Scottish researchers get 691,000 pounds for cancer research

Researchers from University of Strathclyde, Glasgow and Dundee have received 691,000 pounds, from an UK-based NGO to search for a drug to fight prostate cancer, the most common cancer in man.
Scottish institutions will each receive one of 17 grants Prostate Cancer UK is awarding as part of the first wave of funding through the charity's ambitious new research strategy.
The charity is injecting 11 million pounds into research this year to focus on key areas of understanding risk, improving diagnosis and refining treatment options from the disease.
Professor Simon Mackay, from the Strathclyde Institute of Pharmacy and Biomedical Science, who has received 249,000 pounds said, "We have developed a new drug-like compound which could improve life expectancy for men with advanced prostate cancer over and above six months."

He added that Prostate cancer is the most common cancer diagnosed in the men in UK. More than 40,000 men are diagnosed with prostate cancer every year and every hour, one man dies from the disease.
"Due to a long legacy of underfunding and neglect we still know shockingly little about why prostate cancer kills 10,000 men every year", said Dr Iain Frame, Director of Research at Prostate Cancer UK.

Professor Rob Mairs from the University of Glasgow's Institute of Cancer Sciences, who received 205,000 pounds to improve radiation treatment by directly targeting prostate cancer cells said, "although radiotherapy is widely used in the treatment of prostate cancer, damage to neighbouring tissues and organs limits the dose which patients can receive."

He added that we will develop a more targeted approach to radiotherapy, which will offer a more effective treatment of prostate cancer which has spread to other areas of the body.
"Current ultrasound techniques cannot reliably locate cancer within the prostate and MRI's are not accurate enough to identify aggressive from benign cancers", said Ghulam Nabi, Senior Lecturer in surgical uro-oncology at the University of Dundee, who has received 237,000 pounds to investigate whether new ultrasound techniques could be used to diagnose prostate cancer and identify whether it is aggressive or not.
The grants were awarded via a competitive process, and were subject to detailed assessment from external peer reviewers and the Prostate Cancer UK Research Advisory Committee.