MCRC Director's Update

RadNet announcement

As you may have already seen, we are delighted to announce that our Manchester scientists and clinicians have received a major cash boost to fund radiotherapy related research, including experimental radiotherapy and radiobiology research. Cancer Research UK will be investing a total of £5.9 million which will enable the development of new radiotherapy technologies and techniques over the next five years. In close collaboration with The Christie, the funding will support University of Manchester researchers to discover ways to improve radiotherapy treatments including the use of virtual clinical trials.

You can find out more about this announcement in my video update.

Continuing support for the CRUK Lung Cancer Centre of Excellence

Another announcement that I am thrilled to highlight is a further £4 million investment from Cancer Research UK providing an additional five years of research funding to the Cancer Research UK Lung Cancer Centre of Excellence (LCCE). This funding means that researchers across Manchester and UCL will be able to continue their groundbreaking research into the prevention, diagnosis and treatment of lung cancer.

The LCCE, led by our own Professor Caroline Dive, and Professor Charlie Swanton from UCL was established in 2014 as a key component of CRUK’s focus on tackling the unique complexities on lung cancer. Read more about the LCCE here.

FBMH, SJTUSM and CLARA Joint Research Symposium

Earlier in the month, I travelled to Lyon to attend the FBMH, SJTUSM and CLARA Joint Research Symposium on Cancer, Neuroscience and Immunology. This meeting was driven by the Internationalisation Office at The University of Manchester between FBMH, Shanghai Jiaotong University School of Medicine (SJTUSM), and the CLARA (Cancéropôle Lyon Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes) Cancer Research Network in France.

The topics covered included neurosciences, immunology and cancer research. We have come away with an appreciation for the cancer research programmes in Shanghai and Lyon and we’re now developing specific projects around cancer inequalities and cancer biology and applying a series of funding which enables our students to go on secondment to either Shanghai or Lyon for their PhD projects.

Manchester Lit & Phil Society

On Tuesday 19^th November, I was delighted to speak at Manchester Lit & Phil Society about ‘Manchester’s Cancer Research Innovations: Embracing Patient Complexity and Team Science approaches’. My talk provided an overview of the Manchester Cancer Research Centre and our ‘Team Science’ approach which has influenced decades of practice-influencing cancer care. I discussed Manchester’s large portfolio of work of research around inequalities and our approach to recognise and work within diverse populations in Greater Manchester to ensure that our research is equitable, diverse and inclusive.

I highlighted specific exemplars that used scientific and public engagement across these populations in the design of new clinical trials, that will drive innovative changes and improve outcomes for our patients not only here, but worldwide.

In other news

I look forward to providing you with more activities in December’s Director’s Update.

Robert Bristow

Director of the Manchester Cancer Research Centre

Director of the Cancer Research UK Manchester Centre