Tuesday, 18 February 2025
World-leading experts and key figures in cancer research met together at the University of Nottingham this week, to discuss their work investigating health disparities.
The meeting, which took place at the university’s Biodiscovery Institute, focused on how leading experts from universities in the USA, UK and across Africa are working together to better understand why breast, prostate and increasingly pancreatic cancers, are more common and more difficult to treat in patients of African ancestry.
To do this the team will focus on understanding patient life experiences, their environment, the effect of ancestry and how these converge to change how cancers develop and respond to treatment. This research will inform the development of more effective diagnostic, treatment and prevention approaches in the future to benefit populations of African descent, and, ultimately, patients from all backgrounds.
The research has been made possible thanks to team SAMBAI, funded through Cancer Grand Challenges, led by Professor Melissa Davis, Morehouse School of Medicine, Atlanta, Georgia in the USA. Professor Nigel Mongan from the Biodiscovery Institute at the University will lead a team of multidisciplinary team of cancer researchers who work in close partnership with patient advocates in team SAMBAI at Nottingham.
Professor Davis was one of the visitors on the day, she said: “The Cancer Grand Challenge we’re tackling allows our SAMBAI researchers to push past persistent limitations of what’s possible in cancer disparities research. Our visit to the University of Nottingham with Cancer Research UK is an opportunity to align our shared visions —as we revolutionise the way we take on cancer’s most complex challenges. SAMBAI is committed to developing transformative approaches that will have a lasting impact on patients worldwide. We are so grateful to have not just sponsorship, but true partnership with Cancer Research UK in this effort.”
The SAMBAI team was one of five world-class, global teams of researchers to be selected in March 2024 to receive up to $25m funding from Cancer Grand Challenges- a global funding initiative, co-founded by Cancer Research UK and the National Cancer Institute in the US, that supports a community of interdisciplinary, global teams to come together, think differently and take on some of cancer’s toughest challenges.
Guests on the day also included Iain Foulkes, Executive Director of Research and Innovation & CEO of Cancer Research Horizons at Cancer Research UK, as well as key members of the SAMBAI team including Dr. Fieke Froeling from the University of Glasgow, Dr. Isidro Cortes-Ciriano, EMBL-EBI, Professor Zodwa Dlamini, University of Pretoria and Ricki Fairley from Touch the Black Breast Cancer Alliance from the USA. There were also patients from the Nottingham Prostate Cancer Support Group as well as experts and early career cancer researchers from across the University in attendance.
During the day guests were given a tour of the Biodiscovery Institute, Centre Cancer Sciences and had the opportunity to hear more about the world-changing research taking place there.
We are delighted to welcome visitors from across the globe today to our Biodiscovery Institute to showcase the pioneering research taking place here. Preventing cancer, discovering new treatments and finding better ways to diagnose cancer earlier has a major economic, social and health impact on communities around the world, and we are proud to say that the University is a world leader in this area. The University of Nottingham Centre for Cancer Research has already found innovative new ways to prevent cancers, find cancers, treat cancers, and train the next generation of cancer researchers, and we welcome these new and ongoing partnerships in enabling us to continue with this vital work.”
Iain Foulkes, Executive Director of Research and Innovation & CEO of Cancer Research Horizons at Cancer Research UK said
“I was truly inspired by the collaboration today, witnessing researchers and clinicians from across continents come together to share their insights. The diversity of expertise – from the USA, UK, Africa, and beyond – underscores how collective knowledge is vital for addressing cancer inequities.
"Initiatives like Cancer Grand Challenges play an important role in fostering these international partnerships, which are key to advancing our understanding and developing new approaches to cancer diagnostics, treatments, and prevention for patients globally.”
Notes to editors:
About the University of Nottingham
Ranked 97 in the world and 17th in the UK by the QS World University Rankings, the University of Nottingham is a founding member of Russell Group of research-intensive universities. Studying at the University of Nottingham is a life-changing experience, and we pride ourselves on unlocking the potential of our students. We have a pioneering spirit, expressed in the vision of our founder Sir Jesse Boot, which has seen us lead the way in establishing campuses in China and Malaysia - part of a globally connected network of education, research and industrial engagement.
Nottingham was crowned Sports University of the Year by The Times and Sunday Times Good University Guide 2024 – the third time it has been given the honour since 2018 – and by the Daily Mail University Guide 2024.
The university is among the best universities in the UK for the strength of our research, positioned seventh for research power in the UK according to REF 2021. The birthplace of discoveries such as MRI and ibuprofen, our innovations transform lives and tackle global problems such as sustainable food supplies, ending modern slavery, developing greener transport, and reducing reliance on fossil fuels.
The university is a major employer and industry partner - locally and globally - and our graduates are the third most targeted by the UK's top employers, according to The Graduate Market in 2024 report by High Fliers Research.
We lead the Universities for Nottingham initiative, in partnership with Nottingham Trent University, a pioneering collaboration between the city’s two world-class institutions to improve levels of prosperity, opportunity, sustainability, health and wellbeing for residents in the city and region we are proud to call home.
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