Charity announces £462,652 investment in cancer researchers in Wales

Five cutting-edge projects to research more effective treatments for cancer have been awarded almost half a million pounds by Cancer Research Wales.

The charity will be funding PhD students to carry out research at Bangor, Swansea and Cardiff Universities as part of its commitment to develop the next generation of scientists and build a thriving research environment in Wales.

Swansea University has received £99,081 for a project investigating how gut bacteria can impact chemotherapy treatment for bowel cancer.

Led by Dr Paul Facey, the research will seek to gain clearer understanding of which bacteria can reduce the effectiveness of chemotherapy and how they do it.

MRE11 protein

Bangor University has been awarded £100,000 to investigate ways of targeting the MRE11 protein, which helps cancers to survive and grow.

This project, headed by Dr Edgar Hartsuiker, will develop new drugs that block the activity of the MRE11 protein and can be used to treat a range of cancers.

Cardiff University has been awarded a total of £263,571 to fund three projects.

Dr Oommen Oommen is heading up a £100,000 project engineering a model of prostate cancer that mimics patient’s conditions. This will allow scientists to study how non-cancerous cells that surround the tumour play a role in driving cancer progression and resistance to therapy.

Dr Youcef Mehellou is leading a £99,733 project developing new drugs to target the STAT3 protein. STAT3 is associated with the most aggressive type of breast cancer that leads to 40% of all breast cancer deaths.

Dr Lee Parry is fronting a £63,838 project, co-funded by the Wales Cancer Research Centre, which is engineering bacteria to target cancer cells and deliver drugs directly into the tumour.

‘Privileged’

Adam Fletcher, Chief Executive Officer of Cancer Research Wales said: “We feel privileged to be in the position to support universities in Wales to develop the next generation of research scientists.

“Cancer Research Wales is the only charity wholly dedicated to funding new research into cancer in Wales and the funding of PhD studentships is an important element of our research strategy.

“All of our research funding is spent here in Wales. The vital support we provide helps to sustain research in universities across the country and facilitate the development of the next generation of clinical and laboratory scientists. We hope our support will allow them to become the next world-leaders in the field of research into cancer.”