Cancer Research UK receives £10m philanthropic donation towards new research initiatives

Cancer Research UK has announced that it is putting almost £60million into funding three major new international research initiatives, which includes a £10million donation from The Mark Foundation for Cancer Research. The programmes will focus on the microbiome, chronic inflammation, and why some cancers are specific to certain tissues and not others. Multidisciplinary teams of scientists from across North America, the UK and Europe, and Israel will come together in five year research programmes under the charity's Grand Challenge programme to explore these areas, which are currently some of the biggest in cancer research. The Grand Challenge is open to scientists based anywhere in the world and from any discipline to bring innovative, international, and collaborative approaches to research. Collectively, the teams have been awarded almost £60 million. The £10 million from The Mark Foundation for Cancer Research is one of the biggest philanthrophic donations the charity has ever received and will support a project led by Professor Stephen Elledge at the Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Harvard Medical School, into why genetic faults only affect certain tissues. Dr Iain Foulkes, Cancer Research UK’s Executive Director of Research and Innovation, said: “Individually, these research teams are among the best in the world in their respective fields. By bringing them together across borders, Grand Challenge is enabling these teams to think bigger and establish new and exciting collaborations. The scale of the funding reflects the opportunity we see in harnessing their ability to understand and tackle cancer.” Michelle Mitchell, Cancer Research UK’s Chief Executive, said: “We’re excited to be able to fund such innovative research. These teams have five years to try to answer these complex questions about a disease that affects so many people, and we look forward to crossing new frontiers in our understanding of cancer. “To reach our ambition of 3 in 4 people surviving their cancer by 2034, we need to collaborate not only with researchers from across the globe, but with funders in other countries who share our goals. Grand Challenge provides a perfect opportunity for us to partner with organisations like The Mark Foundation for Cancer Research and pool our resources to fund research that will transform the lives of patients with cancer.”    

from UK Fundraising http://bit.ly/2sHHNvN