Cancer Research UK is stepping it up to solve the long overdue problem about cancer. They have granted a total sum of £40 million to Cambridge scientists after they have won the UK Grand Challenge awards.
BBC has reported that Cancer Research UK has awarded two teams of Cambridge scientists. They have been awarded two of the largest funding grants ever given by the UK charity. The aid organization will be investing a total of £40 million over the next five years.
It will be divided into two research projects. The first £20 million will be used for creating 3D versions of breast tumors. The 3D versions will then be further examined using virtual reality. Professor Greg Hannon will lead the Cancer Research UK Cambridge Institute team. He is hoping that this new way of studying breast cancer will change how the cancer is diagnosed, treated and managed.
According to Cambridge, the other team, Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute, got the other £20 million. Professor Sir Mike Stratton will lead that team and they will find the causes of cancer. This team of Cambridge scientists will be studying 5,000 pancreatic, kidney, oesophageal and bowel cancer samples that came from five different continents.
With the study these Cambridge scientists will be doing, it is comparable to every DNA sequencing that the whole world has gathered in the past years of research. Cancer Research UK is hoping that this team of Cambridge scientists will prevent more cancer victim and lessen the number of people who get them. The Cambridge scientists and the Cancer Research UK is hoping to fill in the gaps about cancer, its causes, and treatments.
As cancer is still one of the biggest reasons why people are dying in the UK and in the whole world, researchers wish this work could better survival rates. The grant will definitely help scientists answer some of the most difficult unreciprocated questions in cancer research. It will also modernize the prevention, diagnosis, and treatment of cancer.
