Major accomplishments of the Centre include: establishing the field of nutrition and gene regulation in the intestine (Norman Krechmer prize); discovering treatment for the parasite Cryptosporidium; developing a nutritional therapy for children with Crohn's disease that avoids growth suppression (Crohn's & Colitis Foundation of America Silver Jubilee Award); elucidating the mechanism by which Dengue virus inhibits interferon signalling; and unravelling an immune basis for growth failure in children with Crohn's disease.

 

Academic Surgical Unit

The successful creation of an integrated environment by which scientific developments can be rapidly translated into new clinical practice has enabled the Unit to understand the underlying disorder and design and evaluate several new operative techniques leading to improved patient care over the past nineteen years. These include the electrically stimulated neo-anal sphincter, the colonic conduit, the Express technique for anorectal prolapse, rectal augmentation and reduction for urgency and megarectum respectively. These procedures have been taken from the experimental setting into clinical practice and have been evaluated objectively in clinical trials. Funding for development has come from various sources, including MRC and Wellcome. In 1997, NSCAG funding was obtained to underpin the clinical evaluation of total anorectal reconstruction.

The Unit has made fundamental discoveries in the pathophysiology and molecular biology of benign and malignant colorectal disease such as highlighting the importance of visceral sensory dysfunction, the discovery of novel neuroreceptors in the rectal wall, and cholinergic nerve damage in diverticular disease. We have identified a role for local regulation of growth factors in the development of colorectal cancers, developed molecular assays for the detection of occult disease in blood, identified expression signatures characteristic of MSI-H colorectal cancers, provided new evidence to show that MSI-H colorectal cancers are immunogenic, suggested a role for Heat Shock Proteins in this process, and have identified molecular markers associated with patient survival following surgery for colorectal cancer. We are also internationally acknowledged as a centre of innovation in nucleic acid quantification technology.

The Unit has scored highly in previous RAE's and various members have won prestigious national and international prizes and awards, eg Moynihan Prize, The Association of Surgeons of Great Britain and Ireland 1993; The Nessim Habif Prize, University of Geneva 1995; Colon and Rectal Disease Research Foundation Prize for best scientific presentation, Association of Coloproctology of Great Britain and Ireland 2001; the Galen Medal, Apothecaries 2002; British Journal of Surgery Research Foundation Prize, Association of Coloproctology of Great Britain and Ireland 2003. The Centre Lead has chaired the research group which mounted the largest international trial of adjuvant therapy in colorectal cancer - the QUASAR study. Various Unit members have co-authored or edited important reference books in the field, eg Bailey and Love's Short Practice of Surgery, Surgery of the Anus, Rectum and Colon , Surgical Evaluation and Management of Anal Fistula, and A-Z of Quantitative PCR.