University of Southampton receives £15 Million Cancer Research Grant

Southampton’s place as a leading institution in the fight against cancer has been further cemented by its inclusion in a new research development led by Cancer Research UK.

The new initiative, which aims to inspire collaborative cancer research between scientists from institutions around the United Kingdom, will utilise Southampton’s immunology expertise.

Four new centres for research are being opened, and researchers from the University of Southampton will be assigned to a new £3.9 million centre led by Queen’s University Belfast.

The centre will develop new pathology and image analysis techniques for solid tumours. This includes research to improve cancer diagnosis through tissue imaging, biomarker discovery and clinical trials.

Gareth Thomas, Professor of Experimental Pathology at the University of Southampton, said: “As we move towards an era of personalised medicine, the ability to accurately select patients likely to benefit from a particular cancer treatment is becoming an essential requirement of clinical practice. This often requires analysis of patient’s tissues for biomarkers that predict for likely response to treatment.

Dr David Scott, Cancer Research UK’s director of science funding, said: “Effective partnerships are crucial for delivering the greatest science and boosting advancements in fighting cancer. We’re proud to invest in collaborative and innovative research across the UK with the new Centres Network Accelerator awards. It’s through working together and uniting expertise that we will do better research and save more lives.”

This is one of many exciting developments which has led the University of Southampton to start a fundraising campaign which is aiming to make Southampton General Hospital a world-leading centre for cancer immunology.