MRC funds new cancer and nutrition centre in Cambridge
29 September 2005
The Medical Research Council (MRC) has awarded £2.3M to fund the development of a new MRC Centre for Nutritional Epidemiology in Cancer Prevention and Survival (CNC) at the University of Cambridge, which will be hosted by the Department of Public Health and Primary Care at the University of Cambridge.
The Centre, which starts work early in 2006, will provide international leadership in research in the epidemiology and molecular origins of the dietary causes of cancer. It will build on findings from the European Prospective Investigation of Cancer (EPIC) and provide sound scientific evidence to underpin intervention studies, public health advice and clinical guidance on treatment. This will contribute to the prediction, prevention and improving of health of those with this common and often fatal disease. Cancer is still the most common cause of death in most western countries including the UK.
The new Centre will build on the work of five MRC units in Cambridge; the Dunn Human Nutrition Unit, Cancer Cell Unit, Biostatistics Unit, Epidemiology Unit and the Collaborative Centre for Human Nutrition Research and departments of seven UK universities in Cambridge, Bristol, Imperial College London, Leeds, Oxford, Sheffield, University College London and York. In addition to the Department of Public Health and Primary Care, the main Cambridge University collaborators will be the Departments of Pathology and of Oncology, and at Addenbrooke’s, the Departments of Colorectal Surgery and Gastroenterology and Radiology. The new Centre will be supported through an MRC Centre Grant awarded to Cambridge University Clinical School.
In addition, the new Centre will provide a UK focus for multidisciplinary training in nutrition and cancer epidemiology, including training in basic molecular science of cancer, nutrition and epidemiological techniques.
Dr Sheila Bingham of the MRC Dunn Human Nutrition Unit will head the new Centre. Dr Bingham said, “There is some evidence that nutrition plays a very important role in preventing cancer. This new funding will allow us to give much needed advice to patients and the general public about what they can do to avoid cancer and improve survival once it has developed.”
Professor John Danesh, head of the host department at the University of Cambridge, said, “This major initiative will help to generate new insights into the relevance of dietary habits to common cancers, and will assist in the development of strategies to prevent disease.”
For further information or to arrange an interview, please contact:
Adrian Penrose
MRC Regional Communications Manager
Phone number: 01223 748179
Mobile: 07990 541 520
Notes for editors:
The Medical Research Council (MRC) is a national organisation funded by the UK taxpayer. Its business is medical research aimed at improving human health; everyone stands to benefit from the outputs. The research it supports and the scientists it trains meet the needs of the health services, the pharmaceutical and other health-related industries and the academic world. MRC has funded work that has led to some of the most significant discoveries and achievements in medicine in the UK. About half of the MRC's expenditure of approximately £500 million is invested in its 40 Institutes, Units and Centres. The remaining half goes in the form of grant support and training awards to individuals and teams in universities and medical schools.
The University of Cambridge’s reputation for outstanding academic achievement is known worldwide and reflects the intellectual achievement of its students, as well as world-class original research carried out by the staff of the University and the Colleges.
As Cambridge approaches its 800th anniversary in 2009, it is looking to the future. It continues to change in response to the challenges it faces. The modern University is an international centre of teaching and research in vast range of subjects: about half of the students study science or technology. Members of the University have won over 80 Nobel Prizes.
