£6m in funding for cancer research will help Newcastle University scientists searching for ways to treat children's brain tumours, along with bowel, liver and skin cancer.
The funding, awarded by charity Cancer Research UK, will see millions of pounds in grants support research from academics in the city. An astonishing £2m will boost research into medulloblastoma - the most common kind of childhood brain tumour.
Director of the Newcastle University Centre for Cancer, Professor Steve Clifford said: "Making new discoveries and delivering them into the clinic is at the heart of our mission. We are thrilled to receive these new awards from Cancer Research UK, which will impact and improve patients’ journeys, and highlight our strengths in patient-focused research.
"Our new grants range from investment in new discovery and investigators for colorectal cancer, to advancing novel immune therapies for liver cancer."
Prof Clifford himself leads a team that's received £2.1m for medulloblastoma research. That specific kind of tumour hits 650 children in Europe each year and is responsible for a full 10% of childhood cancer deaths.
Prof Clifford said: "Thirty per cent of these cancers remain incurable and most survivors endure life-long effects from the disease and its treatment. Our aim is to build on previous research to identify targets for developing new therapies and tailor treatments to individual patients.
"This latest funding is pioneering biological discovery and new clinical trials across Europe, which are using advanced tools such as artificial intelligence and machine learning to improve outcomes."
Medulloblastoma patients will also benefit from the work of Prof Simon Bailey - funded to the tune of £67,.000 - on a new clinical trial focussing on the side-effects of chemotherapy treatment in young patients.
Meanwhile, Dr Laura Greaves has been given a £1.6m grant to focus on whether doctors can target DNA mutations which can speed up bowel cancer tumour growth, and Prof Derek Mann will lead a £2m liver cancer project investigating how immunotherapy can boost care for patients who have been diagnosed too late for surgery.
Dr Katie Best has been given £23,000 to help develop a test for patients with the early stages of high risk melanoma skin cancer, while Dr Laura Woods has £80,000 to support research into why breast, bowel and cervical screening services have such low take-up.
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