As UNC Lineberger scientists Adrienne Cox, PhD, and Channing Der, PhD, sat in a dining hall among robed students at Cambridge University, they wondered if they had mistakenly entered a scene from Harry Potter. Meanwhile, surgeons Benjamin Calvo, MD, Hong Jin Kim, MD, and Jen Jen Yeh, MD, dined while sharing large serving plates with their hosts in Beijing, 7,114 miles away from home.

The five faculty members traveled in October to help develop international research in professional exchanges with oncology scientists and physicians in the United Kingdom and China.

Cox, associate professor of radiation oncology, said the three main goals for her trip to the Cambridge Research Institute (CRI) were to conduct collaborative experiments with Dr. David Tuveson’s laboratory, to retrieve expertise to bring back to Lineberger and to initiate coordinated relationships between the two institutions.

Der, professor of pharmacology said,“ The highlight was the opportunity for us to observe and to participate first-hand in some research that the group in the U.K. has pioneered in the use of experimental models to discover new anti-cancer drugs.” He said he enjoyed the opportunity to spend time in a lab where he could learn about cancer research and then transfer the knowledge to the labs at UNC.

Both members of the UNC Lineberger Molecular Therapeutics Program, Cox and Der conduct research focused on pancreatic cancer. Because those diagnosed with pancreatic cancer have low survival rates, researchers must find ways to detect and treat the tumor early enough so that patients can be treated before their tumors have advanced.

As Cox learned from the lab in the UK, she said, “They have a lot of programs at CRI that are complementary to ours. Also, you can’t get the experience of being on a medieval street anywhere around [Chapel Hill].”

Yeh, assistant professor of surgery, named the goals for visiting China as sharing her expertise in intraoperative radiation and beginning a collaboration with the surgeons there. Intraoperative radiation therapy (IORT) involves a machine called a Mobetron that administers a single dose of radiation in the OR during a patient’s operation. The single-dose can have the same effect as 20 daily radiation treatments.

Yeh said, “[The Chinese] have poor access to care many times. The concerns for Chinese people are different from those of our population. Not everyone can come to the centralized centers for care or radiation therapy, which is why intraoperative radiation therapy may be a promising and practical option for them.”

Drs. Kim and Calvo also met with National Institutes of Health Field Officer in Beijing, Julie Schneider, to talk about ways that the NIH can facilitate collaborative work with China. Kim is associate professor of surgery, and Calvo is professor of surgery and division chief of surgical oncology.

“Our aim was to establish personal communications because we would love the opportunity to send surgical residents or research fellows to China,” said Calvo. Calvo said he would like Lineberger to be involved in international collaborative relationships with researchers so that physicians in Chapel Hill can share with and learn from health care providers and scientists in other countries.

Der said he hoped that the collaborations would produce a long-term productive exchange between the institutions.