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New treatments for cancer, with better survival rates and fewer side effects, will be researched at Northern Ireland’s first Cancer Research UK centre.
Only the third of its kind in Britain, it has been opened at Queen’s University and will focus on treating bowel, breast and oesophagus cancers.
It is hoped that pioneering the latest techniques in radiotherapy, improving diagnosis and developing more efficient drugs will make it a world leader in the field.
Cancer Research UK will provide £2.5 million a year to help develop the centre, which will be based at the university’s Centre for Cancer Research and Cell Biology.
By tailoring treatments based on individual circumstances, it is aiming to promote world-class research. Around 7,000 people are diagnosed with cancer in that province each year, and 3,700 die.
Professor Patrick Johnston, dean of Medicine, Dentistry and Biomedical Sciences at Queen’s University and chair of the board of the new centre, said: “This is a very exciting development for cancer care and cancer research in Northern Ireland.
“It will add greatly to the options available for cancer patients and is recognition of the quality of cancer care and cancer research already taking place at Queen’s University Belfast and the Belfast Trust.”
Copyright Press Association 2009
