Congratulations to Dr. Amanda Tivnan from the Centre for Systems Medicine, Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland. She is awarded a Research Fellowship by the Irish Cancer Society.
Dr. Amanda Tivnan at the Irish Cancer Society Research Fellows and Scholars Awards Ceremony in Dublin at which six new cancer research grants were awarded, said, “Although any form of brain cancer is serious, diagnosis of a patient with glioblastoma multiforme (GBM) currently holds the worst outcome, with an average survival of only 12-15 months. It is a highly aggressive brain cancer due to increased numbers of ‘pumps’, called transporters, on the cancer cells surface that rapidly remove the chemotherapy from the cell, not allowing it enough time to act and kill the brain cancer.”
“My research aims at targeting these pumps, so allowing the chemotherapy a longer time within the cancer cells and hopefully increasing its killing abilities. It will also focus on developing novel technologies to remove these pumps from the cancer cells, and then reassessing the response of these glioblastoma cells to chemotherapy, providing us with hope for patient survival in the future.”
Speaking at the Ceremony, Prof. John Fitzpatrick, Head of Research, Irish Cancer Society said, “The Irish Cancer Society’s vision for cancer research is based on achieving world-class discoveries across all cancer types to improve outcomes for the thousands of patients that are diagnosed each year in Ireland. We are extremely proud to announce our next round of Fellows and Scholars that will join the battle against cancer by applying their great knowledge and skills- to finding new ways to improve patient outcomes.”
“Over the past 50 years, the Irish Cancer Society has contributed €33 million to advance high-quality cancer research in Ireland. This funding has gone towards research grants, such as the Scholarship and Fellowship programmes, and the country’s first Collaborative Cancer Research Centre BREAST-PREDICT, which aims to predict the best treatment options for breast cancer patients. None of this would have been made possible without the general public’s ongoing support and commitment to fundraising for cancer research.” The Society’s Fellows and Scholars are also supported by the Tesco Charity of the Year Partnership 2010-2011 and the Movember Foundation.
Women race to pay tribute to friend who died of brain cancer and raise almost €30K for Irish Cancer Society research grants
An inspiring group of 47 women self-titled the Rainbow Runners raced to the finish line at the Flora Women’s Mini Marathon this year to pay tribute to their dear friend Gayle Warnock, who died from an inoperable brain tumour in 2012 aged 38, and raised almost €30K for Irish Cancer Society Research.
Caroline Reay said the women had chosen the Irish Cancer Society “as Gayle wanted to run the marathon herself, and donate the money to the Society to encourage new research discoveries that might one day benefit thousands of patients battling cancer in Ireland.” Their contribution will go towards the Irish Cancer Society’s total €33 million investment in cancer research over the past 50 years, making them Ireland’s largest voluntary funder of cancer research.
The Society’s Research Fellows and Scholars awards are designed to foster home-grown cancer research talent in Ireland and to ensure new research projects are commenced in a range of cancers including brain tumours, colorectal, oesophageal, prostate and breast cancers. The research projects span a wide range of research areas and will investigate a number of potentially important topics, such as novel technologies that could increase the length of time that chemotherapy can act inside cancer cells, novel targets to develop drugs against and broadening treatment options.