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Manchester seeks cancer experts for £30m scheme

Cancer research organisations in Manchester are starting a significant recruitment drive to bring experts into the city.

The Christie NHS Foundation Trust and University of Manchester are jointly pumping £30m into a Manchester Cancer Research Centre (MCRC) scheme, which will see 20 experts from around the world come to Manchester along with their research teams.

Director of the MCRC, Prof Nic Jones, commented: “This big cash-injection will add to the high-calibre scientists who form part of the Manchester Cancer Research Centre – many of whom will be based at our new flagship building due to open in summer 2014.

“It will bring even more researchers and specialists together in Manchester widening even further our range of expertise and helping to revolutionise cancer treatment and translate research into treatments which can benefit patients.”

Around 13 academic posts will be made available at The Christie and the University, as part of a total 100 jobs that will be created at MCRC in clinical, research and teaching for those with knowledge in lung cancer, radiotherapy, haematological oncology, women’s cancer, melanoma and personalised cancer therapy.

MRCR is a partnership between The Christie, The University and Cancer Research UK (CR-UK).

The majority of posts created will be based at a new facility created by MCRC, which is currently due to open in 2014 opposite The Christie in South Manchester.

Caroline Shaw, chief executive of The Christie, said: “This is a major coup for Manchester. It means that our patients will have the chance to be the very first people to participate in global trials and have access to the very latest cancer treatments.

“The new staff will play a huge part in teaching and inspiring the next generation of cancer doctors as they form a solid bridge between academic and practical training.”

All new job postings are also part of a string of initiatives in health care and health science that will be supported by the Manchester Academic Health Science Centre (MAHSC), which is made up of six of Greater Manchester’s NHS Trusts, including The Christie, and The University of Manchester.

MAHSC will fund cancer experts and their research teams for five years, as well as providing funding for laboratories and materials.

Dean of the Faculty of Medical and Human Sciences, Prof Ian Jacobs, who is also Vice President of the University of Manchester and MAHSC director, said: “An investment on this scale is hugely significant by world standards and a first for cancer research in Manchester.

“It will enable us to add to our already excellent team by recruiting some of the brightest international research talent in cancer to the city. The new posts will provide a step change in the way researchers and clinicians combine forces to tackle cancer.”

Prof Richard Marais, director of CR-UK’s Paterson Institute at the University of Manchester, said: “We hope to begin advertising for these posts, including four group leaders funded by CR-UK, in the Autumn.

“This is an exciting time for science and the search for treatments and Manchester continues to playing a key role in this work.”

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Miranda Dobson .