencing worldwide protocols. As a devoted mentor and a prominent participant in Cancer Research UK's initiatives, she joins us to explore how we can personalise cancer treatment more effectively and discuss the future prospects for gastrointestinal cancer therapies. Welcome, Professor Seligmann.For more episodes, resources and blog posts, visit www.inquisitiveonc.comPlease find us on Twitter @InquisitiveOnc!If you want us to look at a specific trial or subject, email us at inquisitiveonc@gmail.comArt courtesy of Taryn SilverMusic courtesy of AlisiaBeats: https://pixabay.com/users/alisiabeats-39461785/Disclaimer: This podcast is for educational purposes only. If you are unwell, seek medical advice.Oncology for the Inquisitive Mind is recorded with the support of education grants from our foundation partners Pfizer, Gilead Pharmaceuticals and Merck Pharmaceuticals. Our partners have access to the episode at the same time you do and have no editorial control over the content. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

New research which has just been published in the British Medical Journal, suggests that testing menstrual blood for signs of cervical cancer could be an accurate way of screening for the disease. The BBC's Health Correspondent, Sophie Hutchinson, and Fiona Osgun, Head of Health information at Cancer Research UK join Anita Rani to talk about this new area of research and discuss the options currently open to women. English actor Imogen Poots is back on our screens taking on a challenging role in Kristen Stewart's first feature film, The Chronology of Water. It's a creative adaptation of an acclaimed memoir by American writer Lidia Yuknavitch which centres on her coming to terms with being abused as a child, battling pain and loss, and her ongoing healing journey. Imogen Poots joins Anita in the studio.The Kurdish-led self-administration in the north east of Syria is a territory where for years women have sat at the centre of political life, security and decision-making. But many are worried that the system is now under pressure following a new agreement between Kurdish authorities and the Syrian government, which will integrate the region into the Syrian state being rebuilt after the toppling of Bashar al-Assad in 2024. Anita is joined by Lina Shaikhouni, journalist at the BBC World Service and Dilar Dirik, Kurdish writer and author of The Kurdish Women's Movement: History, Theory, Practice.Paula Varjack talks to Anita about her show Nine Sixteenths. It examines the fallout from the infamous Janet Jackson and Justin Timberlake ‘wardrobe malfunction' incident at the 2004 Superbowl and the backlash that almost ruined Jackson's career. The play questions what this says about the demographics of who controls the media, the scrutinising of black women in the public eye and asks if anything has changed?Presenter: Anita Rani Producer : Corinna Jones

Half of us will develop cancer at some point in our lives, according to Cancer Research UK. And the speed of a diagnosis can often be the difference between life and death. Just a one-month delay can raise the risk of death by up to 10%. Yet in England, almost a third of cancer patients wait more than two months to start treatment after an urgent GP referral - twice as many as the target and a trend that's getting worse. As the Westminster government prepares to publish its new 10-year cancer plan - what can we learn from elsewhere in the world? In Denmark, for example, cancer waiting lists have virtually been eliminated and survival rates are rocketing. Niall speaks to Sky's health correspondent Ashish Joshi and Jesper Fisker from the Danish Cancer Society. Producer: Natalie Ktena & Sam Gruet Editor: Mike Bovill

Jamie Hartmann-Boyce and Nicola Lindson discuss emerging evidence in e-cigarette research and discuss the living systematic review process. Associate Professor Jamie Hartmann-Boyce and Associate Professor Nicola Lindson discuss the new evidence in e-cigarette research outline. Nicola and Jamie describe what a living review is and discuss the steps involved in carrying out a living systematic review, from screening and extraction to data analysis and dissemination. They outline how the methods differ from traditional systematic reviews. They highlight the value of the living review process for the fast-moving topic of vape research. This approach means that the author team are constantly up-to-date with the literature and able to input into policy and to respond to press or research queries. They share they full details of the monthly searches, to access the spreadsheet click on 'monthly search finding' near the top of the project webpage (https://www.cebm.ox.ac.uk/research/electronic-cigarettes-for-smoking-cessation-cochrane-living-systematic-review-1). This podcast is a companion to the electronic cigarettes Cochrane living systematic review and Interventions for quitting vaping review and shares the evidence from the monthly searches. Our searches for the EC for smoking cessation review carried out on 1st December 2025 found 3 linked reports (10.3310/GJLD2428; 10.1093/ntr/ntaf250; Efthimiou 2025, Swiss Medical Weekly 2025;155(Supplement 285):111s). The search on 1st January found 1 new ongoing study (NCT07274475) and 5 linked reports (10.1037/pha0000814; 10.3390/ijerph22121819; 10.1093/ntr/ntaf240; 10.1007/s00213-025-06868-x; 10.1111/jsr.14291). Our search for our interventions for quitting vaping review carried out 1st December 2025 found: 2 new ongoing (ChiCTR2500111503; NCT07223879) and 2 linked (10.1080/14656566.2025.2594050; 10.1186/s13011-025-00679-10. The search on 1st January 2026 found 1 new ongoing (NCT06644664) and 2 linked (10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2025.47799; 10.1093/pch/pxaf116.058). For further details see our webpage under 'Monthly search findings': https://www.cebm.ox.ac.uk/research/electronic-cigarettes-for-smoking-cessation-cochrane-living-systematic-review-1 For more information on the full Cochrane review of E-cigarettes for smoking cessation updated in January 2025 see: https://www.cochranelibrary.com/cdsr/doi/10.1002/14651858.CD010216.pub10/full For more information on the full Cochrane review of Interventions for quitting vaping published in January 2025 see: https://www.cochranelibrary.com/cdsr/doi/10.1002/14651858.CD016058.pub3/full This podcast is supported by Cancer Research UK.

Jamie Hartmann-Boyce and Nicola Lindson discuss emerging evidence in e-cigarette research and interview Elly Leavens, University of Kansas Medical Center, USA. Associate Professor Jamie Hartmann-Boyce and Associate Professor Nicola Lindson discuss the new evidence in e-cigarette research and interview Dr. Elly Leavens, Assistant Professor in the Department of Population Health at the University of Kansas Medical Center. In the November 2025 podcast Elly Leavens talks about her recent pilot trial published in Frontiers in Public Health, called 'E-cigarette puff topography instruction to enhance switching among COPD patients who smoke'. This pilot study was supported by funds from the Cancer Prevention and Control Program within the University of Kansas Cancer Center, as well as by the National Cancer Institute. The 46 participants who smoked and had chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) completed a 12-week e-cigarette switching trial in which they were randomized to brief advice or low intensity, or high-intensity puffing topography training. Elly Leavens and colleagues found that e-cigarettes had potential to minimize harm in COPD patients who smoke, but that, puff topography training did not change switch success or reduction in cigarette smoking as compared to the brief advice to switch. This podcast is a companion to the electronic cigarettes Cochrane living systematic review and Interventions for quitting vaping review and shares the evidence from the monthly searches. Our searches for the EC for smoking cessation review carried out on 1st November 2025 found: 1 new study (10.1037/adb0001100); 2 ongoing new studies (NCT07172438; NCT07202039); and 1 linked report reported in this podcast (10.3389/fpubh.2025.1664400). Our search for our interventions for quitting vaping review carried out 1st November 2025 found: 1 new ongoing study (NCT07207850). For further details see our webpage under 'Monthly search findings': https://www.cebm.ox.ac.uk/research/electronic-cigarettes-for-smoking-cessation-cochrane-living-systematic-review-1 For more information on the full Cochrane review of E-cigarettes for smoking cessation updated in January 2025 see: https://www.cochranelibrary.com/cdsr/doi/10.1002/14651858.CD010216.pub10/full For more information on the full Cochrane review of Interventions for quitting vaping published in January 2025 see: https://www.cochranelibrary.com/cdsr/doi/10.1002/14651858.CD016058.pub3/full This podcast is supported by Cancer Research UK.

Jamie Hartmann-Boyce and Nicola Lindson discuss emerging evidence in e-cigarette research and interview Justin Strickland, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. Associate Professor Jamie Hartmann-Boyce and Associate Professor Nicola Lindson discuss the new evidence in e-cigarette research and interview Justin Strickland, Associate Professor of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Behavioral Pharmacology Research Unit, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. In the October 2025 podcast Justin Strickland talks about his work on e-cigarette withdrawal syndrome presented at the 13th Annual Vermont Center on Behavior and Health Conference, held in Vermont, USA. Justin is a behavioural pharmacologist working with substance use and substance use disorder. His research applies behavioural economic methods to evaluate choice and decision-making mechanisms that may underlie substance use and identify targets for their reduction. Justin begins by describing behavioral economics and how our environment and context shape the decisions we make, for example, how the cost of goods can influence patterns of consumption. As a relatively new class of products less is known about e-cigarette withdrawal than tobacco withdrawal syndrome. Justin describes his ongoing study of e-cigarette withdrawal syndrome among people who have exclusively used e-cigarettes. Participants stay in a residential unit for one week, where their behaviour, physiology and other measures, including their nicotine clearance, are measured. Preliminary findings indicate that participants do experience withdrawal to e-cigarettes, for example cravings that reduce over time. Looking to the future he calls for longer-term trials to observe behaviour and to explore predictors of complete cessation. Such research could inform the development of more effective behavioral interventions or pharmacological treatments to support individuals experiencing e-cigarette withdrawal. This podcast is a companion to the electronic cigarettes Cochrane living systematic review and Interventions for quitting vaping review and shares the evidence from the monthly searches. Our searches for the EC for smoking cessation review carried out on 1st October 2025 found: 1 new study (10.18332/852498tivblr); 2 ongoing new studies (ISRCTN12504090, 10.1177/29768357251337050); and 4 linked reports (10.1016/j.ypmed.2025.108414, 10.1037/pha0000803, 10.1093/ntr/ntaf200, 10.1101/2024.06.21.24309282). Our search for our interventions for quitting vaping review carried out 1st October 2025 found: 1 new ongoing study (10.3389/fpubh.2025.1618341). For further details see our webpage under 'Monthly search findings': https://www.cebm.ox.ac.uk/research/electronic-cigarettes-for-smoking-cessation-cochrane-living-systematic-review-1 For more information on the full Cochrane review of E-cigarettes for smoking cessation updated in January 2025 see: https://www.cochranelibrary.com/cdsr/doi/10.1002/14651858.CD010216.pub9/full For more information on the full Cochrane review of Interventions for quitting vaping published in January 2025 see: https://www.cochranelibrary.com/cdsr/doi/10.1002/14651858.CD016058.pub2/full This podcast is supported by Cancer Research UK.

First: who has the Home Secretary got in her sights?Political editor Tim Shipman profiles Shabana Mahmood in the Spectator's cover article this week. Given Keir Starmer's dismal approval ratings, politicos are consumed by gossip about who could be his heir-apparent – even more so, following Angela Rayner's defenestration a few weeks ago. Mahmood may not be the most high-profile of the Starmer movement, but she is now talked about alongside Wes Streeting and Andy Burnham as a potential successor to Starmer.But – it all depends on what she can achieve at the Home Office. So, who does she have in her sights? Tim joined the podcastNext: why the philosopher king of Silicon Valley is reinventing the ‘Antichrist' theory What do Mohammed, Martin Luther, King George III, Adolf Hitler, Henry Kissinger and Bill Gates have in common? They have all been identified as the Antichrist. And now the theory is back, preoccupying the mind of billionaire Peter Thiel, who believes that ‘a globe-trotting liberal elite… are using their billions to manufacture a new world order'.  So why is Thiel, the co-founder of Paypal and Palantir, so obsessed with the Antichrist? Damian Thompson joins the podcast to discuss.And finally: the cost-of-giving crisisRupert Hawksley, the Spectator's new opinion editor, examines the crisis facing charity shops. Over 50 stores have shut this year with the big four – the British Heart Foundation, Barnado's, Oxfam and Cancer Research UK – struggling to maintain healthy sales. This isn't just a crisis for the charities, he argues, but also for the consumers who rely on the shops.Rupert joined the podcast alongside another charity shop enthusiast, the Spectator's editor Michael Gove. What's the most prized charity shop find?Plus: Henry Jeffreys discusses the horror of wine lists and Angus Colwell reviews a new BBC Sounds podcast on David Bowie, ahead of the ten year anniversary of his death next year.Hosted by William Moore and Lara Prendergast.Produced by Patrick Gibbons. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Jamie Hartmann-Boyce and Nicola Lindson discuss emerging evidence in e-cigarette research and interview Ryan Courtney from the University of New South Wales, Australia. Associate Professor Jamie Hartmann-Boyce and Associate Professor Nicola Lindson discuss the new evidence in e-cigarette research and interview Associate Professor Ryan Courtney from the National Drug and Alcohol Research Centre, University of New South Wales, Sydney, Australia In the September podcast Ryan Courtney talks about his recent randomised controlled trial looking at vaporised nicotine products (VNP, e-cigarettes) compared to nicotine replacement therapy (gum/ lozenges) for smoking cessation among people experiencing social disadvantage. This study was funded by Australian National Health and Medical Research Council and included 1045 people at the start of the study with 866 people completing follow up. The verified 6-month continuous abstinence rate was 28.4% (148 of 522) in the e-cigarette group and 9.6% (50 of 523) in the NRT group. Their findings indicate that e-cigarettes are more effective than NRT for smoking cessation in this population. Given the challenges for cessation among these socially disadvantaged populations, the authors of the study consider that e-cigarettes present a promising treatment option for this priority group. This podcast is a companion to the electronic cigarettes Cochrane living systematic review and Interventions for quitting vaping review and shares the evidence from the monthly searches. Our searches for the EC for smoking cessation review carried out on 1st August and 1st September 2025 found four new studies (10.7326/ANNALS-24-03531 by Courtney et al discussed in this podcast; 10.1016/S2468-2667(25)00101-X; 10.1186/s12916-025-04167-y; 10.1016/j.ypmed.2025.108389). The searches found six papers linked studies included in the review (10.57187/s.4571; 10.1186/s13063-025-08954-z; 10.1111/add.70115; 10.1016/j.ypmed.2025.108353; 10.1016/j.drugalcdep.2025.112821; 10.3310/JHFR0841). Our search for our interventions for quitting vaping review carried out 1st August and 1st September 2025 found two new ongoing studies (NCT07040566; ISRCTN11383698), and one linked paper (10.1016/S2468-2667(25)00145-8). For further details see our webpage under 'Monthly search findings': https://www.cebm.ox.ac.uk/research/electronic-cigarettes-for-smoking-cessation-cochrane-living-systematic-review-1 For more information on the full Cochrane review of E-cigarettes for smoking cessation updated in January 2025 see: https://www.cochranelibrary.com/cdsr/doi/10.1002/14651858.CD010216.pub9/full For more information on the full Cochrane review of Interventions for quitting vaping published in January 2025 see: https://www.cochranelibrary.com/cdsr/doi/10.1002/14651858.CD016058.pub2/full This podcast is supported by Cancer Research UK.

First: who has the Home Secretary got in her sights?Political editor Tim Shipman profiles Shabana Mahmood in the Spectator's cover article this week. Given Keir Starmer's dismal approval ratings, politicos are consumed by gossip about who could be his heir-apparent – even more so, following Angela Rayner's defenestration a few weeks ago. Mahmood may not be the most high-profile of the Starmer movement, but she is now talked about alongside Wes Streeting and Andy Burnham as a potential successor to Starmer.But – it all depends on what she can achieve at the Home Office. So, who does she have in her sights? Tim joined the podcastNext: why the philosopher king of Silicon Valley is reinventing the ‘Antichrist' theory What do Mohammed, Martin Luther, King George III, Adolf Hitler, Henry Kissinger and Bill Gates have in common? They have all been identified as the Antichrist. And now the theory is back, preoccupying the mind of billionaire Peter Thiel, who believes that ‘a globe-trotting liberal elite… are using their billions to manufacture a new world order'.  So why is Thiel, the co-founder of Paypal and Palantir, so obsessed with the Antichrist? Damian Thompson joins the podcast to discuss.And finally: the cost-of-giving crisisRupert Hawksley, the Spectator's new opinion editor, examines the crisis facing charity shops. Over 50 stores have shut this year with the big four – the British Heart Foundation, Barnado's, Oxfam and Cancer Research UK – struggling to maintain healthy sales. This isn't just a crisis for the charities, he argues, but also for the consumers who rely on the shops.Rupert joined the podcast alongside another charity shop enthusiast, the Spectator's editor Michael Gove. What's the most prized charity shop find?Plus: Henry Jeffreys discusses the horror of wine lists and Angus Colwell reviews a new BBC Sounds podcast on David Bowie, ahead of the ten year anniversary of his death next year.Hosted by William Moore and Lara Prendergast.Produced by Patrick Gibbons.Become a Spectator subscriber today to access this podcast without adverts. Go to spectator.co.uk/adfree to find out more.For more Spectator podcasts, go to spectator.co.uk/podcasts. Contact us: podcast@spectator.co.uk Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Figures from Cancer Research UK show that there are an average of nearly 57,000 new breast cancer cases detected each year in the country. It's the most common form of cancer, accounting for 15% of all cases. While the vast majority of breast cancer cases are in women, there are actually around 370 diagnoses in men each year too. That's right; men also have breast tissue around the nipples, so are also potentially susceptible. As we near the end of Breast Cancer Awareness Month, let's take a moment to discuss the phenomenon and raise awareness, to make sure any symptoms in men don't go overlooked. What are the symptoms men should look out for? What factors increase the risk? How is breast cancer in men treated? In under 3 minutes, we answer your questions! To listen to the last episodes, you can click here: ⁠What is Quantum medicine and is it a scam?⁠ ⁠What should I do with expired medicines?⁠ ⁠What is the medication Ozempic and why is it being used for weight loss?⁠ A podcast written and realised by Joseph Chance. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In this special bonus episode brought to you by Cancer Research UK, Jane and Fi speak to Clara, who was diagnosed with blood cancer as a child. Clara tells us how her experiences in hospital inspired her to become a children's nurse. Get more information at:Cancer Research UK for Children & Young People: https://www.cancerresearchuk.org/children-and-young-people?utm_source=newsuk&utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=ccam2025About cancer - children's cancers https://www.cancerresearchuk.org/childrens-cancer Please note, there are discussions of childhood cancer diagnosis and treatment throughout. Cancer Research UK is a registered charity in England and Wales (1089464), Scotland (SC041666), the Isle of Man (1103) and Jersey (247). #ad If you want to contact the show to ask a question and get involved in the conversation then please email us: janeandfi@times.radio Follow us on Instagram! @janeandfi Podcast Producer: Eve Salusbury Executive Producer: Rosie Cutler Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Porcelain. Earthenware. China. Archaeology. Stoneware. Anthropology. Amphora. Throwing wheels. We got it all. Master potters, history aficionados and Potted History's icons Sarah Lord Taylor and Graham Taylor are here for our 8th anniversary episode. We get the dirt on ceramics versus pottery, where clay comes from, if there's enough in the world, how can you spot clay in the wild, how long have humans being making pots, what were the first ceramics, what is glaze exactly, why did your pots explode, what excavations of stoneware have revealed about our ancient ancestors, the Venus figurines of history, the hidden ingredients that might surprise you, and how to feel about thrift store finds. Also: how to bond with a potter instantly.  Visit the Potted History website and follow them on Instagram, TikTok, and YouTubeDonations went to Cancer Research UK and Little LiftsMore episode sources and linksOther episodes you may enjoy: 5th Anniversary Special! Xylology (LUMBER), Experimental Archeology (OLD TOOLS/ATLATLS), Canistrumology (BASKET WEAVING), Museology (MUSEUMS), Indigenous Pedology (SOIL SCIENCE), Geology (ROCKS), Scatology (POOP)400+ Ologies episodes sorted by topicSmologies (short, classroom-safe) episodesSponsors of OlogiesTranscripts and bleeped episodesBecome a patron of Ologies for as little as a buck a monthOlogiesMerch.com has hats, shirts, hoodies, totes!Follow Ologies on Instagram and BlueskyFollow Alie Ward on Instagram and TikTokEditing by Mercedes Maitland of Maitland Audio Productions and Jake ChaffeeManaging Director: Susan HaleScheduling Producer: Noel DilworthTranscripts by Aveline Malek Website by Kelly R. DwyerTheme song by Nick Thorburn

We're only three games in, Bournemouth are repeating the same process that served them so well last season, with statement signings and superb score-lines. The last three days has seen AFC Bournemouth "cruise" to a 1-0 victory over Tottenham Hotspur, before subsequently signing TWO new recruits by the way of Álex Jiménez and Veljko Milosavljević - a demonstration of the club's ability and vision to "always advance & never retreat". In this podcast, Sam and Tom discuss the weekend's victory over Spurs, ponder the state of the squad, and look at which Cherries personnel could make this period of time even sweeter by signing a contract extension! Donate to Ben, Nathan and Stan's Cancer Research UK fundraiser at: https://fundraise.cancerresearchuk.org/page/walking-from-the-vitality-stadium-to-the-tottenham-hotspurs-stadium Support us by downloading Sofascore at: https://app.sofascore.com/nixz/afcbpodcast Thank you to everyone who has contributed to all our platforms. If you're enjoying this show, you can help support us by buying us a coffee at ⁠https://www.afcbpodcast.com/coffee⁠ – we really appreciate it! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Episode 114 brings our trilogy of episodes from Edinburgh to a close. Last episode I told you all about the long, bloody, history of Edinburgh Castle, and this time out I am joined by Wayne from the Eerie Edinburgh podcast to discuss the spirits that are believed by some to be found here. So join Wayne and I and let us ask, just how haunted is Edinburgh Castle? Enormous thanks to Wayne for being so great across these episodes, and being so generous with his time. Be sure to check out his website at eerieedinburgh.com for links to his blogs, podcast, books and YouTube channel. Support How Haunted? by subscribing and leaving a review. This summer Rob takes on the "most difficult" walk in the North York Moors to raise money for Cancer Research UK. If you'd wish to sponsor us you can do so at justgiving.com/page/walk4john2025 Find out more about the pod at https://www.how-haunted.com and you can email Rob at Rob@how-haunted.com You can become a Patreon for as little as £1 a month. You can choose from three tiers and get yourself early access to episodes, and exclusive monthly episodes where Rob will conduct ghost hunts and you'll hear the audio from the night.  To sign up, and take advantage of a free seven day trial, visit https://patreon.com/HowHauntedPod Perhaps you'd rather buy me a coffee to make a one off donation to support the pod, you can do that at https://www.buymeacoffee.com/HowHauntedPod Check out the official merch store at how-haunted.dashery.com where you can buy t-shirts, hoodies, mugs, hats, and much more. They come in a vast selection of colours and a wide range of sizes.  Music in this episode includes: Darren Curtis – Lurking Evil: https://youtu.be/3i0aVnpeppw " HORROR PIANO MUSIC " composed and produced by "Vivek Abhishek" Music link :https://youtu.be/xbjuAGgk5lU || SUBSCRIBE us on YOUTUBE: https://youtu.be/DQQmmCl8crQ || Follow on Facebook: https://bit.ly/33RWRtP || Follow on Instagram: https://bit.ly/2ImU2JV

Episode 113 sees us continue our time in Edinburgh and we go deep into the history of a structure that has seen it all. Built on volcanic rock, it's been a royal residence, a military garrison, and a prison. It has held both noble prisoners and common criminals. It's been a site of public hangings, military sieges, and brutal interrogations. From medieval torture chambers to the execution of accused witches, this single building has seen more suffering than most cities do in a century. Tonight, we take a closer look at the dark history of one of the most visited landmarks in the UK. So join me and let us ask just how haunted is Edinburgh Castle? Enormous thanks to Wayne. Be sure to check out his website at eerieedinburgh.com for links to his blogs, podcast, books and YouTube channel. Support How Haunted? by subscribing and leaving a review. This summer Rob takes on the "most difficult" walk in the North York Moors to raise money for Cancer Research UK. If you'd wish to sponsor us you can do so at justgiving.com/page/walk4john2025 Check out the official merch store at how-haunted.dashery.com where you can buy t-shirts, hoodies, mugs, hats, and much more. They come in a vast selection of colours and a wide range of sizes.  Find out more about the pod at https://www.how-haunted.com and you can email Rob at Rob@how-haunted.com You can become a Patreon for as little as £1 a month. You can choose from three tiers and get yourself early access to episodes, and exclusive monthly episodes where Rob will conduct ghost hunts and you'll hear the audio from the night.  To sign up, and take advantage of a free seven day trial, visit https://patreon.com/HowHauntedPod Perhaps you'd rather buy me a coffee to make a one off donation to support the pod, you can do that at https://www.buymeacoffee.com/HowHauntedPod Music in this episode includes: Darren Curtis – Lurking Evil: https://youtu.be/3i0aVnpeppw " HORROR PIANO MUSIC " composed and produced by "Vivek Abhishek" Music link :https://youtu.be/xbjuAGgk5lU || SUBSCRIBE us on YOUTUBE: https://youtu.be/DQQmmCl8crQ || Follow on Facebook: https://bit.ly/33RWRtP || Follow on Instagram: https://bit.ly/2ImU2JV

Jamie Hartmann-Boyce and Nicola Lindson discuss emerging evidence in e-cigarette research and interview Elias Klemperer from the University of Vermont, USA. Associate Professor Jamie Hartmann-Boyce and Associate Professor Nicola Lindson discuss the new evidence in e-cigarette research and interview Dr Elias Klemperer behavioural scientist and licenced clinical psychologist, Department of Psychiatry, University of Vermont, USA. Elias works in the field of tobacco regulatory science and tobacco control. He has a special interest in long-term users of both cigarettes and e-cigarettes, dual users, a group who take in nicotine via two methods. In the July podcast Elias Klemperer discusses his recent 2 × 2 factorial trial randomized trial of nicotine replacement therapy (patches and lozenges) in 396 young adult dual users aged 18–29 (DOI: 10.1093/ntr/ntaf119). In a randomized factorial trial participants are randomly placed into different groups to test more than one treatment at the same time. The study was funded by the National Institute of General Medical Sciences, the Food and Drug Administration, the National Institute on Drug Abuse, and the National Cancer Institute, USA. Elias Klemperer and his team carried out this study as little is known regarding nicotine replacement therapy for young adult dual users, or whether to recommend quitting versus continuing e-cigarettes during smoking cessation treatment. The participants received 12 weeks of combination NRT compared to no NRT for stopping smoking, plus text-based treatment recommendations to quit or to continue using e-cigarettes. This advice was delivered via written material, an animated video they developed in-house, and text message support during the 12-week treatment period. The study looked at abstinence from cigarettes at 12 and 24 weeks. Their study found that NRT was effective in promoting early smoking cessation among young adult dual users. Their secondary findings indicated that pairing NRT with support to quit both products could enhance the effects on prolonged cigarette abstinence. This podcast is a companion to the electronic cigarettes Cochrane living systematic review and Interventions for quitting vaping review and shares the evidence from the monthly searches. Our search for the EC for smoking cessation review carried out on 1st July 2025 found six papers linked studies included in the review (10.1101/2025.05.06.25327053; 10.1016/j.jacadv.2025.101833; 10.1016/j.drugalcdep.2025.112740; 10.1186/s13722-025-00575-w; 10.1038/s41598-025-03904-w; 10.1136/bmjopen-2024-098005). Our search for our interventions for quitting vaping review up to 1st July 2025 found one new study by Klemperer et al discussed in this podcast (10.1093/ntr/ntaf119), one new ongoing study (10.1136/bmjopen-2024-096963), and two linked papers (10.1093/heapro/daaf085; 10.1016/j.jadohealth.2025.04.012). For further details see our webpage under 'Monthly search findings': https://www.cebm.ox.ac.uk/research/electronic-cigarettes-for-smoking-cessation-cochrane-living-systematic-review-1 For more information on the full Cochrane review of E-cigarettes for smoking cessation updated in January 2025 see: https://www.cochranelibrary.com/cdsr/doi/10.1002/14651858.CD010216.pub9/full For more information on the full Cochrane review of Interventions for quitting vaping published in January 2025 see: https://www.cochranelibrary.com/cdsr/doi/10.1002/14651858.CD016058.pub2/full This podcast is supported by Cancer Research UK.

Episode 112 sees us visit a wonderful city in Scotland, as historic as it is haunted. And I'll not be alone, as I welcome Wayne from the Eerie Edinburgh podcast to join me and in this episode you'll hear him tell us all about two of his favourite hauntings in the city. So join Wayne and I and let us ask, just how haunted is Edinburgh? Enormous thanks to Wayne, and be sure to check out his website at eerieedinburgh.com for all of his links to his blogs, podcast, books and YouTube channel. Support How Haunted? by subscribing and leaving a review. This summer Rob takes on the "most difficult" walk in the North York Moors to raise money for Cancer Research UK. If you'd wish to sponsor us you can do so at justgiving.com/page/walk4john2025 Find out more about the pod at https://www.how-haunted.com and you can email Rob at Rob@how-haunted.com You can become a Patreon for as little as £1 a month. You can choose from three tiers and get yourself early access to episodes, and exclusive monthly episodes where Rob will conduct ghost hunts and you'll hear the audio from the night.  To sign up, and take advantage of a free seven day trial, visit https://patreon.com/HowHauntedPod Perhaps you'd rather buy me a coffee to make a one off donation to support the pod, you can do that at https://www.buymeacoffee.com/HowHauntedPod Check out the official merch store at how-haunted.dashery.com where you can buy t-shirts, hoodies, mugs, hats, and much more. They come in a vast selection of colours and a wide range of sizes.  Music in this episode includes: Darren Curtis – Lurking Evil: https://youtu.be/3i0aVnpeppw " HORROR PIANO MUSIC " composed and produced by "Vivek Abhishek" Music link :https://youtu.be/xbjuAGgk5lU || SUBSCRIBE us on YOUTUBE: https://youtu.be/DQQmmCl8crQ || Follow on Facebook: https://bit.ly/33RWRtP || Follow on Instagram: https://bit.ly/2ImU2JV

Agility requires that brands have a fundamental understanding of why they're doing things, and what customer expectations are, rather than chasing trends and implementing the latest tech. Without this, customer satisfaction will continue to slide, and brands won't be any closer to knowing what to do to solve for that. I am here in Edinburgh with my guest today, who has worked with some of the world's largest brands, written several books, and hosts a great podcast of his own. To talk about a few things today, I'd like to welcome Adrian Swinscoe, Host of the Punk CX Podcast. About Adrian Swinscoe Described as an experimental CX thought leader and visionary, Adrian Swinscoe is a best-selling author, Forbes contributor, speaker, investor, advisor and aspirant CX Punk.He has been growing and helping develop customer-focused large and small businesses for over 25 years now.His clients have included brands such as Adobe, Apple, Cancer Research UK, Costa Coffee, the UKGov's Crown Commercial Service, ING, Intercontinental Hotel Group, KFC, KPMG, ING, Kramp, Lloyds, Harper Collins, Médecins Sans Frontières, Megger, Microsoft, Nespresso, NowTV, Olympus, Pearson,Philips, Sky, Talk Talk, and Zoom as well as numerous tech vendors and many smaller and medium-sized businesses.Adrian is a frequent writer, podcaster and speaker on all things related to customer service and experience.He published a best-selling book in 2016 called How to Wow: 68 Effortless Ways to Make Every Customer Experience Amazing (Pearson), published a genre-busting book: Punk CX in 2019and published an exciting follow-up: Punk XL at the end of 2021. Adrian Swinscoe on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/adrianswinscoe/ Resources Punk CX Podcast: https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/ https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/ The Agile Brand podcast is brought to you by TEKsystems. Learn more here: https://www.teksystems.com/versionnextnow Catch the future of e-commerce at eTail Boston, August 11-14, 2025. Register now: https://bit.ly/etailboston and use code PARTNER20 for 20% off for retailers and brandsDon't Miss MAICON 2025, October 14-16 in Cleveland - the event bringing together the brights minds and leading voices in AI. Use Code AGILE150 for $150 off registration. Go here to register: https://bit.ly/agile150" Connect with Greg on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/gregkihlstromDon't miss a thing: get the latest episodes, sign up for our newsletter and more: https://www.theagilebrand.showCheck out The Agile Brand Guide website with articles, insights, and Martechipedia, the wiki for marketing technology: https://www.agilebrandguide.com The Agile Brand is produced by Missing Link—a Latina-owned strategy-driven, creatively fueled production co-op. From ideation to creation, they craft human connections through intelligent, engaging and informative content. https://www.missinglink.company Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Agility requires that brands have a fundamental understanding of why they're doing things, and what customer expectations are, rather than chasing trends and implementing the latest tech. Without this, customer satisfaction will continue to slide, and brands won't be any closer to knowing what to do to solve for that. I am here in Edinburgh with my guest today, who has worked with some of the world's largest brands, written several books, and hosts a great podcast of his own. To talk about a few things today, I'd like to welcome Adrian Swinscoe, Host of the Punk CX Podcast. About Adrian Swinscoe Described as an experimental CX thought leader and visionary, Adrian Swinscoe is a best-selling author, Forbes contributor, speaker, investor, advisor and aspirant CX Punk. He has been growing and helping develop customer-focused large and small businesses for over 25 years now. His clients have included brands such as Adobe, Apple, Cancer Research UK, Costa Coffee, the UKGov's Crown Commercial Service, ING, Intercontinental Hotel Group, KFC, KPMG, ING, Kramp, Lloyds, Harper Collins, Médecins Sans Frontières, Megger, Microsoft, Nespresso, NowTV, Olympus, Pearson,Philips, Sky, Talk Talk, and Zoom as well as numerous tech vendors and many smaller and medium-sized businesses.Adrian is a frequent writer, podcaster and speaker on all things related to customer service and experience. He published a best-selling book in 2016 called How to Wow: 68 Effortless Ways to Make Every Customer Experience Amazing (Pearson), published a genre-busting book: Punk CX in 2019and published an exciting follow-up: Punk XL at the end of 2021. Adrian Swinscoe on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/adrianswinscoe/ Resources Punk CX Podcast: https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/ https://www.adrianswinscoe.com/ The Agile Brand podcast is brought to you by TEKsystems. Learn more here: https://www.teksystems.com/versionnextnow Catch the future of e-commerce at eTail Boston, August 11-14, 2025. Register now: https://bit.ly/etailboston and use code PARTNER20 for 20% off for retailers and brandsDon't Miss MAICON 2025, October 14-16 in Cleveland - the event bringing together the brights minds and leading voices in AI. Use Code AGILE150 for $150 off registration. Go here to register: https://bit.ly/agile150" Connect with Greg on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/gregkihlstromDon't miss a thing: get the latest episodes, sign up for our newsletter and more: https://www.theagilebrand.showCheck out The Agile Brand Guide website with articles, insights, and Martechipedia, the wiki for marketing technology: https://www.agilebrandguide.com The Agile Brand is produced by Missing Link—a Latina-owned strategy-driven, creatively fueled production co-op. From ideation to creation, they craft human connections through intelligent, engaging and informative content. https://www.missinglink.company

In this episode of Onc Now, host Jonathan Sackier is joined by Jean Abraham, Professor of Precision Breast Cancer Medicine at the University of Cambridge, to delve into the future of integrated cancer medicine, the evolving role of clinical trials, and how precision oncology is redefining outcomes for patients with breast cancer across the UK.  Timestamps  00:00 – Introduction  01:28 – Quickfire round  09:50 – Cambridge institutes for precision medicine  12:53 – Predictive/prognostic tools in breast cancer  15:33 – The future of breast cancer clinical trials  18:34 – Integrating genomic data  22:31 – Addressing cost barriers  24:22 – How AI is transforming breast cancer care  28:08 – Why oncology?  30:04 – A message to non-oncologists  31:54 – Abraham's three wishes for healthcare  

In this bonus episode, I had the pleasure of chatting with the lovely Eleanor Conlon and Martin Vaux about their fantastic Three Ravens Podcast, and their brand new book, Three Ravens Folk Tales. We covered all sorts of topics, as you'll hear, including how you could win your very own signed copy of this glorious new 320-page hardback. Quite simply, it's a must-have for anyone seeking the perfect companion to explore the folklore of England's 39 historic counties. Packed with tales of ghosts, mermaids, half-forgotten heroes, bloody legends, and more, it's an enchanting—and surprisingly hefty—addition to any bookshelf. And it could almost certainly double as a murder weapon, should the circumstances ever require it.* Check out the Three Ravens Podcast website www.threeravenspodcast.com Buy your copy of The Three Ravens Folk Tales from Amazon at https://amzn.to/46DhqeL You could buy my new book Ghosts of the North East at https://amzn.to/4nMHxpS   Support How Haunted? by subscribing and leaving a review. This summer Rob takes on the "most difficult" walk in the North York Moors to raise money for Cancer Research UK. If you'd wish to sponsor us you can do so at justgiving.com/page/walk4john2025 Find out more about the pod at https://www.how-haunted.com and you can email Rob at Rob@how-haunted.com You can become a Patreon supporter for as little as £1 a month. You can choose from three tiers and get yourself early access to episodes, and exclusive monthly episodes where Rob will conduct ghost hunts and you'll hear the audio from the night.  To sign up, and take advantage of a free seven day trial, visit https://patreon.com/HowHauntedPod Perhaps you'd rather buy me a coffee to make a one off donation to support the pod, you can do that at https://www.buymeacoffee.com/HowHauntedPod Check out the official merch store at how-haunted.dashery.com where you can buy t-shirts, hoodies, mugs, hats, and much more. They come in a vast selection of colours and a wide range of sizes.  *Please don't use the lovely big Three Ravens Folk Tales book as a murder weapon. Music in this episode includes: Darren Curtis – Lurking Evil: https://youtu.be/3i0aVnpeppw " HORROR PIANO MUSIC " composed and produced by "Vivek Abhishek" Music link :https://youtu.be/xbjuAGgk5lU || SUBSCRIBE us on YOUTUBE: https://youtu.be/DQQmmCl8crQ || Follow on Facebook: https://bit.ly/33RWRtP || Follow on Instagram: https://bit.ly/2ImU2JV

In episode 111 we continue our time in this former jail in the south west of England, in part-one you heard the detailed history of this site as well as the stories of those phantoms who are said to still be here, forever stalking these corridors and cells, long after their sentences would have ended. This time I will talk with two ladies who have spent much time here after dark, and I'm so excited for you to hear what they had to say.   So join me, and let us ask Diane and Gem, just how haunted is Bodmin Jail? Thanks so much to Diane Chambers, who you can find on Twitter (I still can't bring myself to call it X) at @dianeechambers and on Instagram at mort_ifer_viva and Gem Tredwin who you can find on Twitter at @gemmatredwin and on Instagram at gemtredwin. The episode of the Paranormal Monkey YouTube channel where Gem and Diane talked about their experiences at 30 East Drive can be found at www.youtube.com/watch?v=n0tJzYV_2YE If you want to join Gem on a haunted event check out the events page at pengennamanor.co.uk and www.jamaicainn.co.uk. Support How Haunted? by subscribing and leaving a review. In July Rob will be taking on the "most difficult" walk in the North York Moors to raise money for Cancer Research UK. If you'd wish to sponsor us you can do so at justgiving.com/page/walk4john2025 Find out more about the pod at https://www.how-haunted.com and you can email Rob at Rob@how-haunted.com You can become a Patreon for as little as £1 a month. You can choose from three tiers and get yourself early access to episodes, and exclusive monthly episodes where Rob will conduct ghost hunts and you'll hear the audio from the night. To sign up, and take advantage of a free seven day trial, visit https://patreon.com/HowHauntedPod Perhaps you'd rather buy me a coffee to make a one off donation to support the pod, you can do that at https://www.buymeacoffee.com/HowHauntedPod Check out the official merch store at how-haunted.dashery.com where you can buy t-shirts, hoodies, mugs, hats, and much more. They come in a vast selection of colours and a wide range of sizes.  Music in this episode includes: Darren Curtis – Lurking Evil: https://youtu.be/3i0aVnpeppw " HORROR PIANO MUSIC " composed and produced by "Vivek Abhishek" Music link :https://youtu.be/xbjuAGgk5lU || SUBSCRIBE us on YOUTUBE: https://youtu.be/DQQmmCl8crQ || Follow on Facebook: https://bit.ly/33RWRtP || Follow on Instagram: https://bit.ly/2ImU2JV

Jamie Hartmann-Boyce and Nicola Lindson interview Lauren McMillan, University of Stirling about her project evaluating the effectiveness of an e-cigarette intervention for smoking cessation at centres for people experiencing or at risk of homelessness. Associate Professor Jamie Hartmann-Boyce and Associate Professor Nicola Lindson discuss the new evidence in e-cigarette research and interview Lauren McMillan from the Institute for Social Marketing and Health (ISMH) at the University of Stirling. In the June podcast Lauren discusses Project SCeTCH - a cluster RCT that evaluates the effectiveness of an e-cigarette intervention vs usual care at centres for people experiencing or at risk of homelessness. The study measures smoking abstinence over a 6 month follow-up period and includes embedded process and economic evaluations. If effective, the results will be used to inform the larger-scale implementation of offering e-cigarettes throughout centres for people experiencing or at risk of homelessness to aid smoking cessation. Lauren is part of the research team, led by Dr Allison Ford at the University of Stirling, that conducted the process evaluation of the SCeTCH trial . The main SCeTCH trial was led by Professor Lynne Dawkins (London Southbank University) and Dr Sharon Cox (University College London). This podcast is a companion to the electronic cigarettes Cochrane living systematic review and Interventions for quitting vaping review and shares the evidence from the monthly searches. Our search for the EC for smoking cessation review carried out on 1st June 2025 found 1 ongoing study: https://clinicaltrials.gov/study/NCT06948058 Our search for our interventions for quitting vaping review up to 1st June 2025 found 2 new (DOI 10.1093/ntr/ntaf112; 10.1016/j.amepre.2025.107664) and 2 linked papers (DOI: 10.2196/72002; 10.1016/j.cct.2025.107958) For further details see our webpage under 'Monthly search findings': https://www.cebm.ox.ac.uk/research/electronic-cigarettes-for-smoking-cessation-cochrane-living-systematic-review-1 For more information on the full Cochrane review of E-cigarettes for smoking cessation updated in January 2025 see: https://www.cochranelibrary.com/cdsr/doi/10.1002/14651858.CD010216.pub9/full For more information on the full Cochrane review of Interventions for quitting vaping published in January 2025 see: https://www.cochranelibrary.com/cdsr/doi/10.1002/14651858.CD016058.pub2/full This podcast is supported by Cancer Research UK.

In episode 110 we head to Cornwall, and turn our attention to an infamous building, which is by far the location I've had the most requests to cover on the podcast. As a result this will be the first of a two-part special. In this episode I will tell you all about this former prison on the edge of Bodmin Moor, why it was built, the terrible conditions that inmates endured, those who were executed here, and of course the phantoms that now haunt the site. So join me, and let us ask together, just how haunted is Bodmin Jail? Support How Haunted? by subscribing and leaving a review. This summer Rob will be taking on the "most difficult" walk in the North York Moors to raise money for Cancer Research UK. If you'd wish to sponsor us you can do so at justgiving.com/page/walk4john2025 Find out more about the pod at https://www.how-haunted.com and you can email Rob at Rob@how-haunted.com You can become a Patreon for as little as £1 a month. You can choose from three tiers and get yourself early access to episodes, and exclusive monthly episodes where Rob will conduct ghost hunts and you'll hear the audio from the night. You can even get yourself some exclusive How Haunted? merch. To sign up, and take advantage of a free seven day trial, visit https://patreon.com/HowHauntedPod Perhaps you'd rather buy me a coffee to make a one off donation to support the pod, you can do that at https://www.buymeacoffee.com/HowHauntedPod Music in this episode includes: Darren Curtis – Lurking Evil: https://youtu.be/3i0aVnpeppw " HORROR PIANO MUSIC " composed and produced by "Vivek Abhishek" Music link :https://youtu.be/xbjuAGgk5lU || SUBSCRIBE us on YOUTUBE: https://youtu.be/DQQmmCl8crQ || Follow on Facebook: https://bit.ly/33RWRtP || Follow on Instagram: https://bit.ly/2ImU2JV

Originally released for Patreon supporters in May 2024 I hope you enjoy this very special episode. In the 21st Patreon bonus podcast you join me once again in the incredible city of York, and this time we spend a night at the original Treasurer's House. A building dating back to 1080, built on the site of a roman fort. But what would happen when my team and I stepped foot inside this award-winning hotel after dark, and attempted to make contact with the ghosts that stalk the corridors and bedrooms of this grade I listed building, that Is believed to be the oldest continuously occupied house in the country. Tonight, let us find out together as we ask the question, just how haunted is Grays Court? To get episodes such as this sooner, you can become a Patreon for £3 a month, and get yourself early access to episodes, and more exclusive episodes where Rob will conduct ghost hunts and you'll hear the audio from the night.  To find out more, or take advantage of a seven day free trial, head on over to https://patreon.com/HowHauntedPod   Perhaps you'd rather buy me a coffee to make a one off donation to support the pod, you can do that at https://www.buymeacoffee.com/HowHauntedPod   In July Rob will be taking on the "most difficult" walk in the North York Moors to raise money for Cancer Research UK. If you'd wish to sponsor us you can do so at justgiving.com/page/walk4john2025   Find out more about the pod at https://www.how-haunted.com and you can email Rob at Rob@how-haunted.com   Music in this episode includes: "Darren Curtis - Demented Nightmare" https://youtu.be/g_O4kS9FP3k   " HORROR PIANO MUSIC " composed and produced by "Vivek Abhishek"   Music link : https://youtu.be/xbjuAGgk5lU SUBSCRIBE us on YOUTUBE: https://youtu.be/DQQmmCl8crQ Follow on Facebook: https://bit.ly/33RWRtP Follow on Instagram: https://bit.ly/2ImU2JV

In episode 109 we are doing something a bit different as I'm taking you along on a big summer ghost hunt. You join me at the site of a former infectious diseases hospital, which is today the countryside centre for the vast country park in which it is located. My small team and I will be part of an organised paranormal investigation and you'll hear almost an hour of audio from that night. And trust me, it's a night that no one in attendance will forget in a hurry........as hard as they may try. So join Tom, John and I and let us find out together, just how haunted is the Scaffold Hill Hospital? Huge thanks to Spiritus Paranormal, check out their future investigations on their Facebook page www.facebook.com/SpiritusParanormalInvestigations Check out Rob Davies' YouTube channel at www.youtube.com/c/DeadAirTV Support How Haunted? by subscribing and leaving a review. In July Rob will be taking on the "most difficult" walk in the North York Moors to raise money for Cancer Research UK. If you'd wish to sponsor us you can do so at justgiving.com/page/walk4john2025 Find out more about the pod at https://www.how-haunted.com and you can email Rob at Rob@how-haunted.com You can become a Patreon for as little as £1 a month. You can choose from three tiers and get yourself early access to episodes, and exclusive monthly episodes - much like this one - where Rob will conduct ghost hunts and you'll hear the audio from the night. You can even get yourself some exclusive How Haunted? merch. To sign up, and take advantage of a free seven day trial, visit https://patreon.com/HowHauntedPod Perhaps you'd rather buy me a coffee to make a one off donation to support the pod, you can do that at https://www.buymeacoffee.com/HowHauntedPod Music in this episode includes: Darren Curtis – Lurking Evil: https://youtu.be/3i0aVnpeppw " HORROR PIANO MUSIC " composed and produced by "Vivek Abhishek" Music link :https://youtu.be/xbjuAGgk5lU || SUBSCRIBE us on YOUTUBE: https://youtu.be/DQQmmCl8crQ || Follow on Facebook: https://bit.ly/33RWRtP || Follow on Instagram: https://bit.ly/2ImU2JV

In episode 108 we head to a mansion in Hampshire built in the early 17th century. I will tell you all about this building which was the home of aristocracy, and kings and queens for almost 400 years, but now stands silent, empty and abandoned whilst currently up to sale. This grand house is infamous as it is believed to be haunted by at least 14 separate specters. Let me tell you introduce you to all of them, as you join me in asking, just how haunted is Bramshill House? Support How Haunted? by subscribing and leaving a review. In July Rob will be taking on the "most difficult" walk in the North York Moors to raise money for Cancer Research UK. If you'd wish to sponsor us you can do so at justgiving.com/page/walk4john2025 Find out more about the pod at https://www.how-haunted.com and you can email Rob at Rob@how-haunted.com You can become a Patreon for as little as £1 a month. You can choose from three tiers and get yourself early access to episodes, and exclusive monthly episodes where Rob will conduct ghost hunts and you'll hear the audio from the night. You can even get yourself some exclusive How Haunted? merch. To sign up, and take advantage of a free seven day trial, visit https://patreon.com/HowHauntedPod Perhaps you'd rather buy me a coffee to make a one off donation to support the pod, you can do that at https://www.buymeacoffee.com/HowHauntedPod Music in this episode includes: Darren Curtis – Lurking Evil: https://youtu.be/3i0aVnpeppw " HORROR PIANO MUSIC " composed and produced by "Vivek Abhishek" Music link :https://youtu.be/xbjuAGgk5lU || SUBSCRIBE us on YOUTUBE: https://youtu.be/DQQmmCl8crQ || Follow on Facebook: https://bit.ly/33RWRtP || Follow on Instagram: https://bit.ly/2ImU2JV

We hear a lot about the pressures boys and young men are under and how many of them are looking to the online world - or manosphere as it's sometimes called - to find answers. Prompted by the drama Adolescence on Netflix, the topic has been in the news regularly in recent weeks. This week the Women and Equalities Select Committee heard evidence on the manosphere. Anita Rani is joined by Will Adolphy, who was a dedicated follower of the manosphere until, in his mid 20s, he had a breakdown. He went offline for five years and rebuilt his life. He is now a psychotherapist, coach, and goes to schools to speak about healthy masculinity.This week ITV has announced a shake up of the scheduling and production of its popular daytime shows including Lorraine, Loose Women and Good Morning Britain. Whilst Good Morning Britain will be extended, both Lorraine and Loose Women will see their number of shows cut. Entertainment journalist and expert on all-things TV Scott Bryan unpicks why this is happening.The Bombing of Pan Am 103 – is a new BBC factual drama series. Based on the true story of the bombing of a passenger flight over a small Scottish town of Lockerbie on 21 December 1988, in which 270 people were killed. Kathryn Turman was Assistant to a federal Senator at the time of the bombing. After the trial she joined the FBI where she founded the agency's first ever Victim Services Division. Her experience in the aftermath of the Pan Am bombing proved invaluable to the FBI's response to the 9/11 attacks, and she has aided victims and families throughout major moments in history including the Las Vegas shooting and the Boston marathon bombing. She discusses her mission to help victims, and what inspired her work in public service.Next month marks three years since the journalist and host of BBC's You, Me and the Big C podcast Deborah James - known to many as Bowel Babe - died, aged 40, five years after her stage four bowel cancer diagnosis. Bowel cancer is the third most common cancer type and cause of cancer death for women. Since the early 1990s, the incidence rate in women aged 25-49 has increased by almost 60%. Bowel cancer is treatable if diagnosed early. Heather James, Deborah's mother, is fulfilling a promise to her daughter and continuing with Deborah's awareness-raising work - she and Michelle Mitchell, Chief Executive of Cancer Research UK, are in the Woman's Hour studio.Presenter: Anita Rani Producer: Kirsty Starkey

In episode 107 I head north of the border to a stunning cemetery in Scotland's largest city. This city of the dead overlooks the city of the living, and its most prominent monument celebrates it's 200th birthday this year, predating the first burial here. With 50,000 of the city's dead buried here, it comes as no surprise that this place has long been rumoured to be haunted, but the best known supernatural entity said to lurk here in the darkness, is a vampire. A vampire which was so feared in the 1950s that school children descended on the graveyard with all manner of weapons, hell bent on putting an end to the monster. Let me tell you all about it, as you join me in asking, just how haunted is the Glasgow Necropolis? Support How Haunted? by subscribing and leaving a review. In July Rob will be taking on the "most difficult" walk in the North York Moors to raise money for Cancer Research UK. If you'd wish to sponsor us you can do so at justgiving.com/page/walk4john2025 Find out more about the pod at https://www.how-haunted.com and you can email Rob at Rob@how-haunted.com You can become a Patreon for as little as £1 a month. You can choose from three tiers and get yourself early access to episodes, and exclusive monthly episodes where Rob will conduct ghost hunts and you'll hear the audio from the night. You can even get yourself some exclusive How Haunted? merch. To sign up, and take advantage of a free seven day trial, visit https://patreon.com/HowHauntedPod Perhaps you'd rather buy me a coffee to make a one off donation to support the pod, you can do that at https://www.buymeacoffee.com/HowHauntedPod Music in this episode includes: Darren Curtis – Lurking Evil: https://youtu.be/3i0aVnpeppw " HORROR PIANO MUSIC " composed and produced by "Vivek Abhishek" Music link :https://youtu.be/xbjuAGgk5lU || SUBSCRIBE us on YOUTUBE: https://youtu.be/DQQmmCl8crQ || Follow on Facebook: https://bit.ly/33RWRtP || Follow on Instagram: https://bit.ly/2ImU2JV

Originally released for Patreon supporters in April 2024 I hope you enjoy this very special episode. In the 20th Patreon bonus podcast you join me on location at a 14th century pele tower in Northumberland, constructed during uncertain times when England was at war with Scotland, and being so close to the border required this tower to be fortified. But what would happen when, all alone, I stepped foot inside this tower? Would I hear the footsteps and voices heard here all too often, or perhaps I would be unfortunate enough to encounter the Preston Hound? Also you'll hear all about what happened to a listener when they visited during the summer of 2023. So tonight, join me as together we ask, just how haunted is Preston Tower? To get episodes such as this sooner, you can become a Patreon for £3 a month, and get yourself early access to episodes, and more exclusive episodes where Rob will conduct ghost hunts and you'll hear the audio from the night.  To find out more, or take advantage of a seven day free trial, head on over to https://patreon.com/HowHauntedPod Perhaps you'd rather buy me a coffee to make a one off donation to support the pod, you can do that at https://www.buymeacoffee.com/HowHauntedPod   Find out more about the pod at https://www.how-haunted.com and you can email Rob at Rob@how-haunted.com   In July Rob will be taking on the "most difficult" walk in the North York Moors to raise money for Cancer Research UK. If you'd wish to sponsor us you can do so at justgiving.com/page/walk4john2025   Music in this episode includes: "Darren Curtis - Demented Nightmare" https://youtu.be/g_O4kS9FP3k   " HORROR PIANO MUSIC " composed and produced by "Vivek Abhishek"   Music link : https://youtu.be/xbjuAGgk5lU SUBSCRIBE us on YOUTUBE: https://youtu.be/DQQmmCl8crQ Follow on Facebook: https://bit.ly/33RWRtP Follow on Instagram: https://bit.ly/2ImU2JV

In episode 106 we bring our time in an incredible, yet horrifying city in Massachusetts to a close. The impact of the 1692 witch trials is evident at every turn for anyone fortunate enough to visit, especially around Halloween, as one listener took the time to tell me about, as you'll hear. This might be the final part of a trilogy of episodes, but there's so, so much left to tell you as we've eight more scary places to visit, and go deep into the history and ghost stories. So without further ado, join me and let us ask together for the third and final time, just how haunted is Salem? Support How Haunted? by subscribing and leaving a review. In July Rob will be taking on the "most difficult" walk in the North York Moors to raise money for Cancer Research UK. If you'd wish to sponsor us you can do so at justgiving.com/page/walk4john2025 Find out more about the pod at https://www.how-haunted.com and you can email Rob at Rob@how-haunted.com You can become a Patreon for as little as £1 a month. You can choose from three tiers and get yourself early access to episodes, and exclusive monthly episodes where Rob will conduct ghost hunts and you'll hear the audio from the night. You can even get yourself some exclusive How Haunted? merch. To sign up, and take advantage of a free seven day trial, visit https://patreon.com/HowHauntedPod Perhaps you'd rather buy me a coffee to make a one off donation to support the pod, you can do that at https://www.buymeacoffee.com/HowHauntedPod Music in this episode includes: Darren Curtis – Lurking Evil: https://youtu.be/3i0aVnpeppw " HORROR PIANO MUSIC " composed and produced by "Vivek Abhishek" Music link :https://youtu.be/xbjuAGgk5lU || SUBSCRIBE us on YOUTUBE: https://youtu.be/DQQmmCl8crQ || Follow on Facebook: https://bit.ly/33RWRtP || Follow on Instagram: https://bit.ly/2ImU2JV

Joining us this episode to discuss the highs and lows of parenting (and life) is Leanne Quigley. Leanne was the winner of the latest series of The Traitors UK 2025 and ambassador for Cancer Research UK. **TRIGGER WARNING** This episode contains discussions of IVF, C-sections and premature childbirth. Leanne is swapping the round table for the turn table as she takes on her next big challenge of running this year's Race for Life to raise vital funds for Cancer Research UK, a disease close to her heart. This campaign is deeply personal; in July 2024, just before she filmed The Traitors, Sophie Jones, Leanne's fiancée was diagnosed with stage three breast cancer. Through every step of Sophie's treatment, Leanne stood by her side, and now, after Sophie's all-clear in January, the couple are celebrating with a wedding on the horizon.  The former soldier and mum to two-year-old twin boys discusses parenting, her Race for Life challenge, the impact of cancer on her family, her time on The Traitors, and her plans for the future!  Parenting Hell is a Spotify Podcast, available everywhere every Tuesday and Friday. Please subscribe and leave a rating and review you filthy street dogs... xx If you want to get in touch with the show with any correspondence, kids intro audio clips, small business shout outs, and more.... here's how: EMAIL: Hello@lockdownparenting.co.uk Follow us on instagram: @parentinghell  Join the mailing list to be first to hear about live show dates and tickets, Parenting Hell merch and any other exciting news... MAILING LIST: parentinghellpodcast.mailchimpsites.com A 'Keep It Light Media' Production  Sales, advertising, and general enquiries: hello@keepitlightmedia.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

This very special episode is brought to you in paid partnership with Cancer Research UK. At the end of last year, myself, Richard Herring and Mark Steel sat down to have a frank, raw, funny and open conversation about something that has affected us all - cancer. We were later joined by Dr Sam Godfrey, the Science Engagement Lead at Cancer Research UK, who gave us invaluable insight into the incredible work Cancer Research UK are doing and why the future is looking bright. Disclaimer for this one - very strong language and discussions of cancer diagnosis and treatment are used throughout. Disclaimer: CRUK can only accept donations from countries where we are a registered charity. Cancer Research UK is a registered charity in England and Wales (1089464), Scotland (SC041666), the Isle of Man (1103) and Jersey (247). #ad Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This very special episode is brought to you in paid partnership with Cancer Research UK. At the end of last year, myself, Matt Forde and Mark Steel sat down to have a frank, raw, funny and open conversation about something that has affected us all - cancer. We were later joined by Dr Sam Godfrey, the Science Engagement Lead at Cancer Research UK, who gave us invaluable insight into the incredible work Cancer Research UK are doing and why the future is looking bright. Disclaimer for this one - very strong language and discussions of cancer diagnosis and treatment are used throughout. Disclaimer: CRUK can only accept donations from countries where we are a registered charity. Cancer Research UK is a registered charity in England and Wales (1089464), Scotland (SC041666), the Isle of Man (1103) and Jersey (247). #ad Become a member at https://plus.acast.com/s/rhlstp. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.