The Mark Foundation for Cancer Research has partnered with Cancer Research UK to fund a new Cancer Grand Challenges team.
Cancer Grand Challenges, a global cancer research initiative co-founded by Cancer Research UK and the National Cancer Institute in the US, yesterday announced five teams who will be awarded up to £100m to take on some of cancer’s toughest challenges.
The Mark Foundation for Cancer Research is supporting the new MATCHMAKERS team, who seek to understand how the immune system recognises cancer through T-cell receptors which are a type of ‘immune sensor’ that play a crucial role in identifying cancerous cells.
Being able to predict and better understand what T cells recognise in individual tumours will pave the way for personalised immunotherapies that redefine cancer care.
This is the third Cancer Grand Challenges team that The Mark Foundation for Cancer Research has co-funded with Cancer Research UK to tackle some of cancer’s most complex challenges, taking its total support for the initiative to over £26m.
“Our commitment to large-scale, international team science is strong,” added Dr. Schoenfeld. “The success of our previously-funded Cancer Grand Challenges projects – one addressing immunotherapy for pediatric solid tumors and the other investigating tissue specificity in cancer – inspired us to continue support of this tremendous initiative.”
The Cancer Grand Challenges initiative takes a unique approach to collaboration, bringing together the brightest minds from across the world and across disciplines to form global teams who will pursue answers to some of the biggest challenges facing cancer research and the treatment of cancer patients today.
Cancer Grand Challenges is one of four fundraising priorities for the More Research, Less Cancer campaign, which aims to raise £400 million to power life-changing research, which Cancer Research UK launched last month.
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