Funding for cancer research and treatments
The development of new cancer treatments in Scotland is to receive major funding, providing future hope for people diagnosed with the disease.
Glasgow’s Experimental Cancer Medicine Centre (ECMC) and the Paediatric ECMC in the city will receive up to £2,286,575 to help doctors and scientists develop the cancer treatments of the future for both adults and children.
The funding has been made possible by a partnership between Cancer Research UK and the Scottish Government, with the Little Princess Trust providing funding specifically for children’s cancers.
The Glasgow ECMC is a partnership between the University of Glasgow, the CRUK Beatson Institute, NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde and the Beatson West of Scotland Cancer Centre. The Glasgow ECMC develops and delivers clinical trials using experimental treatments to help advance cancer care and ultimately benefit patients.
Glasgow is part of a network of 17 ECMCs across the UK, including one in Edinburgh, all funded by Cancer Research UK to deliver clinical trials of new experimental treatments in patients. Since 2007, when the network was first established, around 30,000 patients have taken part in 2,100 clinical trials.
This new funding will allow new, experimental treatments, including immunotherapies and cell therapies, to be developed for a wide variety of cancers, especially those that particularly affect the Scottish population. It will also improve existing treatments, especially through targeting therapies more precisely to the patient’s tumour, supporting trials across a wide range of treatments from innovative drug therapies to the latest advances in radiotherapy treatment.
UofG cancer experts to receive £1.7m
Two Glasgow scientists are to receive £1.7m from Cancer Research UK to investigate both the root causes of cancer and how treatments can be improved.
Professor Stephen Tait, of the School of Cancer Sciences and the Cancer Research UK Beatson Institute, will receive £1,646,832 to investigate what causes cancer cells to grow out of control and form tumours.
Dr Conchita Vens, who is based at the Wolfson Wohl Cancer Centre, will receive £99,000 to explore how to overcome cancers which are resistant to radiotherapy.