03 NOV 09

Cancer Research Centre is Launched in Cardiff


A new Cancer Research UK Centre has been launched in Cardiff. The centre will focus on understanding the biology of leukaemia, urological cancers, breast cancer and bowel cancer to improve prevention, treatment and early detection of cancers.

The partnership between Cardiff University, Cancer Research UK, Velindre NHS Trust and Cardiff and Vale University Health Board hopes to better understand the variations in cancers found in patients and develop suitable treatments for individual cases. The centre will also work with the University to expand existing PhD programmes for training clinical and non-clinical postgraduates.

Local research in cancer biology is already supported by Cancer Research UK, the leading funder of cancer research in the UK, and the establishment of this centre brings an extra £2 million to the work in Cardiff over the next three years. The centres of excellence are part of a prioritised initiative by Cancer Research UK to provide a better understanding of the diseases.

The launch of the centre was announced in the same week as researchers in Cardiff University’s Department of Primary Health Care and Public Health are to be involved in a new five year programme to improve cancer diagnosis. The DISCOVERY programme, which will begin in January 2010, stems from a £1.94 million grant from the National Institute for Health Research. The grant will fund six projects, the findings of which have the potential to directly affect clinical practice and health policy. The projects range from issues at patient and GP level, such as reporting symptoms and referral practices, to a wider economic and societal review of the diagnostic system.

The expertise of researchers at Cardiff University will be drawn on as one of four universities working on the project led by Bristol University, alongside Durham, Cambridge and Oxford, as well as NHS Bristol.