£187k windfall in fight against cancer (From York Press)

York prostate cancer researchers receive £187k windfall

7:42am Saturday 23rd February 2013 in News By Richard Catton, richard.catton@thepress.co.uk

RESEARCHERS in York at the forefront of the battle against prostate cancer have been given £187,000 to help discover why the disease becomes immune to certain treatments.

The windfall is part of a £237,000 grant given to universities in Yorkshire, from Prostate Cancer UK. The charity said it was committed to “find answers to some of the most important research challenges facing the disease today” and wants scientists at University of York to play a part.

Dr Anne Collins, from the YCR Cancer Research Unit at the University of York, said: “With this generous grant from Prostate Cancer UK we hope to determine whether the cells that cause prostate cancer are identical to those which are responsible for resistance to current therapies.

“This will help us develop new treatments which directly target these cells so that we can treat the disease more effectively.”

The grant is part of the first wave of £11 million which the charity hopes to inject into research this year.

Dr Iain Frame, director of research at Prostate Cancer UK, said: “Due to a long legacy of underfunding and neglect we still know shockingly little about why prostate cancer kills 10,000 men every year.

“Prostate Cancer UK has vowed to scale up its mission to deliver so much more and so much better for men. By funding ground breaking projects such as these with the UK’s top research scientists we hope to be able to find the answers we so desperately need for the future.”

He said thanks to high-profile campaigns such as Movember, Prostate Cancer UK had recently tripled its spending on research to up to £25 million over the next three years.

He said: “While this provides a fantastic launch pad, we desperately need more money to crack this disease once and for all. Through our recently launched Sledgehammer Fund we are calling on everyone across the country to get behind men and help us in this mission. Together we can, and will, beat prostate cancer.”

The grants were awarded through a competitive process with the winners decided by outside organisations alongside the Prostate Cancer UK Research Advisory Committee.