Professor Nick Lemoine

Overview

My groups' primary research interests are in the genomics and molecular pathology of pancreatic cancer and the development of oncolytic virotherapy.

• Bioinformatics
• Prevention and Screening
• Viral Gene Therapy
• Pancreatic

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Research

I work with Professor Claude Chelala and Dr Tatjana Crnogorac-Jurcevic on the genomics and molecular pathology of pancreatic cancer. We use global profiling approaches at the genomic and proteomic levels to identify targets that can be exploited for detection and treatment of this disease. We are also developing novel platforms and algorithms for the bioinformatic interrogation and interpretation of very large, multidimensional datasets.

I work with Professor Yaohe Wang and Dr Gunnel Halldén on the development of oncolytic virotherapy, an approach that uses adenoviruses and vaccinia viruses that selectively replicate within and kill cancer cells, but leave normal cells untouched. We are also working on defining the cell survival signalling circuits that determine the sensitivity of cancer cells to this approach. The role of the immune system in modulating viral replication and tumour cell destruction is the focus of a major new programme.

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Key Publications

Re-designing Interleukin-12 to enhance its safety and potential as an anti-tumor immunotherapeutic agent. Nat Commun (2017) 9;8(1):1395. PMID: 29123084

Lister strain vaccinia virus with thymidine kinase gene deletion is a tractable platform for development of a new generation of oncolytic virus. Gene Ther  (2015) 22: 476-484. PMID: 25876464

A Vaccinia virus armed with interleukin-10 is a promising therapeutic agent for treatment of murine pancreatic cancer. Clin Cancer Res (2015) 21: 405-416. PMID: 25416195

A multi-gene signature predicts outcome in patients with pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma. Genome Med (2014) 6:105. PMID: 25587357

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Major Funding

• 2016-2019- Medical Research Council, Developmental Pathway Funding Scheme Programme Grant, £0.75M
• 2017-2022- Cancer Research UK, Centre of Excellence Award (lead applicant with five others), £12M

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Other Activities

• Medical Director of the NIHR Clinical Research Network
• Head of Research & Innovation, Cancer & Surgery Clinical Academic Group, Barts Health NHS Trust
• Executive Dean of the Academy of Medical Sciences, Zhengzhou University, Peoples Republic of China
• Non-Executive Director, Royal Surrey County Hospital NHS Foundation Trust

National and International Committees (current)

• MRC Stratified Medicine Scientific Expert Panel (vice Chair)
• MRC-Innovate UK (Technology Strategy Board) Biocatalyst Major Awards Panel
• NIHR Invention for Innovation Challenge Awards Panel (Chair)
• NIHR Strategy Board
• Irish Health Research Board/Medical Research Charities Advisory Panel (Chair)
• Prostate Cancer UK Scientific Advisory Board (Chair)
• Pancreatic Cancer Research Fund Scientific Advisory Board (Chair)
• Pancreatic Cancer UK Scientific Advisory Board (Vice-Chair)
• Lister Institute Scientific Advisory Committee
• North-East Thames Advisory Committee on Clinical Excellence Awards (Medical Vice-Chair)

Trusteeship

• Chair of Trustees, Medical Research Foundation (MRC’s independently managed charity)

External scientific activities

• Visiting Professor of Molecular Oncology, Zhengzhou University, China
• VCN Biosciences (Barcelona), Scientific Advisory Board

Editorial activities

• Commissioning Editor of British Medical Bulletin
• Science Advisory Board: Journal of Pathology
• Editorial Board (current):
  Future Oncology
  Current Opinion in Molecular Therapeutics

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Biography

I trained in medicine at St Bartholomew’s Hospital Medical College where I qualified with the University of London Gold Medal in 1983, specialising in pathology and oncology with posts in London and Cardiff. I gained my PhD in molecular oncology in 1988 working on the molecular genetics of thyroid cancer at The University of Wales College of Medicine in Cardiff, and then my MD in molecular oncology in 1992 working on growth factor receptor abnormalities at the Royal Postgraduate Medical School, London.

I was Professor of Molecular Pathology at Imperial College London, where I was Director of the Cancer Research UK Molecular Oncology Unit and the first Director of the National Translational Cancer Research Centre at Hammersmith Hospital, before moving to become Director of the Barts Cancer Institute in 2004.

I am currently National Director of Strategic Development for the NIHR Research Delivery Network and a Trustee & Non-Executive Director for the Association of Medical Research Charities and Pancreatic Cancer UK. I am also President of the Medical Research Foundation.

I was previously Chair of Trustees of the Medical Research Foundation (MRC’s independent charity), and Chair of funding and research strategy boards including the NIHR i4i Challenge Awards Panel, Diabetes UK Research Committee, Prostate Cancer UK Research Strategy Board, Pancreatic Cancer Research Fund Scientific Committee, Irish Health Board & Research Charities Committee. I was also a member of the MRC Stratified Medicine Expert Review Committee (Vice Chair), CR-UK Clinical Research Monitoring Committee, Pancreatic Cancer UK Scientific Advisory Committee, and the Lister Institute for Preventive Medicine.

I have previously been Chairman of the MRC Clinical Research & Career Development Panel and the NIHR Clinician Scientist Appointments & Review Panel. I chaired the MRC Stem Cell Fellowship Panel, the CR-UK Clinician Scientist and Senior Clinician Fellowship Panel and the MRC Experimental Medicine Review Panel for the Molecular & Cellular Medicine Board. I was a long-serving member of the Gene Therapy Advisory Committee at the Department of Health, as well as the CR-UK Science Funding Committee, MRC Molecular & Cellular Medicine Board, CORE Scientific Advisory Board and many other scientific review committees.

I was the Editor of the Nature Specialist Journal Gene Therapy for twenty years (1997- 2017), and my research into the molecular pathology of cancer and gene therapy has been funded by programme grants from MRC, Cancer Research UK, Digestive Cancer Campaign and the European Union. I was elected as a fellow of the Academy of Medical Sciences in 2006 and as a Foreign Academician of the Chinese Academy of Engineering in 2017. I was presented with the China National Friendship Award by Premier Li Keqiang of the Chinese Government in 2017. I was awarded a CBE for services to clinical research, particularly during the COVID-19 pandemic in the 2022 New Year Honours.

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Related News

Professor Nick Lemoine recognised in the New Year Honours List

Congratulations to Professor Nick Lemoine, Director of Barts Cancer Institute at Queen Mary University of London, who has received a CBE for services to clinical research, particularly during COVID-19.

General News   5 January 2022

Prof Nick Lemoine interviewed on Channel 4 News about long COVID

During the interview, Professor Lemoine highlighted that studies being undertaken across the country aim to elucidate the mechanisms involved in long COVID, and further studies are being set up to identify treatments that will be effective against the disease.

In the Media   29 November 2021

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