Cancer Research UK (CRUK) is set to invest £27.4 million into seven new international projects, hoping to “accelerate” lifesaving cancer research.
In collaboration with its European partners, Fondazione AIRC and Asociación Española Contra el Cáncer (AECC), the charity will choose successful teams from its CRUK Accelerator Awards programme to develop new research tools, resources and infrastructure to improve scientists’ understanding of cancer.
The project will also look at rare and hard-to-treat cancers, helping to find better ways to treat them, and investigate how to best combine radiotherapy with the latest immunotherapies, specifically refocussing research efforts on mesothelioma, an asbestos related cancer, cases of which continue to rise globally.
Dr Iain Foulkes, executive director of research and innovation at CRUK, said: “If current trends continue, the world will see a 60% increase in cancer cases over the next two decades. Cancer is a global problem and no one country can tackle it alone.
“Now the UK has left the European Union, the need to retain collaborative cancer research between the EU and the UK has never been greater. This partnership will also strengthen UK cancer research by the sharing of expertise, new technologies and research talent.”
Earlier this month Immatics Biotechnologies announced a new strategic collaboration with GlaxoSmithKline (GSK), in order to develop novel adoptive cell therapies targeting multiple cancer indications.
The news also comes as scientists have created one of the most “detailed” maps of breast cancer ever achieved, showing how the complex cancer landscape – made up of cancer cells, immune cells and connective tissue – varies between and within tumours, depending on their genetic makeup.
