Cancer Research UK Pledges $154 Million to Research Cancer Treatments

A British charity is pledging roughly $154 million over the next five years toward research into treatments and diagnostics to improve cancer survival.

The Cancer Research UK grants are open to researchers worldwide in industry and academia.

The first grant of up to $31 million will be awarded in the fall of 2016.

Areas targeted for research include vaccines for nonviral cancers, cancers caused by the Epstein Barr virus, the relationship between cancer and DNA mutation patterns and the nature and growth of tumor molecules and cells.

The group is especially interested in innovative approaches to targeting the Myc regulator gene and identifying pathways to move biologically active macromolecules, which fight cancer, to cells in different parts of the body. — Victoria Pelham