Our research in Belfast

UK map showing Belfast Belfast is the home of one of our Cancer Research UK Centres, which is helping set the pace for national and international progress in research into bowel, oesophageal and breast cancers. Researchers at the Centre are pioneering the latest techniques in radiotherapy, improving cancer diagnosis and developing new, more effective drugs. Find out more about the Belfast Cancer Research UK Centre.

Cancer Research UK supports the work of a number of research groups within the Centre for Cancer Research and Cell Biology. The Centre is directed by Professor Dennis McCance. The centre is located next to the Northern Ireland Clinical Cancer Centre at Belfast City Hospital, so that local scientists and clinicians can work together to improve the prevention, diagnosis and treatment of cancer.

Professor Dennis McCance We also help to fund a network of five research nurses based at hospitals in the Province. This activity is co-ordinated through the Northern Ireland Cancer Clinical Trials Unit, directed by
Dr Richard Wilson. The nurses help to raise awareness of clinical trials as an option for treatment and care for people taking part.

Our Children's Cancer Trials Team co-ordinates groundbreaking trials in 21 centres across the UK and Ireland, including the Royal Hospital for Sick Children in Belfast. These trials bring cutting-edge science from the lab to the bedside, making innovative new treatments available to children with cancer.

Watch a short film about the Belfast Cancer Research UK Centre:

Below are some of the highlights of our research in Belfast.

Click on the names below to find out more about each scientist

These pages contain highlights of the research we fund in this city - we'll be updating and expanding them regularly. Please visit our Funding & Research website for detailed scientific information about our research.

Bowel cancer
Breast cancer

No specific cancer type
Prostate cancer

Prof Paddy Johnston

Cancer Research UK Drug Resistance Group

Queen's University, Belfast

Understanding drug resistance in bowel cancer

Professor Paddy Johnston is Dean of the School of Medicine, Dentistry and Biomedical Sciences at Queen's University, Belfast and is an international leader in bowel cancer research. His team's cutting-edge work is investigating why some bowel cancers develop resistance to chemotherapy. This research will reveal new ways to overcome the problem of resistance and could save many lives in the future.

Prof Paul Harkin

Centre for Cancer Research and Cell Biology

Queen's University, Belfast

Understanding more about the BRCA1 gene

Professor Paul Harkin is Professor of Molecular Oncology at Queen's University Belfast. He is investigating the function of an important gene called BRCA1. Faults in this gene cause some inherited breast cancers. The gene is also often found to be damaged in breast cancers that occur by chance. Understanding more about how BRCA1 works may help scientists to design better cancer treatments.

Prof Kevin Prise

Centre for Cancer Research and Cell Biology

Queen's University, Belfast

Understanding the effects of radiation and improving radiotherapy

At Queen's University Belfast, Professor Kevin Prise is working to improve the effectiveness of radiotherapy - around 40 per cent of patients whose cancer is cured receive this treatment. He is a world-leading expert in this area of research.

Dr Richard Wilson

Northern Ireland Cancer Trials Centre

Belfast City Hospital, Belfast

Northern Ireland Cancer Trials Network

Dr Richard Wilson leads the Northern Ireland Cancer Trials Network, jointly funded by Cancer Research UK and the Public Health Agency for Northern Ireland. The Network aims to give all cancer patients in the province access to a variety of clinical trials.

Dr David Waugh

Centre for Cancer Research and Cell Biology

Queen’s University Belfast, Belfast

Improving radiotherapy treatment for prostate cancer

Although survival from prostate cancer is improving, the disease still claims thousands of lives every year in the UK. At Queen’s University Belfast, Dr David Waugh is investigating why some prostate cancers don’t respond well to radiotherapy. He hopes his research will reveal new ways of improving this mainstay treatment so that more men’s lives can be saved.