QUOD Whole Organ Expansion

In 2018, a multi-disciplinary team of researchers from Oxford and Newcastle, led by Professor Rutger Ploeg and Professor James Shaw, was awarded a grant of £1.7 million from the Medical Research Council (MRC) to enable the expansion of QUOD to establish a whole organ tissue bank.

This funding enabled the central QUOD clinical data, blood / urine sample and tissue biopsy Bioresource in Oxford to be augmented by systematic processing of whole organ pancreas, heart and lungs from deceased organ donors to collect anatomically-driven mutimodal biopsies. This grant allowed QUOD to establish cross-cutting scientific platforms including state-of-the-art pathology, transcriptomics, proteomics and light / multiplex fluorescence / EM imaging. The QUOD-PANC tissue bank at Newcastle University has archived samples from 120 donors within a searchable online Atlas comprising from normal, ischaemic and chronically diseased pancreata. Underlying pathologies include type 1, type 2 and type 3c diabetes in addition to chronic pancreatitis and pancreatic intraepithelial neoplasia (PanIN).

About QUOD Whole Organ Resource

The QUOD whole organ expansion programme at Newcastle University is coordinated by scientists and clinicians including Professors James Shaw, Andrew Fisher, John Dark, Dina Tiniakos and Dr Bill Scott. Quality-assured tissue processing is undertaken by dedicated biomedical scientists led by Minna Honkanen-Scott within the Transplant Regenerative Medicine Laboratories at the International Centre for Life. Professor Paul Johnson leads a parallel research pancreatic islet isolation programme at the University of Oxford.

QUOD Expand facilitates integration of high-quality clinical data, circulating biomarkers and deep molecular phenotyping towards deeper understanding of the stresses associated with organ donation and transplantation together with the mechanisms underlying tissue pathologies. The overall goal is development of novel therapeutic strategies to optimise organ transplantation, tissue replacement therapy and in situ endogenous tissue repair.

(H&E stained image of an islet. 40x magnification)

Following dissection from surrounding tissue, the whole organ is assessed and photographed macroscopically before collection of multimodal biopsies from anatomically defined regions. Light microscopy images are obtained following a standard suite of dye and immunohistochemical stains for clinical pathologist assessment and Artificial Intelligence-driven image analysis (led by Professor Sarah Richardson, Exeter University). Standardised ultrastructural assessment by transmission electron microscopy has been validated.

The whole organ expansion programme has benefitted significantly from an NHSBT initiative Increasing the Number of Organs Available for Research (INOAR) which has included pancreata from donors with diabetes.

The QUOD expansion programme is aligned to the overall QUOD mission: ‘Saving lives and cutting health care costs by increasing the pool of transplantable organs, thereby addressing the growing gap between supply and demand in organ transplantation’ and provides a powerful new resource for disease-specific research.

QUOD Panc Atlas

An online Portal is in development providing access to a library comprising donor data; organ / tissue images; AI analysis; and a catalogue of samples available for research within the Quality in Organ Donation whole organ human pancreas tissue bank – QUOD-PANC.

The goal is to establish, curate and share a unique Bioresource representing the range of normality, acute stress and chronic disease within human pancreas – in parallel with access to detailed donor clinical data and quality-assured clinical pathologist reporting.

Integration with the core QUOD Biobank enables parallel access to donor circulating blood and urine samples in addition to small biopsies from other tissues.

The Portal provides access to organ donor clinical data in parallel with macroscopic and microscopic pancreas images. Multimodal samples from each anatomically defined region (8 in total from head to tail of pancreas) comprise: Formalin Fixed Paraffin Embedded tissue blocks (anterior and posterior) / snap-frozen tissue blocks / bulk protein samples / RNAlater samples / glutaraldehyde-fixed samples for EM. Sample details are catalogued for each donor.

Initial requests can be made through the Portal for samples to be processed centrally or released for approved research.

Researchers wishing to access QUOD samples should submit a preliminary registration online for Administrator approval and if successful submit a relevant project for review.

Contact us at atlasportal@ncl.ac.uk

For further information on the work being undertaken in Newcastle please go to Regenerative Medicine, Stem Cells, Transplantation | Faculty of Medical Sciences | Newcastle University (ncl.ac.uk)       

New QUOD Colleague Questionnaire:

Kerry Clare – Oxford Transplant Biobank (OTB) Coordinator & QUOD Oxford Regional Operational Coordinator

What were you doing most recently before joining QUOD and OTB?

I was working within the Oncology & Haematology department at the Churchill Hospital, Oxford as a Clinical Coordinator.

What interested you about working with QUOD and OTB?
I have previous experience with haematology and lab work and thought a role within a research biobank sounded interesting and rewarding.

What does your role involve?
I am the Senior Biobank Coordinator for OTB & QUANTUM biobanks and the Regional Operational Coordinator for the Oxford region for QUOD. I retrieve and process donor samples, ensure accurate entry of details into the respective biobank databases and am responsible for the smooth running of the sample collection and storage process.

Lightning round time:

If you were stuck on an island what three things would you bring?

My dogs, a fishing net and matches.

Where’s your favourite place?
Cornwall – many memorable family holidays.

Finally, what kinds of enquiries should people bring to you, and how best can they reach you?

Any sample collection and/or processing enquiries for OTB, QUOD and QUANTUM biobanks. Email kerry.clare@nds.ox.ac.uk.

Spotlight on a QUOD Colleague – Dan Eggleston

For this edition of the QUOD newsletter, the spotlight shone on Daniel Eggleston who is a Senior Clinical Scientist within the field of Histocompatibility and Immunogenetics (H&I) at the Manchester Royal Infirmary and a Regional Operational Coordinator (ROC) for QUOD.

Dan’s first foray into the field of organ transplantation began following his undergraduate studies in Biochemistry at Royal Holloway University, where it became clear that he wanted to pursue the applied sciences more. He completed a master’s degree in Transfusion and Transplantation Science at Bristol University before joining Anthony Nolan, a charity dedicated to matching potential donors on a growing stem cell register to patients with blood cancer and blood disorders. The organisation also facilitates research working towards improving survival rates and quality of life after transplantation, providing post-transplant care.

When asked what advice he would give to any graduate students looking for a foothold in the applied sciences, which is often competitive as entry level positions are highly sought-after, he advised reaching out to relevant companies, making connections and being persistent. Dan also recommended tailoring the application to focus on experience garnered while completing University projects that are relevant to the skillset outlined for the position.  

As a Senior Clinical Scientist for a H&I laboratory, Dan uses Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) techniques to identify patient and donor Human Leucocyte Antigens (HLA) supporting organ transplantation (such as kidney, heart, lung, islet and pancreas), as well as stem cell and bone marrow transplantation, of which Dan is a donor himself. Dan can often be found on call, assessing the HLA type of a potential deceased organ donor, and creating a crossmatch or compatibility assessment to test if an organ from a potential donor can proceed to transplantation. Dan finds the on call work the most rewarding aspect of his role, though he has noted how challenging it can be during this time when balancing all the different offers of transplantation from potential donors across the country and trying to help as many patients and potential transplant recipients as possible following delays attributed to the COVID-19 pandemic. 

When not using his favourite piece of equipment in the lab, a PCR system for rapid cycling and tissue typing called the LightCycler, Dan supports the work of QUOD as a Regional Operational Coordinator (ROC) with Manchester being one of the regional centres for the biobank. This role involves taking receipt of QUOD boxes from the Manchester organ retrieval team, then centrifuging, aliquoting and freezing the blood, urine and bronchoalveolar lavage (BAL) samples, and shipping the box containing tissue biopsies to the hub at Oxford. Dan is also responsible for adding information from the QUOD worksheet to the QUOD database, which is integral for maintaining the traceability of the samples collected from a particular donor. Further to this, Dan has recently become the ROC representative on the QUOD Steering Committee. Part of this role is to provide feedback on research proposals submitted to QUOD. Dan remarked how interesting he finds this work as it shows where the samples, that he is involved in processing, are being used. He can then feed this information back to the team based in the H&I lab in Manchester, so they can stay well informed regarding the application of the biobank samples to current research.

In the last year, Dan has become a committee member for the British Society of Histocompatibility and Immunogenetics (BSHI), a national, professional body formed over thirty years ago that represents and supports the network of H&I laboratories across the UK. The objectives of the society are to encourage the advancement of scientific research and understanding of the application of these developments, as well as ensure the highest professional standards of competence are met by providing guidelines for best practice, training opportunities and CPD schemes for career progression. To this end, Dan has also taken part in a Higher Specialist Scientific Training Programme, funded by NHS England, all about leadership in healthcare. Dan also mentioned how he is looking forward to the next BSHI conference which is due to be held where he is based in Manchester next year.

Dan’s dedication and interest in facilitating transplantation research extends beyond his professional work, as he has helped raise money for Kidneys for Life, a Manchester-based charity which focuses on funding research into kidney disease, transplantation, in addition to supporting renal and transplant patients. Additionally, Dan took part in ‘Race for Recipients’ as part of National Organ Donation week, in order to raise awareness and to honour organ donors, recipients and those waiting for a lifesaving organ transplant.

Although he no longer captains a softball team in a charity league, which was a pastime during this time at Anthony Nolan, Dan likes to spend his spare time (when not on call) playing squash, going for a run or playing video games.

European Society for Organ Transplantation (ESOT) Congress September 2023

QUOD attended the ESOT Congress in Athens, Greece from 17th-20th September. This biennial congress brought together over 2800 attendees from across the world and we were able to meet and connect with a wide variety of delegates from our exhibition stand. Importantly, research using QUOD samples was presented in over 10 oral presentations and posters during the congress.

Out of more than 1000 abstracts that were presented, the Liver Atlas study, carried out by Hussain Abbas at the University of Oxford using QUOD liver samples, was included as one of only 11 abstract presentations as a ‘Scientific programme highlight’ in the ESOT Congress review: “Development of a novel ‘Liver Atlas’ to predict pre-retrieval steatosis may help to avoid discarding liver tissue – A novel, large-scale ‘Liver Atlas’ developed in the United Kingdom supported the use of pre-retrieval steatosis predictors and routine retrieval biopsy to avoid unnecessary viable liver discards”. To find out more, see page 16 of the ESOT Congress 2023 Review.

Dr Ivan Hartling, from the Big Data Institute at the University of Oxford, attended the congress to present his work using QUOD samples. Please see his summary below:

The European Society for Organ Transplantation (ESOT) Congress was held in Athens, Greece from 17th – 20th September 2023. Additionally, on Saturday 16th, before the official start of the congress, there was an ESOT Science Day that featured a great series of basic science talks. The congress theme, “Disruptive Innovation, Trusted Care,” emphasized how innovation can improve access to transplantation.

Dr Maria Kaisar encouraged all our team members to submit abstracts to ESOT and travel to Athens. We were delighted that all our abstracts were selected for oral presentations and we were well represented at the congress. We presented a series of abstracts using QUOD samples to investigate how proteins in kidney donors associate with and predict kidney function post-transplant. Dr Philip Charles presented his work on “Age-Modulated Proteomic Signatures Of Donor Kidney Biopsies Associate With Below-Median 12 Month Outcomes”, Dr Sarah Fawaz presented “Circulating TNF-alpha levels in deceased donors associate with post transplant function in Kidney Transplantation”, Dr Ioannis Michelakis presented “TNF-α pathway activation on deceased kidney donors: a critical mediator of unfavourable post-transplant outcome”, and Rebecca Vaughan presented two abstracts, one titled “Changes In Endogenous Peptides In DCD Kidney Biopsies Associate With Prolonged Warm Ischaemia” and the other “Biological Injury Associated With Deceased Donor Pathways Reflect Differences In The Donor Kidney Proteome And Cellular Stress Responses”. 

I was honoured to have my abstract, “Identification of donor protein signatures that predict kidney transplant outcomes – ADMIRE study,” accepted as a late-breaking abstract. Both Dr Michelakis and myself presented in an early Monday morning session. Despite the early hour, the audience was alert, attentive, and asked many questions. 

As it was my first in-person conference in a few years, I was thrilled to have the chance to network with other researchers. The congress hosted a delightful wine and cheese evening, and throughout the event, attendees could mingle around the many industry and partner booths, including the QUOD booth staffed by Dr Sarah Cross and Philippa Wren. Overall, the congress was a great success, with excellent talks covering all aspects of transplantation. I am looking forward to the next ESOT congress, which will be held in London from June 29 to July 2, 2025.

New QUOD Colleague Questionnaire

Dr Ana Gil-Bernabe – Quality & Governance Manager for QUOD and QUANTUM Biobanks

What were you doing most recently before joining QUOD?

I worked in the Human Tissue Governance group, which is part of RGEA (Research Governance, Ethics and Assurance), within Research Services at the University of Oxford. This was a research support role focused upon ensuring that work with human tissue at the University of Oxford is performed in compliance with the UK legislation and the Human Tissue Licence conditions. Basically, the aim was to allow the progress of science within the legal and ethical boundaries that regulate clinical research.

What interested you about working with QUOD?

During my time in the Human Tissue Governance group, I interacted with the eight biobanks that operate under the main Human Tissue Licence at Oxford, including both QUOD and OTB. This was a great opportunity to understand what a fantastic research resource biobanks are for researchers, here and abroad, and how they optimize their very valuable samples that are donated to the biobanks. QUOD is a fantastic example of national and international collaboration, with samples collected and delivered to multiple sites. I understood that it was a great opportunity to apply my acquired knowledge on human tissue governance and quality assurance, as well as to progress on my knowledge on human tissue biobanks and their governance. Last, but not least, I do have a passion for research (I have been a researcher for about 15 years) and the field of transplantation is very close to my heart.

What does your role in QUOD involve?

In a nutshell, ensure that QUOD adheres to the legal and ethical frameworks that regulate clinical research in the UK, in particular the Human Tissue Act 2004, and to the conditions of the Human Tissue Licence at the University. QUOD Governance is transitioning to a Quality Management System, iPassport, to make this task easier, and part of my role will be to support this transition. We will use iPassport to manage our governance documents, run audits, report non-compliances and keep training records, for example. I will also support compliance with other frameworks that relate to clinical research, such as the Health Research Authority or the Research Ethics Committees.

Lightning round time:

If you were stuck on an island what three things would you bring?

  • Documents, of course, any activity needed would be well described in the relevant Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs);
  • iPassport, of course, all those documents will be accessible through iPassport;
  • Nothing else, I love the sea, so I’d enjoy the opportunity to swim and explore the island.

Where’s your favourite place?

It could well be that island, but probably my hometown, Cadiz, as it not only has a lovely coast, but also all the ingredients for happiness: family, friends, good weather and good food. In its absence, any place near the sea, with the sound of the waves and the smell of the salty water.

Finally, what kinds of enquiries should people bring to you, and how best can they reach you?

Anything to do with governance and quality assurance: documents (SOPs, Risk Assessments, Working Instructions), audits, non-compliances and training records, for example. As we transition to iPassport, I imagine many questions will be related to the use of this system.

You can reach me at ana.gil-bernabe@nds.ox.ac.uk and I’m setting up other ways of communication, using Planner and Teams – more information to come!

QUOD & Evotec: An academia-industry partnership built on complementary strengths

Tobias Bohnenpoll, Evotec SE

Evotec SE and the University of Oxford have recently renewed their collaboration agreement, reflecting a robust and sustainable partnership to profile tissue biopsies collected, processed and stored by the QUOD programme. Through this partnership, Evotec has already generated genome-wide bulk transcriptomic data from about 2,000 donor biopsies (895 kidney and 910 liver), complementing the rich clinical records and technical metadata collected by NHSBT and QUOD. Evotec is currently extending the analysis to heart biopsies and high-resolution single cell and spatial transcriptomics, which will allow in-depth molecular characterisation of tissue microenvironments. Together, we aim to generate mechanistic insights to improve the quality of organ donation and transplantation, and to identify targetable mechanism of injury and repair that will open new avenues for therapeutic intervention and patient stratification in metabolic, cardiac and renal diseases.

The multimodal characterisation of organ biopsies using state-of-the-art, high-throughput analysis is an important cornerstone of Evotec’s Molecular Patient Databases (E.MPD), an industry-leading, proprietary collection of curated human datasets for translational research and patient-centric target and biomarker discovery. However, the integration of complex clinical and molecular data into curated multidimensional datasets poses great challenges to scientific teams and requires interdisciplinary approaches. Evotec and QUOD researchers have assembled an expert team that efficiently combines domain knowledge in medicine and biology with high-throughput molecular analysis and modern data science. Together, we are exploring the complex relationships between biopsy molecular profiles, donor and recipient clinical phenotypes, and graft outcomes in all major organ recovery and transplant conditions. This exploratory analysis of biopsy transcriptomes involves unsupervised clustering, dimensionality reduction and embedding of clinical data and molecular signatures to enable a data-driven hypothesis generation.

Importantly, the multidimensional characterisation of QUOD biopsy transcriptomes has enormous potential beyond research in organ donation and transplantation, with direct applications in modern drug discovery. First, samples from healthy organ donors that are obtained from the Oxford Transplant Biobank (OTB) can serve as reference for the molecular analysis of other disease-focused prospective cohort studies, which often lack appropriate controls. Second, organ donors often present with early, subclinical disease phenotypes that potentially provide unique insights into the onset and early progression of metabolic and other common diseases. For example, Evotec has integrated a data-driven selection of QUOD and NURTuRE (National Unified Renal Translational Research Enterprise) kidney biopsy transcriptomes ranging from healthy to end-stage chronic kidney disease to model disease initiation and progression at the molecular level. We are also combining transcriptomic analysis with AI-assisted digital pathology to characterise liver biopsies for steatosis, inflammation and fibrosis and determine their position along the spectrum of fatty liver disease.

Ultimately, these systems biology approaches aim to positively impact the lives of patients with organ transplantation, cardiometabolic diseases and related complications by leveraging advanced molecular analysis and interdisciplinary expertise. This transformative work is only possible through close collaboration between academia and industry, combining their strengths and resources to achieve meaningful advances in knowledge that will help improve patient care and therapeutic intervention.

Spotlight on a QUOD Colleague

William Murray

This year, QUOD is celebrating its ten-year anniversary and for this edition of the QUOD newsletter, I was delighted to speak with William Murray who has been a Specialist Nurse in Organ Donation (SNOD) for NHSBT since the inception of QUOD back in 2013 in Edinburgh, Scotland. QUOD has now collected over 128,000 samples from more than 7,000 donors, supplying in excess of 38,000 samples to more than 55 research projects. This milestone would have certainly been insurmountable without the extraordinary efforts of this national consortium, including the Specialist Nurses who have such a critical role in the process.

William describes his role as a SNOD for NHS Ayrshire and Arran as multifactorial. He explains how the Specialist Nurses manage the process of organ donation from the point of referring a potential organ donor, working with colleagues in the intensive care units (ICU) and being present in theatre during retrieval. The SNODs are also responsible for the clinical management of the donor to ensure the stability of the patient all the way through the retrieval process through to family after-care. This includes speaking with the families or next of kin of the patient regarding consent/authorisation for research and the collection of samples for the QUOD biobank. William notes that the key to being a SNOD is communication, empathy, forming a rapport with people and using your instinct to judge what is right for every family member going through what is a very difficult time in their lives.

William explains how the respect and dignity to the families’ loved one is upheld and in the foremost thoughts of those involved during the process of obtaining samples for research purposes and that taking biopsies for QUOD does not affect the efficacy of the organs upon transplantation. Sample collection for QUOD closely mirrors the sampling required for the donation process and families are already aware that blood and urine is routinely analysed from patients while in hospital. William notes that the QUOD process works well because it has been built around the systems that already exist in the hospital.

When asked what advice he would give to any nurse or clinician considering specialising in organ donation, he advised to not lose sight of the unique relationship between the relative or next of kin and the patient, that the bond between a couple or parent and child does not change regardless of age and to be mindful of this.

The work that William does for QUOD is in fact a relatively small aspect of his day-to-day routine. He talks about how SNODs spend much of their time on call, covering the region that they work in which can often be a very large geographical spread. For William, this can include the whole region of Scotland! When not on call, William says that his focus is on teaching and raising awareness in addition to clinical audit and policy development. The latter includes identifying potential limitations or barriers to organ donation and working closely with clinical colleagues and committees to design and implement policies that address these barriers.

William remarked that change in his role is almost constant as incremental changes often occur on a weekly basis in reaction to clinical outcomes. William also discussed the interest in supporting organ donation and changes that he observed following the Government Campaign in Scotland, ‘Do Not Leave Your Loved Ones in Doubt’, which urged the public to register their decision with regards to the NHS Organ Donor Register and to speak about their decision with their families.

To close, William observed how being a SNOD is a complex role, helped by technological advancements with more information leading to better outcomes, very hard work but also incredibly rewarding; a unique position which gives him the opportunity to bring about meaningful change far and wide, and yet still work on a local level in the ICU, which is very important to him. He remarked how privileged he felt to work in a role that can help patients and their families across the UK, “What I do in Ayrshire, makes a difference at a national level”. Having started his career as an intensive care nurse, William says that “the intensive care unit is in my bones” and speaks warmly of the camaraderie and community embedded in the ICU and the connection amongst the SNODs.

A special thank you to all the SNODs across the UK, along with all the clinicians, retrieval teams, surgeons and technicians that have enabled QUOD to reach this monumental milestone!

William Murray was interviewed by Hannah McGivern.

Announcing the ‘6th National QUOD Symposium’.

We are excited to announce that the annual QUOD Symposium is back and will be held on Wednesday 9th November 2022 at Jesmond Dene House in-person, in Newcastle.

We look forward to having the opportunity to meet with the extended QUOD family based at regional centres and donor hospitals across the UK, as well as with researchers from academia and industry, and our NHSBT colleagues. Please see below for our save the date poster and latest programme.

If you are interested in joining us, please RSVP to quod-research@nds.ox.ac.uk

British Transplantation Society Conference 2022 debrief – by Azita Mellati

After a year of virtual meetings and conferences, this year the British Transplantation Society (BTS) congress was again held in person at the ICC Belfast. The conference provided a great opportunity for clinicians and researchers to meet up and share the latest about their research and developments on their projects. Over the 3 days of the conference including 31 sessions, more than 100 talks were presented.

Our team from the Nuffield Department of Surgical Sciences (NDS) actively participated in the conference with a total 3 presentations and 1 poster. Dr Mohamed Elzawahry and Dr Letizia Lo Faro presented their research work on “Safety and feasibility of oxygenated hypothermic machine perfusion in the preservation of donor organs for pancreas transplantation” and “Normothermic machine perfusion of the liver supports protein translation and mitochondrial function while reducing protein degradation and metabolic imbalance: a proteomics study” in the “Dragon’s Den” and “Medawar medal presentations” sessions, respectively. The poster titled “Evaluation of kidney injury after treatment with CC-4066 during cold storage and assessment during normothermic reperfusion in a porcine ischemia reperfusion injury model” by Ms. Pommelien Meertens (as part of her Research Internship at NDS) was presented during the conference as well. I also had the opportunity to present my own research on “Investigation into the effect of Alpha-1 antitrypsin delivered via different preservation methods on ischemia-reperfusion injury in pig kidneys” as part of the “Science oral presentations” session. I received very interesting feedback on my project and had the great fortune to discuss details and plans with the audience and other attendees.

In addition to the scientific part of the conference, we also had the opportunity to enjoy and come together to celebrate the 50th Anniversary of the BTS. Over the course of the Gala Dinner themed “the 70s”, members shared good laughter and created wonderful memories. The conference also provided the opportunity to acknowledge and celebrate the lifetime of research work of several members of the BTS, including Professor Peter Friend from within our own department. Overall, this year’s BTS congress was a major success and a great sign that in person, scientific gatherings are back again for the better.

New QUOD Colleague Questionnaire: Dr Meng Sun – Data Co-ordinator & Analyst

What were you doing most recently before joining QUOD?
Before joining QUOD, I was a genetics data analyst working at a public body following previous experience as a post-doctoral researcher at the University of Oxford.

What interested you about working with QUOD?
I have always liked working with data, databases and statistics. Being a data manager and having the opportunity to do research at the same time sounded like a good combination. QUOD’s position is also attractive because here we are working in an important area – organ transplantation. What we do really matters for patients.

What does your role in QUOD involve?
My main duties include managing databases for QUOD and OTB (Oxford Transplant Biobank) and their web applications, working with researchers on sample selection and data analysis. I also attend various meetings to provide statistics and advice related to databases and research.

Lightning round time:

If you were stuck on an island what three things would you bring?

  • a sharp knife for hunting and cooking;
  • a box of matches to make fire;
  • a tent to live in.

Where’s your favourite place?
Port Meadow, Oxford which is huge, a good place for running or just wandering.

Finally, what kinds of enquiries should people bring to you, and how best can they reach you?

Please contact me if you would like to know more about the samples we have in QUOD and how they could be used for your research. The best way to reach me is by my email meng.sun@nds.ox.ac.uk.