Bowel Research UK is delighted and proud to announce we have approved 4 new PhD studies worth £271,470 for funding.
Our PhD programme launches and enhances research careers, improves patient care and saves lives. This new funding signals our determination to continue protecting patients and nurturing the next generation of research leaders in our field – come what may.
The new studies are extremely exciting and have huge potential.
One PhD study aims to develop a simple blood test to detect the early warning signs of bowel cancer in people with IBD. This is a potentially revolutionary step forward for people who are already at increased risk of the disease, and would reduce the need for invasive colonoscopies while potentially saving lives.
Another will investigate how our genetic make-up can increase the risk of developing bowel cancer, with the hope of identifying new early warning signs, treatments and even gene-based screening.
The third highlights how patients’ quality of life and financial circumstances are affected by IBD. The research will assess whether a new self-management intervention can improve their lives and reduce the economic costs to both patients and the NHS associated with these conditions.
The final study looks at bowel cancer tumours with low oxygen levels, aiming to understand whether a specific protein can be targeted to improve radiotherapy outcomes for patients with these tumours.
None of this ground-breaking research would be possible without the support of our donors, whose generosity has enabled us to keep funding world-class work to tackle bowel disease despite the Covid19 pandemic.
With the impacts of the last 12 months still being felt across the NHS and by patients, the need for more research to improve treatment has never been so acute.
We are extremely proud to have approved these exciting studies and grateful to the donors and supporters who will help to make it happen.