University of York researchers awarded £22m to investigate blood cancer

Researchers from the University of York are getting a share of £22 million to investigate blood cancer.

The Medical Research Council (MRC) have awarded the team from York the money, to research on mouse genetics to gain further understanding of blood cancer and make greater improvements to patient treatments.

The team from the University's Department of Biology will form one of seven clusters in the MRC National Mouse Genetics Network across the country.

They will be working in collaboration with other researchers including from the universities of Edinburgh, Oxford, Cambridge and the Imperial College of London.

Blood cancer is when the body's normal process of producing blood cells does not take place.

In the UK, blood cancer is the most common form of childhood cancer and is in the top five cancers across the whole population.

Dr David Kent from the University of York said the work "will bring together some of the UK's best researchers in haematology and immunology to tackle big questions that require a larger-scale network approach."

He continued “By gaining fundamental insights into the processes behind blood cancer, we aim to provide the building blocks for new interventions and treatments that will benefit patients."

The Pro-Vice-Chancellor for Research at the University of York, Professor Matthias Ruth said “We are delighted that the MRC has selected the University of York to lead one of the seven research themes across the country."

He added "new interventions to improve health and wellbeing begin with understanding the fundamental underpinnings of health and disease and this vital research will provide crucial new insights into how blood cancers such as leukaemia progress.”