Our committees oversee the peer review of applications for CRUK funding and support delivery of our strategic priorities.
Recently funded awards
This page lists the investigator-led programmes, projects and fellowships that we have recently supported through our response-mode grant funding schemes.
Select a funding committee to see what they have funded to date in 2021 (for Grant Award Letters issued up to March 2022):
Biomarker Project Awards
Professor Mhairi Copland, University of Glasgow
Evaluation of key Biomarkers for the prediction of successful treatment-free remission (TFR) in chronic myeloid leukaemia
Professor Anthony Moorman, Newcastle University
Evaluating integrated and multi-biomarker driven risk stratification in paediatric acute lymphoblastic leukaemia
Clinical Trial Awards
Professor Darren Hargrave and Professor Pamela Kearns, University of Birmingham
LOGGIC- Phase III, randomised, international multicentre trial for children and adolescents with low-grade glioma
Dr Christopher Fox, University of Southampton
Optimizing MATrix as remission induction treatment for newly diagnosed primary CNS Lymphoma – a randomized phase III trial (OPTIMATE trial)
Professor Peter Hoskin, Professor Gareth Griffiths & Ananya Choudhury, University of Southampton
CRAIN: A phase 1b clinical trial with dose escalation and dose expansion phases of ASTX660 in combination with standard radical radiotherapy in cervical cancer with chemoradiation
Dr Victoria Coyle and Professor Daniel Longley, University of Glasgow
ASTFOX: A Phase I study of the IAP antagonist, ASTX660, in combination with standard of care FOLFOX chemotherapy in metastatic colorectal cancer
Mr Dirk Strauss, The Royal Marsden NHS Foundation Trust
EORTC-1809-STBSG: A randomised phase III study of neoadjuvant chemotherapy followed by surgery versus surgery alone for patients with High Risk RetroPeritoneal Sarcoma (STRASS 2)
Professor Simon Crabb and Professor Gareth Griffiths, University of Southampton
AURORA: Atezolizumab in patients with squamous cell carcinoma of the bladder and urinary tract – a single arm, open label, multicentre, phase II trial
Dr Juanita Lopez, Professor Christina Yap and Professor Pascal Meier, Institute of Cancer Research
ASTEROID – A Phase I proof of concept study of ASTX660 in combination with PEmbROlizumab:utilizing triple IAP blockade as a strategy to maximize Immunogenic cell Death and the generation of a efficient adaptive immune response
Professor Jonathan Bridgewater, University College London
SAFIR-ABC10: molecular screening for precision medicine in advanced biliary cancers
Professor Bernadette Brennan and Professor Pamela Kearns, University of Birmingham
International clinical research programme to improve outcomes in newly diagnosed Ewing Sarcoma – Trial 1 (INTER-EWING-1)
Professor Gladstone (Amos) Burke and Professor Lucinda Billingham, University of Birmingham
Glo-BNHL: A Global Study of Novel Agents in Relapsed and Refractory B-NHL
Extension
Dr Martin McCabe and Professor Keith Wheatley, University of Birmingham
rEECur: International Randomised Controlled Trial of Chemotherapy for the Treatment of Recurrent and Primary Refractory Ewing Sarcoma
Prospective Sample Collection Awards
Professor Paul Lorigan, University of Manchester
From primary diagnosis to relapse or cure; a comprehensive sample collection from patients with stage II melanoma
June 2021
Programme Awards
New Programmes
Professor Christian Speck, Imperial College London
Discovering the structural and mechanistic principles of human helicase-loading control and its misregulation in cancer
Professor Kairbaan Hodivala-Dilke, Queen Mary, University of London
Exploiting the effects of low mural cell beta3-integrin in the control of cancer progression, therapy resistance and metastasis
Professor Jody Rosenblatt, King's College London
Basal extrusion: a new mechanism for metastasis initiation
Professor Trevor Graham, Queen Mary, University of London
MECCA: Metastatic Evolutionary dynamics of Colorectal Cancer
Dr Vincenzo D’Angiolella, Professor Steve Clifford & Professor Alex Bullock, University of Oxford/Newcastle University
The neomorphic role of KBTBD4 in medulloblastoma
Renewing Programmes
Professor Sergio Quezada, University College London
Development and evaluation of T- and innate-cell engagers driving agonistic activity independent of Fc/FcReceptor interactions
Professor Martin Humphries, University of Manchester
Stromal rigidity as a driver of pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma progression
Programme Foundation Awards
Dr Marc Mansour, University College London
Dissecting and exploiting enhancer dysregulation in T-cell acute lymphoblastic leukaemia
Dr Dirk Sieger, University of Edinburgh
The role of microglia during the formation of neural network-like connections in glioma
Multidisciplinary Project Awards
Professor Darryl Overby & Professor Iain McNeish, Imperial College London
A “top-down” organ-on-chip approach for personalised medicine in ovarian cancer
Dr Iain Dunlop, Imperial College London
Biophysical design of immunomodulatory nanotherapeutics
November 2021
Programme Awards
New Programmes
Dr Ulrike Gruneberg, University of Oxford
Molecular Mechanisms Safeguarding Genome Stability
Dr Helfrid Hochegger, University of Sussex
Exploiting a new cell cycle control pathway for cancer therapy
Professor Steven Pollard, University of Edinburgh
Dissecting the biochemical and cellular functions of SOX proteins in glioblastoma
Professor Edward Tate, Imperial College London
Protein lipidation in cancer: discovery, mechanisms and target validation
Renewing Programmes
Professor Awen Gallimore, Cardiff University
Exploring the Relationship Between Antigen-Specific T Cells and the Tumour Microenvironment
Professor Chris Jones, Institute of Cancer Research
Targeting cellular diversity and interactivity in paediatric diffuse glioma
Professor Chris Lord, Institute of Cancer Research
Cancer vulnerabilities
Professor Alan Melcher & Professor Kevin Harrington, Institute of Cancer Research
Understanding and harnessing the antigenicity and adjuvanticity of combination oncolytic virus and targeted drug immunotherapy
Programme Foundation Awards
Dr Christina Halsey, University of Glasgow
Targeting metabolic reprogramming to develop more effective and less toxic treatments for central nervous system involvement in paediatric acute lymphoblastic leukaemia
Cancer Immunology Project Awards
Dr Rebecca Gentek, University of Edinburgh
Studying the origins of mast cells to delineate their functions in melanoma progression
May 2021
Early Detection and Diagnosis Programme Awards
Professor George Hanna, Imperial College London
Augmented Response of vOlatile bioMarkers to detect oesophagogastric Adenocarcinoma (AROMA)
Early Detection and Diagnosis Project Awards
Dr Clare Rebbeck and Professor Gregory Hannon, University of Cambridge
Using a “Timeline of DCIS progression” to create an improved clinical assay for breast cancer risk
Professor Francesca Palombo, Dr Nick Stone and Dr Oliver Old, University of Exeter
Development of advanced optical tools for early detection and diagnosis of oesophageal cancer with high mechanical and chemical specificity
Dr Maria Kyrgiou and Professor Zoltan Takats, Imperial College London
High-throughput laser-assisted Rapid Evaporative Ionisation Mass Spectrometry (Laser-REIMS) in the early detection and diagnosis of cervical pre-invasive disease
Early Detection and Diagnosis Primer Awards
Dr Charlene Greenwood, University of Keele
Prostate Cancer: High Accuracy Early Diagnosis based on Tissue Microenvironments
Dr Adam Creamer and Dr Leah Frenette, Imperial College London
Magnetic, Fluorescent Nanoparticles for the Isolation of Blood Biomarkers in the Early Detection of Pancreatic Cancer
Dr Lesley Smith and Professor Richard Neal, University of Leeds
Development of a myeloma case-finding approach for higher-risk patients: analysis of routine blood tests
Dr Jason Webber, Swansea University
Extracellular Vesicle Glycoproteins for Prostate Cancer Diagnosis (EVGlyProD)
Professor David Westhead, University of Leeds
Prediction of Early Progression in Follicular Lymphoma
Dr Oluwafunmilola Ola and Dr Frankie Rawson, University of Nottingham
Point-of-care-Based Electrochemical Sensing for Human Papillomavirus Detection
Dr Jamie Blundell, University of Cambridge
Exploiting the Immune System for Early Cancer Detection
Dr Richard Mair and Dr Rohitashwa Sinha, University of Cambridge
Early Detection with Urine and Cognitive Assessment Multiplex (The EDUCAM study)
Professor Marc Moncrieff, Dr Stuart Rushworth, Dr Mona Saad, Norfolk and Norwich University Hospital NHS Trust
Feasibility study investigating circulating peripheral mitochondrial DNA as a potential non-invasive biomarker for diagnosis and surveillance of high risk cutaneous melanoma
Dr Christopher Toseland, University of Sheffield
Single molecule mass photometry for the early detection of cancer
Dr Sourav Banerjee, University of Dundee
Secreted phosphoproteome in blood as early detection and risk stratification biomarkers of glioma
November 2021
Early Detection and Diagnosis Programme Awards
Professor Daniel Murphy, Imperial College London, and Professor Marion MacFarlane, MRC Toxicology Unit
Integrated Analysis in Mouse and Man for Early Detection of Mesothelioma: IAMMED-Meso
Early Detection and Diagnosis Project Awards
Professor Sara Zanivan and Dr Thomas Bird, CRUK Beatson Institute
Combining plasma redox-proteomics with machine learning for early detection of hepatocellular carcinoma
Professor Jennifer Morton and Professor Sara Zanivan, CRUK Beatson Institute
Investigating Biomarkers for the Early Detection of Pancreatic Cancer in Genetically Engineered Mouse Models of New Onset Diabetes-Associated Ductal Adenocarcinoma
Professor Francesca Ciccarelli, King's College London
Early detection of oesophageal adenocarcinoma (OAC) from Barrett’s oesophagus (BO): defining genetic and microenvironmental drivers of BO-OAC transition
Dr Richard Bryan, University of Birmingham, and Professor Mieke Van Hemelrijck, King's College London
DIAGNOSING BLADDER CANCER – EVALUATING THE ROLE OF A URINARY BIOMARKER TEST IN THE RECONFIGURATION OF HAEMATURIA CLINIC INVESTIGATIONS (‘BC-Recon’)
Early Detection and Diagnosis Primer Awards
Dr Amanda Rossiter, University of Birmingham
Development of a patient-derived, mucosoid-microbiota model to identify novel gastric adenocarcinoma biomarkers triggered by the intestinal metaplasia-associated microbiota
Dr Ruchi Gupta, University of Birmingham
Lozenges for Early Detection of Cancer
Dr Tristan Barrett, University of Cambridge, and Professor Zion Tse, University of York
Smartphone application for effective prostate cancer screening utilising machine learning- enhanced ultrasound PSA-density measurement
Dr Marilena Hadjidemetriou, University of Manchester
Nanotechnology-enabled multi-omic liquid biopsies in non-small cell lung cancer
Professor Jason Davis, University of Oxford
Breast cancer screening using bimodal circulating tumour cell enrichment and detection
Professor Charles Swanton and Dr William Hill, The Francis Crick Institute
TOPICAL: The impact of air pollution upon cancer initiation in the lung
Dr Sean Knight, Professor Sarah Cartmell and Dr Katherine Finegan, University of Manchester
A new platform for discovering biomarkers of early lung cancer
Dr Vladimir Teif, University of Essex, and Dr Paul Brennan, University of Edinburgh
Early cancer diagnostics and stratification based on nucleosome positioning reconstructed from cell-free DNA
May 2021
Project Grants
Professor Paul Pharoah, University of Cambridge
Rare germline genetic variation in the coding and non-coding genome and susceptibility to ovarian cancer
Dr Hannah Sallis, University of Bristol
Smoking behaviours and transitions to vaping in early adulthood: Investigating predictors with longitudinal data
November 2021
Programme Grants
Professor Jamie Brown and Professor Lion Shahab, University College London
Targeting multiple levels of 'the smoking cessation system' using novel scientific approaches
Professor Carolyn Taylor and Professor Sarah Darby, University of Oxford
Benefits and Risks of Cancer Treatment
Project Grants
Professor Antonis Antoniou and Professor Douglas Easton, University of Cambridge
EMBRACE: Epidemiological study of mutation carriers in BRCA1, BRCA2 and other cancer susceptibility genes
Dr Paula Dhiman, University of Oxford
Sample size considerations for oncology studies developing and validating clinical predictions models using machine learning for binary outcomes in low dimensional data settings
May 2021
Career Development Fellowship
Dr Thomas MacVicar, CRUK Beatson Institute, Glasgow
Targeting mitochondrial metabolite transport in pancreatic cancer
Dr Diu Nguyen, Queen Mary, University of London
Targeting post-transcriptional regulators to eradicate leukemic stem cells in acute myeloid leukemia
Career Establishment Award
Dr Isidro Cortes Ciriano, EMBL European Bioinformatics Institute
Development and clinical validation of a multi-modal liquid biopsy test for cancer screening and monitoring using long-read sequencing technologies
Clinician Scientist Fellowship
Dr Sally George, Institute of Cancer Research
The role of ATRX alterations in the genesis and therapeutic sensitivity of neuroblastoma
Dr Marwan Kwok, University of Birmingham
Identifying tumour-immune interactions as determinants of clinical sequelae in chronic lymphocytic leukaemia
Pre-doctoral Research Bursaries
Dr Louisa Harding-Edgar, University of Glasgow
Lung cancer and early diagnosis after Covid-19: identifying the impact of remote consulting on lung cancer referral
Dr Tom Andrew, Newcastle University
Optimising deep learning models for risk classification of AMBLor in cutaneous melanoma
Mr Jonathan Pushpa-Rajah, University of Cambridge
Use of structural variants to detect recurrence of renal cancer via blood
Dr Alexandros Rampotas, University College London
Towards developing a Chimeric Antigen Receptor (CAR) construct against mutated calreticulin
Postdoctoral Research Bursary
Dr Elizabeth Maughan, Institute of Child Health/UCL
Generating personalised preclinical models for advanced paediatric thyroid cancer
December 2021
Career Development Fellowships
Dr Jin Rui Liang, University of Dundee
Understanding the Roles of ERphagy during Epithelial-to-Mesenchymal Transition
Dr Simone Zaccaria, University College London Cancer Institute
In-depth characterisation of the evolutionary origins and routes of metastasis at single-cell whole-genome resolution
Career Establishment Awards
Dr Seth Coffelt, University of Glasgow
Defining WNT/beta-catenin control over immunosurveillance and immune escape in colon cancer
Dr Louise Fets, Imperial College London
Understanding how membrane transporters influence variability in cancer drug uptake and investigating implications for efficacy
Senior Cancer Research Fellowship
Dr J. Ross Chapman, University of Oxford
Mechanisms underpinning distinct manifestations of Homologous Recombination deficiency in cancer
Clinician Scientist Fellowship
Dr Sarah Gooding, University of Oxford
Exploiting recurrent chromosome copy number alteration (CNA)-driven defects in the treatment of Multiple Myeloma
Clinical Trial Fellowships
Dr Chris Williams & Dr David Cairns, University of Leeds
A programme for broad-based training in clinical trials at the CRUK Clinical Trials Unit in Leeds, with a focus on biomarker-driven trials in colorectal cancer
Dr Sophie Merrick & Dr Duncan Gilbert, University College London
Optimising immuno-oncology approaches in oncology
Dr Finbar Slevin & Dr Sarah Brown, University of Leeds
Cancer Research UK Clinical Trials Unit at Leeds Fellowship – developing a future chief investigator of advanced radiotherapy clinical trials
Pre-doctoral Research Bursaries
Dr Danyal Zaman Khan, University College London
Personalised, data-driven surgical management of pituitary tumours using artificial intelligence – a pilot study
Dr Antonio D'Alessio, Imperial College London
Integrated characterisation of anti-tumour immunity following neoadjuvant immunotherapy of hepatocellular carcinoma
CRUK-Pathological Society Predoctoral Research Bursary
Dr Paul Hankinson, University of Sheffield
Utilization of salivary extracellular vesicles as non-invasive biomarkers for oral epithelial dysplasia
More facts and figures about our research funding
Find out more about how and where we supported research in the last year with our interactive map and infographics.