Newcastle Researchers Awarded Inaugural Cancer Research UK Prize
A team of researchers at Newcastle University has been awarded the inaugural Cancer Research UK Prize for Translational Cancer Research at the recent NCRI Cancer Conference in Liverpool. The award was made to medicinal chemists Bernard Golding and Roger Griffin, bioscientists Nicola Curtin, Barbara Durkacz and Herbie Newell, and Hilary Calvert and Ruth Plummer who are medical oncologists.
The prize recognises the achievements made by the Newcastle drug discovery team that are built on the initial discovery by Professor Barbara Durkacz in 1980. These pioneering studies demonstrated that blocking PARP, an enzyme that repairs DNA damage, could increase the number of cancer cells killed by DNA-damaging anticancer drugs and radiotherapy.
The development of drugs to target PARP was one of the first projects undertaken by the drug discovery team in Newcastle, which was established in 1990, and builds on a highly successful collaboration between the Northern Institute for Cancer Research and the School of Chemistry. Over the last 20 years the team has been at the forefront of research to progress this exciting new class of drug, and the award reflects the importance of a multidisciplinary approach to anticancer drug discovery. PARP inhibitors are currently progressing through clinical trials for breast and ovarian cancer, and recent research has found that they may also be useful for prostate cancer. Professor Ruth Plummer, a researcher on the Newcastle drug discovery team, said: “We’re delighted to receive the inaugural Cancer Research UK Translational prize. To receive recognition for how working as a team has allowed us to take a cutting edge scientific observation through all stages of drug development and treat patients with a new class of drugs, is motivational to everyone in the CR UK Newcastle Cancer Centre in Newcastle.”
The Translational Cancer Research Prize winner was selected by an international panel of cancer experts. The award recognises an outstanding translational research team that has made seminal cancer research discoveries which are at the cutting edge of scientific novelty, and which have had significant impact on the continuing efforts to prevent, diagnose and cure ancer. Harpal Kumar, chief executive of Cancer Research UK, said: “Professor Ruth Plummer and her colleagues in Newcastle fully deserve the recognition as the first recipients of the Cancer Research UK Translational Research Prize. The work behind PARP inhibitors has opened up a whole new range of drugs to tackle cancer, which could have real benefits for people with cancer over the coming years.”