£4m boost for uni research
THREE researchers from the University of Birmingham have been awarded more than £4 million by Cancer Research UK for their work to investigate new personalised cancer treatments.
Prof Tatjana Stankovic, Dr Eva Petermann and Prof Joanna Morris will each receive a share of the money to take forward projects which could help identify new targeted treatments for blood, prostate, colorectal, breast and ovarian cancer.
Prof Stankovic’s research aims to identify targeted treatments for blood cancers including chronic lymphocytic leukaemia and multiple myeloma which claim the lives of 4,000 people every year in the UK. Her project is looking at how to kill off cancer cells by stopping them from repairing their DNA.
Prof Stankovic said: “On behalf of my team, I’m thrilled to have received this award from Cancer Research UK.
“Beyond blood cancer, treatments that target the DNA repair pathway – which is a common fault with cancer – could also help men with prostate cancer. This is the most common cancer in men and is the third most common cause of cancer death in the UK.”
Dr Eva Petermann and her team hope to develop anti-cancer treatments that exploit the DNA damage induced by activated oncogenes. These are genes which normally tell cells to multiply and divide but, when over-activated, can cause permanent cell division leading to cancer.
“So far, our research has identified one of the potential drivers leading to DNA damage, but we need to find out more,” said Dr Petermann. “This grant will help us to gain a better understanding of the process so that we can identify new drug targets that can be investigated further.”
Prof Joanna Morris said she was delighted to have received funding from Cancer Research UK to continue her team’s work studying genetic mutations that can cause cancer.
Her team have been focusing on mutations in the BRCA1 gene, which if inherited can dramatically increase a person’s risk of developing breast and ovarian cancer. Changes in this gene mean that cells can no longer repair their DNA effectively, which can lead to the development of a number of cancers.