U.S. scientists get $87 million Grand Challenge awards to quicken battle against cancer

U.S. scientists get $87 million Grand Challenge awards to quicken battle against cancer

February 10, 2017 Off By Dino Mustafić

Cancer Research UK (CR UK), the world’s largest not-for-profit cancer research organization, has today announced that six leading U.S. scientists are among the winners of a global competition to help overcome the biggest challenges facing cancer research.

According to the research organization, the initial $87 million ‘Grand Challenge’ fund will be distributed across four international teams that include academics from six prominent U.S. institutions including Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Harvard University, and MD Anderson Cancer Center.

Grand Challenge is unique in its approach to identifying and addressing critical issues through international, multidisciplinary team research on a scale never before undertaken in cancer. The initiative – established by the UK’s leading cancer charity, Cancer Research UK – has been steered by a panel of world-leading researchers chaired by Dr. Rick Klausner, former director of the U.S. National Cancer Institute, said the research center.

According to the CR UK, the projects funded by the award are set to revolutionize the understanding of cancer, and how to better prevent, diagnose and treat the disease globally. Teams will develop pioneering solutions to major challenges. Teams will create a virtual reality 3D tumor map which will allow scientists and doctors to examine – for the first time and in unprecedented detail – the cellular and molecular make-up of a patient’s entire tumor to improve diagnosis and treatment for the disease.

Furthermore, the team will study samples from five continents to understand the DNA damage associated with different cancers, to understand what causes them and if they can be prevented.

Another task will be distinguishing between those women with DCIS (a condition that can develop into cancer) who need treatment and those that don’t, to reduce overtreatment of the condition, and, it will develop a way to combine new and existing technologies to create virtual representations of tumors, and a global database that catalogues their genetic make-up and metabolism, which could lead to new ways to diagnose and treat the disease.

While survival has improved, CR UK says, cancer remains the biggest killer in the U.S. after heart disease. Approximately two in every five U.S. adults will be diagnosed with cancer at some point in their life. The UK based researcher notes that it is estimated that there will be more than 1.65 million new cancer cases in 2017 in the U.S. and more than 600,000 cancer deaths (around 4,600 new cases and 1,600 deaths daily)i.

Sir Harpal Kumar, Cancer Research UK’s chief executive, said, “Cancer Research UK set up the Grand Challenge to bring a renewed focus and energy to the fight against cancer. We want to shine a light on the toughest questions that stand in the way of progress. We’re incredibly excited to be able to support these teams as they help us achieve our ambition. Cancer is a global problem, and these projects are part of the global solution. Together, we will redefine cancer, turning it from a disease that so many people die from, to one that many people can live with. We will reduce the number of people worldwide affected by cancer and achieve our goal of beating cancer sooner.”