FOR CLEAN VERSION SEE STORY NUMBER: 4045006

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Scientists controlling EU projects worth millions of dollars say the British exit from Europe risks the future of medical research, and may endanger future treatments for cancer and children.

Research projects at Kings and University Colleges in London rely on the collaboration of hundreds of doctors and multidisciplinary scientists across Europe - which could come under threat because of Brexit.

STORY-LINE:

Precision medicine is changing the future for cancer patients.

This lab at University College London has devised a safer and simpler alternative to standard radioactive techniques of imaging tumours.

Professor Xavier Golay's team has discovered a way to make a tumour light up with a simple sugar solution.

Because the solution is not radioactive is doesn't carry the same side effects which make patients sick.

It means radiodlogists can see tumours in more detail and check them more frequently.

That in turn allows doctors to personalise drug treatments for the patient.

They can respond more quickly, seeing what works and what doesn't and that speed could save more lives.

The team here is about to begin a trial on the new imaging technique thanks to a six and a half million Euro grant from the European Union.

The whole university has 103-million Euros to fund medical and science projects over the next few years.

All currently funded projects will be allowed to complete - but it's what happens next that's vexing doctors and scientist who argue breakthroughs don't come to order at the end of one trial.

Golay says for the vast majority of scientists in Britain the result of the recent EU referendum - for the UK to exit - was a shock.

Golay says it's not just the money which will risk future projects like this.

His team - like most university and hospital research groups - comes from all over the European Union.

Collaboration on this imaging project is with other specialist scientists at the Max Planck Institute in Germany as well as other units including France and Italy.

He's already concerned about the future.

"I've heard of at least two, three very senior people who've said okay right, now I'm taking all my grant with me and I'm going back to Germany, Switzerland, France because actually, in that way, they know they'll still have access and it's not only access to funding because the funding is great in this country, it is really good. It's really (about) access to funding and this opportunity to collaborate."

At preschool age Rens Van Velzen's parents realised he was struggling with dyslexia, but when he went to school it became clear he was autistic.

Van Velzen, now a highly intelligent fifteen year old, is part of Europe's largest study into mental health disorder.

Here researchers like Hannah Haywood combine genetics, neuroimaging, cognitive testing and clinical assessments to try to discover what are the causes.

The research project called EU Aims is carried out here at Kings College London in collaboration with scientists in other centres of Europe.

Costing 32 million Euros it's also the biggest grant given to any one project.

Autism Spectrum Disorder is a developmental problem which affects the way people interact with the world around them.

People are affected differently and scientists want to understand why those differences occur.

Haywood says: "One can go on to a life where they never speak, they are highly affected and quite disabled. Another person can go on (to be) fully verbal and become a professor at Cambridge (University) and someone else can go on and live a full life with marriage and children, why does that happen? Why does it affect people so differently when it's effectively the same condition. So we're trying to answer those questions, we're trying to understand why it affects different people in different ways and I think the thing that really attracted me to the project is because, we're trying to highlight the great skills and strengths in this group as well as the things that people find difficult."

The goal is to identify biomarkers and develop drug treatments.

It's a long term study, but how long can it continue here and what happens to the research after the current funding ends in 2020?

Rens Van Velzen is already preparing for A-levels in maths, chemistry and physics.

But his autism means life outside the classroom is not always straightforward.

He explains: "Quite often when talking peer to peer, the other person can get frustrated with how I respond because they're (I'm) not responding the way that they're expecting me to respond as the people usually do. So quite often I don't pick up someone's annoyed, or that sort of thing. It's very hard to explain because I haven't had the experience of not having autism."

Haywood, like others on the team, is convinced the project must be protected and fears Britain leaving the EU will end large scale endeavours like this which progress more steadily because of the wide collaboration among doctors and scientists.

She says: "Quite often there can be a lot of negativity around being diagnosed and living with the condition and in my work, I've worked with autism for twelve years, I have met some of the most skilled and highly intelligent people."

Van Velzen has been part of the study since it started.

Now he's hoping for a career in astrophysics.

"I think I'll work on either discovering more about our universe and our place in it, or working on ways to get to other parts of the universe," says Van Velzen.

After completing puzzles in record time he goes on for tests in the eye tracking unit.

Studies have used eye-tracing technology to see how long autistic children spend looking at the social and non-social features in a series of images on pictures and videos like these.

Ren's mother Jose Van Velzen is a cognitive neuroscientist herself although she does not work on this project.

While she is confident about her son's academic success she worries about how he will cope with work and whether he will find happiness in personal relationships.

She says: "It is sometimes challenging for Rens to keep track of what the person he's talking to is feeling and how he's being perceived. He's very much driven by telling things as they are, or how he sees them and of course in normal interaction, in normal relationships you constantly monitor what the other person is thinking. That's definitely very challenging for him and he is aware that this is one of his weaknesses he needs to work on he cannot always deal with it at that particular time and I think that is something in general that will make relationships and work environments quite a challenging place for him."

According to scientists here this project is the first of it kind in the world developing the infrastructure which will underpin new treatments for autism.

There are hundreds of scientists involved in British research projects which are funded by the EU.

The lead scientist on the autism project at Kings is Professor Declan Murphy - and he too is concerned about what Brexit will mean.

He says:"It's virtually impossible for one country alone to recruit the amount of patients that you really need for a large scale, modern day trial, or study that's going to lead to reliable results. We increasingly recognise that big questions need big populations to come up with the right answers and we simply cannot deliver the amount of patients for the amount of science from one centre from one country. For Example my work needs approximately a thousand individuals who are affected by autism. You couldn't recruit that from one centre, or from one country within a time frame that is meaningful, but we can do that by going to mulitple centres across Europe, working together and learning from eachother."

The EU's Horizon 2020 budget is 80-billion Euro which funds medicine and science research across Europe.

Britain's split from the EU will leave a funding gap as well as a brain drain according to Murphy and he argues it will be the children with autism who will lose out.

FOR CLEAN VERSION SEE STORY NUMBER: 4045006

LEAD IN:

Scientists controlling EU projects worth millions of dollars say the British exit from Europe risks the future of medical research, and may endanger future treatments for cancer and children.

Research projects at Kings and University Colleges in London rely on the collaboration of hundreds of doctors and multidisciplinary scientists across Europe - which could come under threat because of Brexit.

STORY-LINE:

Precision medicine is changing the future for cancer patients.

This lab at University College London has devised a safer and simpler alternative to standard radioactive techniques of imaging tumours.

Professor Xavier Golay's team has discovered a way to make a tumour light up with a simple sugar solution.

Because the solution is not radioactive is doesn't carry the same side effects which make patients sick.

It means radiodlogists can see tumours in more detail and check them more frequently.

That in turn allows doctors to personalise drug treatments for the patient.

They can respond more quickly, seeing what works and what doesn't and that speed could save more lives.

The team here is about to begin a trial on the new imaging technique thanks to a six and a half million Euro grant from the European Union.

The whole university has 103-million Euros to fund medical and science projects over the next few years.

All currently funded projects will be allowed to complete - but it's what happens next that's vexing doctors and scientist who argue breakthroughs don't come to order at the end of one trial.

Golay says for the vast majority of scientists in Britain the result of the recent EU referendum - for the UK to exit - was a shock.

Golay says it's not just the money which will risk future projects like this.

His team - like most university and hospital research groups - comes from all over the European Union.

Collaboration on this imaging project is with other specialist scientists at the Max Planck Institute in Germany as well as other units including France and Italy.

He's already concerned about the future.

"I've heard of at least two, three very senior people who've said okay right, now I'm taking all my grant with me and I'm going back to Germany, Switzerland, France because actually, in that way, they know they'll still have access and it's not only access to funding because the funding is great in this country, it is really good. It's really (about) access to funding and this opportunity to collaborate."

At preschool age Rens Van Velzen's parents realised he was struggling with dyslexia, but when he went to school it became clear he was autistic.

Van Velzen, now a highly intelligent fifteen year old, is part of Europe's largest study into mental health disorder.

Here researchers like Hannah Haywood combine genetics, neuroimaging, cognitive testing and clinical assessments to try to discover what are the causes.

The research project called EU Aims is carried out here at Kings College London in collaboration with scientists in other centres of Europe.

Costing 32 million Euros it's also the biggest grant given to any one project.

Autism Spectrum Disorder is a developmental problem which affects the way people interact with the world around them.

People are affected differently and scientists want to understand why those differences occur.

Haywood says: "One can go on to a life where they never speak, they are highly affected and quite disabled. Another person can go on (to be) fully verbal and become a professor at Cambridge (University) and someone else can go on and live a full life with marriage and children, why does that happen? Why does it affect people so differently when it's effectively the same condition. So we're trying to answer those questions, we're trying to understand why it affects different people in different ways and I think the thing that really attracted me to the project is because, we're trying to highlight the great skills and strengths in this group as well as the things that people find difficult."

The goal is to identify biomarkers and develop drug treatments.

It's a long term study, but how long can it continue here and what happens to the research after the current funding ends in 2020?

Rens Van Velzen is already preparing for A-levels in maths, chemistry and physics.

But his autism means life outside the classroom is not always straightforward.

He explains: "Quite often when talking peer to peer, the other person can get frustrated with how I respond because they're (I'm) not responding the way that they're expecting me to respond as the people usually do. So quite often I don't pick up someone's annoyed, or that sort of thing. It's very hard to explain because I haven't had the experience of not having autism."

Haywood, like others on the team, is convinced the project must be protected and fears Britain leaving the EU will end large scale endeavours like this which progress more steadily because of the wide collaboration among doctors and scientists.

She says: "Quite often there can be a lot of negativity around being diagnosed and living with the condition and in my work, I've worked with autism for twelve years, I have met some of the most skilled and highly intelligent people."

Van Velzen has been part of the study since it started.

Now he's hoping for a career in astrophysics.

"I think I'll work on either discovering more about our universe and our place in it, or working on ways to get to other parts of the universe," says Van Velzen.

After completing puzzles in record time he goes on for tests in the eye tracking unit.

Studies have used eye-tracing technology to see how long autistic children spend looking at the social and non-social features in a series of images on pictures and videos like these.

Ren's mother Jose Van Velzen is a cognitive neuroscientist herself although she does not work on this project.

While she is confident about her son's academic success she worries about how he will cope with work and whether he will find happiness in personal relationships.

She says: "It is sometimes challenging for Rens to keep track of what the person he's talking to is feeling and how he's being perceived. He's very much driven by telling things as they are, or how he sees them and of course in normal interaction, in normal relationships you constantly monitor what the other person is thinking. That's definitely very challenging for him and he is aware that this is one of his weaknesses he needs to work on he cannot always deal with it at that particular time and I think that is something in general that will make relationships and work environments quite a challenging place for him."

According to scientists here this project is the first of it kind in the world developing the infrastructure which will underpin new treatments for autism.

There are hundreds of scientists involved in British research projects which are funded by the EU.

The lead scientist on the autism project at Kings is Professor Declan Murphy - and he too is concerned about what Brexit will mean.

He says:"It's virtually impossible for one country alone to recruit the amount of patients that you really need for a large scale, modern day trial, or study that's going to lead to reliable results. We increasingly recognise that big questions need big populations to come up with the right answers and we simply cannot deliver the amount of patients for the amount of science from one centre from one country. For Example my work needs approximately a thousand individuals who are affected by autism. You couldn't recruit that from one centre, or from one country within a time frame that is meaningful, but we can do that by going to mulitple centres across Europe, working together and learning from eachother."

The EU's Horizon 2020 budget is 80-billion Euro which funds medicine and science research across Europe.

Britain's split from the EU will leave a funding gap as well as a brain drain according to Murphy and he argues it will be the children with autism who will lose out.

London, UK - 7 July 2016

1. Various CT scans showing liver cancer pre and post therapy to illustrate the relationship between tumours and glucose

2. Mid of Professor Xavier Golay looking at scans in his MRI lab at the UCL Institute of Neurology

3. Various of Golay and researcher looking at scans

4. Close of tumour in rat highlighted by non radioactive glucose

5. SOUNDBITE: (English) Xavier Golay, professor of neurophysics, UCL Institute of Neurology

"I've heard of at least two, three very senior people who've said okay right, now I'm taking all my grant with me and I'm going back to Germany, Switzerland, France because actually, in that way, they know they'll still have access and it's not only access to funding because the funding is great in this country, it is really good. It's really (about) access to funding and this opportunity to collaborate."

6. Close of autistic teenager Rens Van Velzen answering questions testing his cognitive and executive function at Kings College London

7. Close of psychologist Hannah Hayward asking questions

8. Mid of Velzen ticking off words he understands

9. Various of Velzen watching next task being set up

10. Mid of Velzen touching laptop screen to pick out the emotion displayed on the photo on the monitor

11. Close of Velzen touching the word "Cautious"

12. Close of touch screen

13. Mid of Velzen watching screen observed by Hayward

14. Close of Velzen

15. SOUNDBITE: (English) Hannah Hayward psychologist, EU Aims (autism research project) Kings College London

"One can go on to a life where they never speak, they are highly affected and quite disabled. Another person can go on (to be) fully verbal and become a professor at Cambridge (University) and someone else can go on and live a full life with marriage and children, why does that happen? Why does it affect people so differently when it's effectively the same condition? So we're trying to answer those questions, we're trying to understand why it affects different people in different ways and I think the thing that really attracted me to the project is because, we're trying to highlight the great skills and strengths in this group as well as the things that people find difficult."

16. Close of Hayward starting stopwatch

17. Close of cube pattern Velzen has to recreate

18. Close tilt down of Hayward observing

19. Close of Velzen

20. Close pan from pattern and blocks being constructed by Velzen

21. Mid of Velzen completing puzzle watched by Hayward

22. SOUNDBITE: (English) Rens Van Velzen, teenager in Kings College autisim research group

"Quite often when talking peer to peer, the other person can get frustrated with how I respond because they're (I'm) not responding the way that they're expecting me to respond as the people usually do. So quite often I don't pick up someone's annoyed, or that sort of thing. It's very hard to explain because I haven't had the experience of not having autism."

23. Various of Van Velzen completing other puzzles with black and yellow blocks

24. SOUNDBITE: (English) Hannah Hayward psychologist, EU Aims (autism research project) Kings College London

"Quite often there can be a lot of negativity around being diagnosed and living with the condition and in my work, I've worked with autism for twelve years, I have met some of the most skilled and highly intelligent people."

25. Various of Hayward attaching EEG wires to Van Velzen before eye tracking tests

26. SOUNDBITE: (English) Rens Van Velzen, teenager in Kings College autisim research group

"I think I'll work on either discovering more about our universe and our place in it, or working on ways to get to other parts of the universe."

27. Mid of monitor displaying photographs of facial expressions with options to pick the right description

28. Close of Van Velsen tapping keyboard

29. Mid of test continuing on monitor

30. SOUNDBITE: (English) Jose Van Velzen, Rens' mother (who is also a cognitive neuroscientist)

"It is sometimes challenging for Rens to keep track of what the person he's talking to is feeling and how he's being perceived. He's very much driven by telling things as they are, or how he sees them and of course in normal interaction, in normal relationships, you constantly monitor what the other person is thinking. That's definitely very challenging for him, and he is aware that this is one of his weaknesses he needs to work on he cannot always deal with it at that particular time and I think that is something in general that will make relationships and work environments quite a challenging place for him."

31. Mid rear view of Rens Van Velzen being shown photos in the eye tracking suite

32. Various of monitor

33. Various of Hayward carrying out tracking test

34. Hayward's monitor showing Rens Van Velzen responding to photographs

35. Mid rear view of Van Velzen watching animated patterns appear on screen

36. Various of Professor Declan Murphy lead scientist on the EU Aims study on autism

37. SOUNDBITE: (English) Professor Declan Murphy lead scientist, EU Aims study on autism, Kings College London

"It's virtually impossible for one country alone to recruit the amount of patients that you really need for a large scale, modern day trial, or study that's going to lead to reliable results. We increasingly recognise that big questions need big populations to come up with the right answers, and we simply cannot deliver the amount of patients for the amount of science from one centre from one country. For example, my work needs approximately a thousand individuals who are affected by autism. You couldn't recruit that from one centre, or from one country within a time frame that is meaningful, but we can do that by going to mulitple centres across Europe, working together and learning from eachother."

38. Mid rear view of Rens Van Velzen responding to picture during eyetracking test

39. Close of EEG reading on monitor