07.05.13
Research Innovation Fund awards first projects
Seven grants totalling nearly half a million pounds have been awarded as part of Pancreatic Cancer UK’s first round of the Research Innovation Fund.
The fund aims to boost new ideas and approaches, including those successful in other areas of cancer, to apply to pancreatic cancer. It is the fifth most common cause of cancer deaths in the UK, but receives only 1% of the total research spend.
The following projects have been approved by the charity’s Scientific Advisory Board, with each awarded a grant of up to £75,000 for one year.
Prof Roy Bicknell (University of Birmingham)
Prof Kenneth Fearon (University of Edinburgh)
Dr William Greenhalf and Dr Eithne Costello (University of Liverpool)
Dr Catherine Hogan (European Cancer Stem Cell Research Institute, Cardiff University)
Dr John Maher (King’s College London)
Dr Andrew Renehan (University of Manchester)
Prof Jacqueline Shaw (University of Leicester)
Clara Mackay, acting chief executive officer of Pancreatic Cancer UK, said: “We purposely launched our Research Innovation Fund to generate ideas for cutting-edge research into pancreatic cancer. We are delighted with the response from the research community and are confident that the seven new projects we are funding have potential to make an important contribution to the fight against this disease.”
Peter O’Hare, chair of Pancreatic Cancer UK’s Scientific Advisory Board, said: “We set out to stimulate interest within the research community and encourage researchers to look at the huge challenges presented by pancreatic cancer in new ways; drawing on the excellent work that has already been done in this area as well as other areas of cancer research. We received a large number of high quality applications which will only bode well for future rounds of this fund.”
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