Cancer Research Centre Loses Excellent Status

Liverpool’s cancer research department has been stripped of its ‘centre of excellence’ status.

Cancer Research UK removed the prestigious status after deciding the university no longer met its criteria.

Last week Cancer Research UK announced a colossal investment of £100m, naming 15 research centres as centres of excellence who would benefit from this grant.

UoL is one of Liverpool’s Research Centre’s biggest partners

Liverpool lost out, whilst the likes of Manchester, London and Edinburgh won the funding.

However, UoL – one of the key partners in Liverpool’s centre – has said it has made a significant investment of its own and are working at securing investment from other funders.

The centre’s partners are made up of the University of Liverpool, the Royal Liverpool hospital, the Clatterbridge Cancer Centre in the Wirral, Liverpool City Council and the Mersyside and Cheshire Cancer Network.

In March 2014, the centre will simply be known as the University of Liverpool Cancer Centre.

Leaders at Liverpool City Council said the decision to strip Liverpool of this status was “disappointing”.

Dr Joanna Reynolds, Cancer Research UK’s director of centres, said: “Liverpool unfortunately did not achieve the level required to be selected as one of the centres of excellence.

“The extensive process of selection of the centres was led by an international panel of experts who chose the centres with the most exciting potential to deliver advances in cancer research to benefit patients – something that must be a priority.”

Prof Ian Greer, from University of Liverpool’s Faculty of Health and Life Sciences, said: “Although we have been unsuccessful in the Cancer Research UK funding round on this occasion, the University has recently invested more than £6m in new cancer research posts as well as new laboratories.

“We are also working with North West Cancer Research to bring further investment to Liverpool to address the heavy burden of cancer on our region, focusing on CRISPR/Cas9 Gene Editing. This investment will be translated into new discoveries and applications that will improve cancer care and patient outcomes in the future.”

Like The Tab on Facebook and follow us on Twitter.