Background

Qualifications

2004 PhD Genomics and Bioinformatics, University of Cambridge/Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute

1999 First Class BSc(Hons) Biomedical Sciences, University of Bradford

Previous Positions

Sept 2010-August 2012 Lecturer in Cancer Genetics, Northern Institute for Cancer Research, Newcastle University

Sept 2008-August 2010 Lecturer Cancer Genetics in Leukaemia Research Cytogenetics Group (LRCG), Northern Institute for Cancer Research, Newcastle University

Jan 2006-Aug 2008 Postdoctoral Research Fellow, Children's Brain Tumour Research Centre, University of Nottingham

Jan 2004-Dec 2005 Postdoctoral Research Fellow, Department of Neurosurgery, Johns Hopkins University, US

Membership

British Society of Haematology (BSH)

Children's Cancer & Leukaemia Group (CCLG)

Cambridge Philosophical Society

Follow @vikkirand

Research

Research Areas

I am currently funded by a Bloodwise (formerly Leukaemia and Lymphoma Research) Senior Bennett Fellowship which focussing on aggressive B-cell non-hodgkin lymphoma (B-NHL), specifically investigating sporadic and endemic Burkitt lymphoma, diffuse large B-cell lymphoma and post-transplantation lymphoproliferative disorders (PTLD). The overall aims of my research group is to understand the biology of lymphoma in order to develop new treatment strategies to reduce treatment-related toxicity and improve outcome of relapsed/refractory disease. Using a combination of cutting-edge techniques we are determining the presence, frequency and structure of genetic abnormalities in paediatric and adult aggressive B-NHL. We are investigating the clinical importance of these genetic abnormalities by correlating the genetic data with clinical information and investigating the role of these abnormalities in the cancer cell. The identification of genetic factors will improve our understanding of the biology of lymphoma and will lead to the identification of new treatment strategies to improve patient outcome. I also have a continued interested in the genomics of paediatric and adult relapsed acute lymphoblastic leukaemia (ALL).

Funding

Leukaemia and Lymphoma Research (LLR)

Newcastle Healthcare Charity and the Newcastle upon Tyne Hospitals NHS Charity

North East Promenaders Against Cancer (NEPAC)

Scottish and Newcastle Lymphoma Group (SNLG)

Bright Red

British Society of Haematology (BSH)

Teaching

Teaching

ONC8022 Cancer: Cell, Molecular Biology & Genetics (E-learning) 20 credits – Module co-leader 

Undergraduate student tutor

Supervise undergraduate, MRes and PhD student research projects

Certificate of Advanced Studies in Academic Practice (CASAP) Module MAP8001 Newcastle Teaching Award

Associate Fellow of the Higher Education Academy

Publications

• Noble RA, Bell N, Blair H, Sikka A, Thomas H, Phillips N, Nakjang S, Miwa S, Crossland R, Rand V, Televantou D, Long A, Keun HC, Bacon CM, Bomken S, Critchlow SE, Wedge SR. Inhibition of monocarboxyate transporter 1 by AZD3965 as a novel therapeutic approach for diffuse large B-cell lymphoma and burkitt lymphoma. Haematologica 2017, 102(7), 1247-1257.
• Ciardullo C, Willmore E, Enshaei A, Zhou P, Rand V, Soundararajan M, Hall A, Harrison C, Eswaran J. BACH2 and BCL6 Cooperatively Fuction as Tumour Suppressors in CLL. In: 21st Congress of the European Hematology Association. 2016, Copenhagen, Denmark: Ferrata Storti Foundation.
• Ciardullo C, Willmore E, Zhou P, Rand V, Harrison C, Hall A, Eswaran J, Soundararajan M. Impact of the apoptotic regulator DRAK2 in chronic lymphocytic leukemia. In: 21st Congress of the European Hematology Association. 2016, Copenhagen, Denmark: Fondazione Ferrata Storti.
• Wade MA, Sunter NJ, Fordham SE, Long A, Masic D, Russell J, Harrison CJ, Rand V, Elstob C, Bown N, Rowe D, Lowe C, Cuthbert G, Bennett S, Crosier S, Bacon CM, Onel K, Scott K, Scott D, Travis LB, May FEB, Allan JM. c-MYC is a radiosensitive locus in human breast cells. Oncogene 2015, 34, 4985-4994.
• Dormon K, Latif ES, Bashton M, Pal D, Selby M, Blair H, Rand V, Hall AG, Vormoor J, Heidenreich O. A Whole Genome In Vivo Crispr Screen in Primary ALL Predicts Leukaemic Relapse. In: ASH 2015 Annual Meeting. 2015, Orlando, USA: American Society of Hematology.
• Crossland RE, Green K, Bacon C, Rand V. Direct digital profiling of multiplexed mRNA expression from degraded formalin fixed paraffin embedded aggressive paediatric B-cell lymphoma tumour tissue. In: Fifth International Symposium on Childhood, Adolescent and Young Adult Non-Hodgkin Lymphoma. 2015, Varese, Italy: Wiley.
• Gabriel AS, Lafta FM, Schwalbe EC, Nakjang S, Cockell SJ, Iliasova A, Enshaei A, Schwab C, Rand V, Clifford SC, Kinsey SE, Mitchell CD, Vora A, Harrison CJ, Moorman AV, Strathdee G. Epigenetic landscape correlates with genetic subtype but does not predict outcome in childhood acute lymphoblastic leukemia. Epigenetics 2015, 10(8), 717-726.
• Zhou P, Crossland R, Erhorn A, Rand V. High-resolution copy number analysis using low input, degraded DNA from fine-needle aspirates and macrodissected archival Burkitt lymphoma material. In: Fifth International Symposium on Childhood Adolescent and Young Adult Non-Hodgkin Lymphoma. 2015, Varese, Italy: British Journal of Haematology.
• Zhou PX, Crossland R, Erhorn A, Rand V. High-resolution copy number analysis using low input, degraded DNA from fine-needle aspirates and macrodissected archival Burkitt lymphoma material. In: Fifth International Symposium on Childhood, Adolescent and Young Adult Non-Hodgkin Lymphoma. 2015, Varese, Italy: Wiley.
• Zhou P, Newman AM, Van Noorden S, Banda K, Chagaluka G, Lampert I, Erhorn A, Bacon C, Bailey S, Molyneux E, Rand V. Investigation of prognostic markers in endemic Burkitt lymphoma. In: Fifth International Symposium on Childhood Adolescent and Young Adult Non-Hodgkin Lymphoma. 2015, Varese, Italy: Wiley-Blackwell Publishing Ltd.
• Carey CD, Gusenleitner D, Chapuy B, Kovach AE, Kluk MJ, Sun HH, Crossland RE, Bacon CM, Rand V, Dal Cin P, Le LP, Neuberg D, Sohani AR, Shipp MA, Monti S, Rodig SJ. Molecular Classification of MYC-Driven B-Cell Lymphomas by Targeted Gene Expression Profiling of Fixed Biopsy Specimens. Journal of Molecular Diagnostics 2015, 17(1), 19-30.
• Bell N, Blair H, Noble R, Price L, Wood K, Vormoor J, Bacon C, Rand V, Heidenreich O, Wedge S, Bomken S. Patient-derived xenograft and in vivo bioluminescent modelling of B-cell NHL. In: Fifth International Symposium on Childhood, Adolescent and Young Adult Non-Hodgkin Lymphoma. 2015, Varese, Italy: Wiley-Blackwell.
• Li Y, Schwab C, Ryan SL, Papaemmanuil E, Robinson HM, Jacobs P, Moorman AV, Dyer S, Borrow J, Griffiths M, Heerema NA, Carroll AJ, Talley P, Bown N, Telford N, Ross FM, Gaunt L, McNally RJ, Young BD, Sinclair P, Rand V, Teixeira MR, Joseph O, Robinson B, Maddison M, Dastugue N, Vandenberghe P, Haferlach C, Stephens PJ, Cheng J, Van-Loo P, Stratton MR, Campbell PJ, Harrison CJ. Constitutional and somatic rearrangement of chromosome 21 in acute lymphoblastic leukaemia. Nature 2014, 508(7494), 98-102.
• Bell N, Blair HJ, Vormoor J, Bacon C, Rand V, Heidenreich O, Bomken S. Development of in Vivo Models of Paediatric Burkitt Lymphoma Allowing Therapeutic Target Analysis and Drug Testing. In: 56th ASH Annual Meeting and Exposition. 2014, San Francisco, CA: American Society of Hematology.
• Crossland RE, Mainou-Fowler T, Sieniawski M, Bacon C, Rand V. High BACH2 gene Expression Is an Indicator of Poor Prognosis in Adult Diffuse Large B-Cell Lymphoma Treated with R-CHOP. In: 56th ASH Annual Meeting and Exposition. 2014, San Francisco, CA: American Society of Hematology.
• Lafta F, Rand V, Moorman A, Mitchell C, Kinsey S, Vora A, Cockell S, Schwalbel E, Enshaei A, Strathdee G. Investigation of methylation based biomarkers for prediction of relapse in good prognostic cytogenetic subgroups of childhood acute lymphoblastic leukaemia. In: 10th NCRI Cancer Conference. 2014, Liverpool, UK.
• Rand V, Johnstone S, Crossland RE, Wilkinson S, Hall AG. The Genomic Landscape of Relapsed B-Cell Acute Lymphoblastic Leukaemia (B-ALL) in Adolescents and Adults. In: 56th ASH Annual Meeting and Exposition. 2014, San Francisco, CA: American Society of Hematology.
• Swaminathan S, Huang C, Geng H, Chen Z, Harvey R, Kang H, Ng C, Titz B, Hurtz C, Sadiyah MF, Nowak D, Thoennissen GB, Rand V, Graeber TG, Koeffler HP, Carroll WL, Willman CL, Hall AG, Igarashi K, Melnick A, Müschen M. BACH2 mediates negative selection and p53-dependent tumor suppression at the pre-B cell receptor checkpoint. Nature Medicine 2013, 19(8), 1014-1022.
• Bacon CM, Wilkinson SJ, Spickett GP, Barge D, Lucraft HH, Jackson G, Rand V, Gennery AR. Epstein-Barr virus-independent diffuse large B-cell lymphoma in DNA ligase 4 deficiency. Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology 2013, 131(4), 1237-1239.
• Thathia SH, Ferguson S, Gautrey HE, van Otterdijk SD, Hili M, Rand V, Moorman AV, Meyer S, Brown R, Strathdee G. Epigenetic inactivation of TWIST2 in acute lymphoblastic leukemia modulates proliferation, cell survival and chemosensitivity. Haematologica 2012, 97(3), 371-378.
• Wilkinson S, Van Noorden S, Bradburn A, Banda K, Chagaluka G, Griffin B, Lampert I, Bailey S, Bacon C, Molyneux E, Rand V. High-resolution genome-wide analysis of endemic Burkitt Lymphoma using DNA extracted from fine-needle aspirates preserved at ambient temperature. In: 4th International Symposium on Childhood, Adolescent and Young Adult Non-Hodgkins Lymphoma. 2012, New York, USA: Wiley-Blackwell Publishing Ltd.
• Sinclair PB, Parker H, An Q, Rand V, Ensor H, Harrison CJ, Strefford JC. Analysis of a breakpoint cluster reveals insight into the mechanism of intrachromosomal amplification in a lymphoid malignancy. Human Molecular Genetics 2011, 20(13), 2591-2602.
• Miller S, Rogers HA, Lyon P, Rand V, Adamowicz-Brice M, Clifford SC, Hayden JT, Dyer S, Pfister S, Korshunov A, Brundler MA, Lowe J, Coyle B, Grundy RG. Genome-wide molecular characterization of central nervous system primitive neuroectodermal tumor and pineoblastoma. Neuro-Oncology 2011, 13(8), 866-879.
• Rand V, Parker H, Russell LJ, Schwab C, Ensor H, Irving J, Jones L, Masic D, Minto L, Morrison H, Ryan S, Robinson H, Sinclair P, Moorman A, Strefford J, Harrison CJ. Genomic characterization implicates iAMP21 as a likely primary genetic event in childhood B-cell precursor acute lymphoblastic leukemia. Blood 2011, 117(25), 6848-6855.
• Ryan SL, Rand V, Schwab C, Morrison H, Matheson E, Minto L, Rahman T, Keavney B, Bown N, Skinner R, Schnittger S, Santibanez-Koref M, Grossmann V, Kohlmann A, Irving J, Harrison CJ. Ras Signalling Pathway and Novel Target Genes Related to Down Syndrome Contribute to the Development of B-Cell Precursor Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia (BCP-ALL) in iAMP21 Patients. In: 53rd Annual Meeting and Exposition of the American Society of Hematology (ASH). 2011, San Diego, California, USA: American Society of Hematology.
• Johnson RA, Wright KD, Poppleton H, Mohankumar KM, Finkelstein D, Pounds SB, Rand V, Leary SE, White E, Eden C, Hogg T, Northcott P, Mack S, Neale G, Wang YD, Coyle B, Atkinson J, Dewire M, Kranenburg TA, Gillespie Y, Allen JC, Merchant T, Boop FA, Sanford RA, Gajjar A, Ellison DW, Taylor MD, Grundy RG, Gilbertson RJ. Cross-species genomics matches driver mutations and cell compartments to model ependymoma. Nature 2010, 466(7306), 632-636.
• Wright KD, Rand V, Leary SE, Mack S, Coyle B, Gillespie Y, Allen J, Taylor MD, Grundy R, Gilbertson RJ. A comprehensive view of the structure and expression of the ependymoma genome at presentation and relapse. In: 45th Annual Meeting of the American Society of Clinical Oncology. 2009, Orlando, FL: Journal of Clinical Oncology, American Society of Clinical Oncology.
• Russell LJ, Capasso M, Vater I, Akasaka T, Bernard OA, Calasanz MJ, Chandrasekaran T, Chapiro E, Gesk S, Griffiths M, Guttery DS, Haferlach C, Harder L, Heidenreich O, Irving JAE, Kearney L, Nguyen-Khac F, Machado L, Minto L, Majid A, Moorman AV, Morrison H, Rand V, Strefford JC, Schwab CJ, Tonnies H, Dyer MJ, Siebert R, Harrison CJ. Deregulated expression of cytokine receptor gene, CRLF2, is involved in lymphoid transformation in B-cell precursor acute lymphoblastic leukemia. Blood 2009, 114(13), 2688-2698.
• Rand V, Parker H, Russell LJ, Irving J, Jones L, Masic D, Minto L, Morrison H, Robinson H, Schwab C, Sinclair P, Moorman AV, Strefford JC, Harrison CJ. What Is the Initiating Mechanism of iAMP21 in Childhood B Cell Precursor ALL?. In: Blood: 51st Annual Meeting of the American Society of Hematology. 2009, New Orleans, LA: American Society of Hematology.
• Rand V, Prebble E, Ridley L, Howard M, Wei W, Brundler MA, Fee BE, Riggins GJ, Coyle B, Grundy RG. Investigation of chromosome 1q reveals differential expression of members of the S100 family in clinical subgroups of intracranial paediatric ependymoma. British Journal of Cancer 2008, 99(7), 1136-1143.
• Ridley L, Rahman R, Brundler MA, Ellison D, Lowe J, Robson K, Prebble E, Luckett I, Gilbertson RJ, Parkes S, Rand V, Coyle B, Grundy RG. Multifactorial analysis of predictors of outcome in pediatric intracranial ependymoma. Neuro-Oncology 2008, 10(5), 675-689.
• Gallia GL, Rand V, Siu IM, Eberhart CG, James CD, Marie SK, Oba-Shinjo SM, Carlotti CG, Caballero OL, Simpson AJ, Brock MV, Massion PP, Carson Sr BS, Riggins GJ. PIK3CA gene mutations in pediatric and adult glioblastoma multiforme. Molecular Cancer Research 2006, 4(10), 709-714.
• Rand V, Huang J, Stockwell T, Ferriera S, Buzko O, Levy S, Busam D, Li K, Edwards JB, Eberhart C, Murphy KM, Tsiamouri A, Beeson K, Simpson AJ, Venter JC, Riggins GJ, Strausberg RL. Sequence survey of receptor tyrosine kinases reveals mutations in glioblastomas. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America 2005, 102(40), 14344-14349.
• Humphray SJ, Oliver K, Hunt AR, Plumb RW, Loveland JE, Howe KL, Andrews TD, Searle S, Hunt SE, Scott CE, Jones MC, Ainscough R, Almeida JP, Ambrose KD, Ashwell RIS, Babbage AK, Babbage S, Bagguley CL, Bailey J, Banerjee R, Barker DJ, Barlow KF, Bates K, Beasley H, Beasley O, Bird CP, Bray-Allen S, Brown AJ, Brown JY, Burford D, Burrill W, Burton J, Carder C, Carter NP, Chapman JC, Chen Y, Clarke G, Clark SY, Clee CM, Clegg S, Collier RE, Corby N, Crosier M, Cummings AT, Davies J, Dhami P, Dunn M, Dutta I, Dyer LW, Earthrowl ME, Faulkner L, Fleming CJ, Frankish A, Frankland JA, French L, Fricker DG, Garner P, Garnett J, Ghori J, Gilbert JGR, Glison C, Grafham DV, Gribble S, Griffiths C, Jones SG, Grocock R, Guy J, Hall RE, Hammond S, Harley JL, Harrison ESI, Hart EA, Heath PD, Henderson CD, Hopkins BL, Howard PJ, Howden PJ, Huckle E, Johnson C, Johnson D, Joy AA, Kay M, Keenan S, Kershaw JK, Kimberley AM, King A, Knights A, Laird GK, Langford C, Lawlor S, Leongamornlert DA, Leversha M, Lloyd C, Lloyd DM, Lovell J, Martin S, Mashreghi-Mohammadi M, Matthews L, McLaren S, McLay KE, McMurray A, Milne S, Nickerson T, Nisbett J, Nordsiek G, Pearce AV, Peck AI, Porter KM, Pandian R, Pelan S, Phillimore B, Povey S, Ramsey Y, Rand V, Scharfe M, Sehra HK, Shownkeen R, Sims SK, Skuce CD, Smith M, Steward CA, Swarbreck D, Sycamore N, Tester J, Thorpe A, Tracey A, Tromans A, Thomas DW, Wall M, Wallis JM, West AP, Whitehead SL, Willey DL, Williams SA, Wilming L, Wray PW, Young L, Ashurst JL, Coulson A, Blocker H, Durbin R, Sulston JE, Hubbard T, Jackson MJ, Bentley DR, Beck S, Rogers J, Dunham I. DNA sequence and analysis of human chromosome 9. Nature 2004, 429(6990), 369-374.
• Horton R, Wilming L, Rand V, Lovering RC, Bruford EA, Khodiyar VK, Lush MJ, Povey S, Talbot Jr CC, Wright MW, Wain HM, Trowsdale J, Ziegler A, Beck S. Gene map of the extended human MHC. Nature Reviews Genetics 2004, 5(12), 889-899.