I


n November 2010, 27 new grants were awarded in 16 locations across the UK and Ireland – 11 project grants, 11


pilot grants and five PhD studentships worth almost £2.5 million.


‘A total of 34 grants worth just over £4 million were awarded during 2010’


Dr Andreas Makris became the first clinician at the Mount Vernon Cancer Centre in Middlesex to be given a Campaign grant while Galway received its second, with an award made to Professor Afshin Samali, coming three years after the charity first started funding in Ireland. A total of 34 grants worth over £4 million


were awarded during 2010 including one fellowship, five PhD studentships, 17 project grants and 11 pilot grants. Campaign funds research looking at all


areas of breast cancer and here we highlight two novel research grants.


New scanning technology More breast cancer patients are being given ‘neoadjuvant’ chemotherapy before surgery to shrink large, fast growing tumours. This reduces the need for a mastectomy and the chances of the cancer returning. However, while a third of patients fail to respond to this treatment, doctors currently do not have quick and accurate ways to monitor them. Dr Andreas Makris’


Funding announcement of grants across UK


SCOTLAND 1. University of Dundee Two grants


1


NORTHERN ENGLAND 2. University of Leeds One grant


3. University of Manchester One grant


4. University of Sheffield One grant


2 3 5 9 10


innovative research will establish whether new scanning technology called FLT-PET could be used to identify patients with rapidly multiplying breast cancers for whom this type of chemotherapy hasn’t worked. They could then be switched to alternative drugs, ultimately helping to improve the effectiveness of their surgery and chances of survival.


Test hope People with lobular carcinoma in situ (LCIS), a pre-invasive form of breast cancer, have an increased risk of going on to develop invasive disease. LCIS is usually only discovered by chance when the patient undergoes a breast biopsy or lump removal. Dr Elinor Sawyer, King’s College London, will analyse and compare the genetic information (DNA) in blood samples from 2,300 patients with LCIS and a similar number of healthy people to find variations in key genes more often found in LCIS. The findings could help in the development of a test which will tell whether someone is likely to develop the condition. These people could then be monitored more closely and treated to try and prevent them developing invasive breast cancer.


16 6


REPUBLIC OF IRELAND 5. National University of Ireland One grant


WALES 6. Cardiff University One grant


SOUTH WEST ENGLAND 7. University of the West of England One grant


MIDLANDS 8. University of Nottingham One grant


9. University of Wolverhampton One grant


10. University of Birmingham Four grants


7 18 15


13 12 11


17 14 19 4 8


SOUTHERN ENGLAND 11. Imperial College London Two grants


12. King's College London Two grants


13. Institute of Cancer Research One grant


14. University of Greenwich One grant


15. Mount Vernon Hospital One grant


16. University of Oxford One grant


17. University of Surrey One grant


18. University of Southampton Three grants


19. University of Essex One grant


focus June-September 2011 5


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