Last month the Bone Cancer Research Trust launched our 2017 – 2022 Strategy: The Biggest Ever Commitment to Primary Bone Cancer. This strategy helps us work towards our ultimate ambition of finding a cure for primary bone cancer and leads us into new directions to progress our work over our four strategic foundations of research, information, awareness and support.
A major part of our strategy is our commitment to research. Research is key to saving lives and finding a cure. To date, researchers have not had the necessary funding and career pathways in place to enable research or specialism in the field of primary bone cancer. It is crucial we support this research and in order to do so we have committed to funding over £2.8 million over the next 5 years.
To kick-start this, we have committed to funding two new research projects this month, totalling a spend of £620,000. Furthermore, we have announced a third grant in collaboration with our friends at the Ewing’s Sarcoma Research Trust for a grant specific to researching Ewing's sarcoma.
Collaborative Research Funding
The Ewing’s Sarcoma Research Trust and the Bone Cancer Research Trust are committed to improving outcomes for patients with Ewing's Sarcoma and have therefore joined together to support a call for research projects specifically in this area.
The funding for this project is up to £70,000 and applicants must show desire to improve the current understanding of the cause of Ewing's sarcoma, or to develop pioneering methods of diagnosis or treatment leading to a cure for this disease.
Funding for this call has been provided by the Ewing’s Sarcoma Research Trust and the grant will be administered through the Bone Cancer Research Trust. The deadline for applications is 13th October 2017. We are delighted to be working together on such an important project in a collaborative manner.
PhD Studentship
The Bone Cancer Research Trust have always been keen to support young researchers, we see them as the future experts in primary bone cancer and we need to ensure they are supported throughout their career. A PhD studentship covers between 3 to 4 years of funding for an extensive and in-depth research project. This funding not only allows a new area of primary bone cancer to be explored, but also the development of promising young scientist into a mature and independent researcher.
The Bone Cancer Research Trust have funded 5 of the brightest young minds in this area through our PhD studentships and we are delighted to announce we are shortly to fund our 6th student. Our next PhD studentship will be awarded in 2018 and is now open for applications. Deadline for applications is the 20th October 2017.
Our Largest Ever Grant Funding
The Bone Cancer Research Trust wants to ensure that all projects are supported, no matter their size. We have been working closely with the National Cancer Research Institute's (NCRI) Bone Sarcoma Clinical Specialist Group and feel passionately that funding into osteosarcoma is an urgent priority.
There have been no significant changes in survival rates for osteosarcoma patients for at least three decades and with a lack of Phase III clinical trials available for patients, a push in this area is desperately required. Although there has been lots of fantastic research into osteosarcoma, this work has been on a smaller scale and done in isolation. We are delighted to announce our largest ever grant funded into this area; supporting large, collaborative projects which will bring together the greatest minds in the field of osteosarcoma.
This funding will be aimed at pushing laboratory research one step closer to the clinic and follow-up on any new leads identified by research such as the 100,000 Genomes Project. This funding will ensure promising biomarkers or targets are validated and has the ultimate goal of getting several new treatments into a sophisticated clinical trial with arms open to osteosarcoma patients of all ages and past treatment.
We want to support our clinical colleagues to develop a framework that will allow any candidate treatments to get to trials with minimum time delays. Our largest ever grant funding totals £450,000 and is now open for applications. Deadline for applications is the 10th November 2017.
For more information on any of these grant funding opportunities and details on how to apply, please visit our ‘For Researchers’ website page by clicking here, or email the Bone Cancer Research Trust research team at research@bcrt.org.uk with any enquiries.