Our research process ensures we only fund high-quality research that is relevant to primary bone cancer.
Since the Bone Cancer Research Trust was formed in 2006, we have awarded over £9.5 million to research focused on improving outcomes for primary bone cancer patients. To date, we have funded 177 research grants and continue to expand our research network, encouraging more researchers to focus their expertise on primary bone cancer.
Open funding calls
Unrestricted Idea Grant 2024
Funding of up to £35,000 is available to support Idea (pilot) grants, focused on any form of primary bone cancerthat demonstrate a clear line of sight to patient benefit. We particularly welcome proposals focused on the rarer forms of primary bone cancer and applications using patient samples that are linked to clinical data and outcomes.
This funding is available to researchers and/or clinicians working in an academic or clinical institution in the UK. Applications from younger academics, who do not have a tenured position are encouraged.
We expect applications to be both hypothesis driven and generating. Projects may be discovery focused or translational; regardless of this focus, applicants must demonstrate that they have considered how the project may result in patient benefit or clinical application, irrespectively of timescales.
Key dates
Call opens 1st May 2024
Closing date for applications: 2nd August 2024
Outcomes will be announced in October 2024.
Please contact us here to obtain an application form or for further information.
Collaborative funding for Ewing sarcoma and osteosarcoma
The Bone Cancer Research Trust is excited to be partnering with Children’s Cancer and Leukaemia Group (CCLG) to fund research focused on Ewing sarcoma and osteosarcoma.
Both charities are also delighted to welcome a third collaborator, Ewing's Sarcoma Research Trust (ESRT), whose generous support means that we are able to increase the funding available in this scheme for researchers focusing on Ewing sarcoma specifically.
Over the past several decades, advancements in the treatment of Ewing sarcoma and osteosarcoma have remained limited; both involve intensive and toxic chemotherapy regimens, with patients facing grueling immediate, long term and late effects of treatment, as well as the risk of relapse and recurrence. Methods of determining prognosis and predicting or monitoring response to treatment are also lacking.
All three charities are committed to improving outcomes for patients and believe the best way to do this is to fund high impact, collaborative research.
Ewing sarcoma funding
BCRT, CCLG and ESRT are keen to support both basic science and translational proposals that demonstrate a clear line of sight to patient benefit, irrespective of how far from clinical application the project is. We are particularly interested in applications focusing on the discovery, development or validation of biomarkers of Ewing sarcoma. Biomarkers may be prognostic, predictive or markers of response and may be patient sample derived or imaging biomarkers.
We are also particularly keen to fund research focused on improving the treatment of Ewing sarcoma and patient outcomes – specifically funding improved or new treatment options which are kinder and result in reduced toxicity and less severe long-term side effects.
Funding is available to support Idea grants and Project grants.
Idea or pilot grants should be focused on gaining preliminary data and show a clear path to larger funding applications. These are usually capped at £35,000, however, this may be increased to £50,000 in exceptional cases. Applicants should contact us to discuss this prior to submitting an application.
Funding for Project Grants is usually capped at £250,000, however, we would recommend applicants contact us to discuss proposals seeking funding over this value. These applications must be evidence based and demonstrate a clear trajectory, irrespective of timescales, towards clinical implementation.
Funding is available to both UK and international applicants based in an academic or clinical institution. Please note, international applicants can act as Principal Investigators but must ensure that they include a Co-Applicant or Collaborator based at a UK institution in their application.
Osteosarcoma funding
Funding is available to support Idea (pilot) grants, which should be focused on gaining preliminary data and show a clear path to larger funding applications. These are usually capped at £35,000, however, this may be increased to £50,000 in exceptional cases. Applicants should contact us to discuss this prior to submitting an application. Funding is available to applicants based at a UK academic or clinical institution.
Projects should be hypothesis generating and should be focused on accelerating progress in osteosarcoma research. Projects may be discovery focused or translational, however, must demonstrate thought to patient benefit or clinical application, irrespective of timescales.
Patient & Public Involvement in the development of applications will be expected. The Bone Cancer Research Trust has a Patient and Public Involvement Panel (PPIP), who may be contacted to support your application. Please email us to find out more about how to engage with the panel.
All costings will be fully scrutinised and so clear justifications should be included.
The closing date for this funding scheme is 5pm on Friday 14th June 2024 and awards are likely to be made in Q4 2024.
To request an application, please contact us here.
Improving Sarcoma Diagnosis Funding Call
The Bone Cancer Research Trust and Sarcoma UK are delighted to be working together on this funding call, focussed on research to improve diagnosis for people affected by sarcoma.
Sarcomas are challenging to diagnose. They can affect anyone, occur anywhere in the body, and have over 100 subtypes, with a diverse range of symptoms. But with low case numbers, awareness is poor. These and many other factors contribute to lengthy waits for patients to get the correct sarcoma diagnosis. 1 in 3 sarcoma patients wait at least 6 months from first presenting with symptoms, and it takes bone sarcoma patients an average of 8 visits to a healthcare professional to receive their diagnosis.
In prioritisation exercises carried out by both charities, research into improving diagnosis is a close second priority behind research into new and better treatments for people affected by sarcoma. However, this is a challenging area in terms of developing research proposals which fit the diverse needs of the patient community.
This Improving Sarcoma Diagnosis funding round aims to fund scientific and clinical research projects which ultimately aim to drive positive change in how sarcomas are detected and diagnosed. Proposals must have a clear and considered line of sight towards improving the diagnosis for sarcoma.
The budget for this funding call is £500,000 for research projects applicable to all types of sarcoma or bone sarcoma only. Available grant sizes include:
Small grants: innovative pilot projects or requests to support small pieces of follow-on research needed to complete a project up to a maximum value of £100,000.
Large grants: substantive pieces of research supporting a member of staff up to a maximum value of £250,000.
Please note that PhD studentships are not offered through this funding calI.
Key dates:
Call opens: February 2024
Deadline for submissions: Applications must be submitted to research@sarcoma.org.uk by 12pm midday (BST) Thursday 20th June 2024. Applications received after this deadline will not be accepted.
Applicant response to peer and lay review: October 2024
Application and guidance forms can be obtained here
Skill development grants
Through this funding scheme, the Bone Cancer research Trust helps UK based primary bone cancer researchers, at all levels in their careers, to travel nationally or internationally, to present their results at internationally recognised research conferences, whilst interacting with other researchers and establishing networks of collaboration.
The funding also enables researchers to travel to international or national laboratories, to carry out a research project or develop a specific skill that can then be applied at their institution of origin.
ELIGIBILITY
All primary bone cancer researchers based at a recognised UK institution. There are no limitations based on career development stage, but applications from early career researchers are particularly encouraged.
WHAT IS FUNDED
Funding for each application is limited to £3000 and should be in line with distance of travel and length of stay.
Conference attendance: funding will cover registration, accommodation and travel costs.
Laboratory stays: funding will cover travel, accommodation and research expenses to visit a collaborating research group.
This is a rolling scheme; applications may be submitted at any point and will be considered by the Skills Development Grants committee at BCRT.
The Bone Cancer Research Trust are committed to improving outcomes for patients with primary bone cancer and believe the best way to do this is to fund high impact, collaborative research. We are keen to support all stages of research, from pilot projects, through to more substantive research and have developed this funding call to meet these needs.
Funding of up to £100,000 is available to provide additional support ongoing clinical trials. The trial may be observational or interventional and can be oncology or surgical. This additional funding may be used to support:
aligned biological studies
additional arms or research questions (observational or interventional)
toxicology studies
A small proportion of the grant may also be used to support infrastructure costs.
The funding is available for UK applicants and the proposed research or study must take place in the UK; however, the parent clinical trial may be taking place in the UK or internationally.
Proposals should clearly describe the funded trial, including the value of the funding already secured, start date and duration of the funding award and details on data sharing, IP and T&Cs. The proposal should describe the background evidence, including figures and previous publications, that have been used to support the submitted project, how the described design will answer the questions posed in the proposal and how the additional support will give added value to the current trial. The input from patients on the design and development of the proposal should also be described.
Costings submitted will be fully scrutinised and so applicants should fully justify all costs included.
This is a rolling scheme, applications may be submitted at any point and will be considered at the next available meeting of BCRT's Independent Scientific Advisory Panel.
To discuss the scope of this scheme or the possibility of applying for funding over £100,000 and to obtain an application form, please contact us.
Hear about funding calls
To ensure you hear about our exciting funding opportunities as soon as they are released, please sign up to our researcher database. To sign up, please contact us.
The Bone Cancer Research Trust is aware of the immediate and long-term impacts of COVID-19 on research activities. We would like to reassure the research community that any disruptions to research activities due to the COVID-19 pandemic will be taken into consideration when assessing an individual applicant’s record of outputs, research achievements, and career progression in current and future grant rounds.
To demonstrate our commitment, we are co-signatory of a COVID-19 cross-funder memory statement co-ordinated by the Academy of Medical Sciences.
We strongly encourage those who have been adversely affected by disruptions caused by the pandemic to continue to apply to our schemes, in the knowledge that historic impacts will be considered when assessing new applications by our Independent Scientific Advisory Panel and, and peer reviewers will be advised to do the same.
Be assured that all information will be kept strictly confidential.
How applicants might have been affected:
Changes in personal circumstances
Changes in Clinical responsibilities, e.g., working on the front line
Impact on access to facilities, normal work environment or furlough
Impact on research, e.g., ability to produce preliminary data, develop collaborations or acquire training and experience.
Impact on publications or other outputs, e.g., panel memberships, presentation invitations, conference participation
Any other way in which the pandemic has affected the applicant, their career, or their ability to deliver their research.
The COVID-19 cross-funder memory statement can be downloaded here
Advice for applicants completing the COVID-19 Impact statement can be found here.
The Bone Cancer Research Trust supports innovative and creative research that has the potential to make an impact into the lives of primary bone cancer patients.
Funding is available for researchers at all career stages, working at an institution in the UK, co-applicants and collaborators may be based elsewhere.
For international calls, eligibility is extended to principal investigators working at any institution, not just the UK.
We fund research into all forms of primary bone cancer; some funding calls are limited to specific types of primary bone cancer.
Following consultation with our patients, their families and supporters; quality of life or epidemiology-based projects are not currently being considered.
All our funding calls are announced on our website, social media channels and by direct mailing to our database of researchers.
IDEA GRANTS
Small value grants, up to a value of £25,000.
Ideas grants can be used to collect preliminary data for a larger application, or to demonstrate the validity of a hypothesis/study.
Available for bursaries for undergraduates to undertake a research project.
INFRASTRUCTURE GRANTS-Support for sample collection
Funding is available for surgical centres to support the collection of patient specimens and to prepare and store samples to be sent to active, ethically approved research projects.
The level of funding available varies depending on the size of the centre and number of patient samples collected by the centre.
Once awarded, continuation of funding up to 5 years
will be reviewed yearly; renewal will depend on the success of the previous
year in collecting and sharing samples for research.
The perceived outcomes should lead to a significant advance in our
understanding of primary bone cancer and therefore, have a positive impact into
patients’ lives.
RESEARCH PROJECT GRANTS
Up to the value of £250,000.
Large project grants can be used to further substantiate studies for which some preliminary work/consolidated hypothesis/demonstrated interest already exists.
We particularly welcome applications focusing on the rarer forms of Primary Bone Cancer, or applications that demonstrate a strong element of collaboration.
These grants should not be used to support PhD studentships.
Research can be done in any area of laboratory and medical/surgical research from discovery to implementation.
The projects must demonstrate clear relevance to primary bone cancer.
The perceived outcomes should lead to a significant advance in our understanding of Primary Bone Cancer and therefore, have a positive impact into patients’ lives and may lead toward collecting evidence that may substantiate the development of a clinical trial.
STUDENTSHIPS
Up to a value of £150,000.
For committed Primary Bone Cancer researchers that wish to acquire a PhD qualification.
The principal investigator or candidate may apply.
The grant will fund up to 4 years of study, however, we expect students to submit their thesis within the funded period.
EARLY CAREER FELLOWSHIPS
Up
to the value of £500,000.
For committed post-doctoral candidates that want to establish themselves as leading bone cancer researchers.
Funding
can be used to substantiate studies for which some preliminary work/
consolidated hypothesis /demonstrated interest already exists, forming the base
of and contributing to future project/programme applications.
The applicant must apply.
The grant will fund up to 5 years of support.
CLINICAL/TRANSLATIONAL GRANTS
Up to the value
of £450,000.
These grants
support research that has reached a point of development and are ready to be
progressed from the laboratory to patients.
Collaboration between at least 2 Institutions is expected.
The award is
granted to a UK based institution.
CLINICAL TRIALS SUPPORT SCHEME
Funding up to £100,000 to provide additional support for ongoing clinical trials. The trial may be observational or interventional and can be oncological or surgical.
This additional funding may be used to support:
aligned biological studies
additional arms or research questions (observational or interventional)
toxicology studies
A small proportion of the grant may also be used to support infrastructure costs.
The funding is available for UK applicants and the proposed research or study must take place in the UK; however, the parent clinical trial may be taking place in the UK or internationally.
RESEARCH PROGAMME GRANTS
Up to the value of £1m.
These large collaborative
grants support a programme of research aiming to bring a step-change in the treatment
of primary bone cancer.
Applications are
welcomed from a multi-disciplinary and collaborative team from the UK and
international institutions and must demonstrate a clear line of sight to
patient benefit.
Awards are made
to a UK institution acting as a hub, with different work packages being
delivered at different national or international research centres.
PRIMARY BONE CANCER CONSORTIUM FUNDING SUPPORT
Up to £240, 000 to support the setting up of or continuation of primary bone cancer consortia that will facilitate both biological and clinical research, with the ultimate aim of improving outcomes for patients.
SKILLS DEVELOPMENT GRANTS
Up to the value of £3000.
We provide funding to enable researchers to learn new skills through short-term laboratory visits.
Funding is also available to attend conferences where new research findings are presented.
Available to all Primary Bone Cancer researchers based at a recognised UK institution. There are no limitations based on career development stage; however, applications from early stage career researchers are particularly encouraged.
RESEARCH MEETINGS
Up to the value of £5,000.
To sponsor and help with the organisation of national primary bone cancer research meetings, with the aim of promoting collaboration and setting priorities in primary bone cancer research.
If you require any further information or have any queries regarding our grant programme or the grant types we fund, please contact member of our research team.
Our research finding since 2006
To date, Bone Cancer Research Trust has committed over £8 million to research; our current portfolio includes the following types of research awards:
Table 1: Bone Cancer Research Trust research awards
Since 2006, and to the start of 2023, we have received and assessed 291 research applications, involving approximately 400 expert peer reviewers in the UK and across the world
Locations
We
fund research at institutions across the UK. In 2019, we introduced our first International
ExplorerGrant, the outcome of this funding call was announced in
the Summer of 2020 and finally started in 2021. Figure 1 indicates the
number of research projects we have funded across the different UK regions
since 2006.
Figure 1: BCRT awards by UK region 2006-2023
We have also awarded a number of grants to researchers based internationally and across Europe, including 2 in the USA, 3 in Germany, 2 in Italy, 1 in Spain, and 2 multi-national grants.
Primary bone cancer research area and types of primary bone cancer
The Bone Cancer Research Trust supports research into all forms of primary bone cancer. Figure 2 breaks down the projects we have funded by primary bone cancer type.
Most of our awarded grants aim to find a cure for primary bone cancer, we also support projects that investigate the causes of primary bone cancer and support improvements to the care options for our patients. Figure 3 indicates the percentage of funding dedicated to each of those categories.
Figure 2. BCRT awards (%) by type of primary bone cancer
2006-2023
Figure 3. BCRT awards (% spent) by research category 2006-2023
Application success rates
We have maintained an overall success rate of 44%.
In the early years since our charity was
established, percentages of success were high; however, we also received less
applications for awards accordingly. In 2022, the application
success rate was 61%. However, this figure includes 13 applications for Skills Development Grants, all of which are awarded following internal review only. Excluding the Skills Development Grants, the application success rate for 2022 is 43%.
Table 2: Number of applications received vs funded 2006 – 2023
*Excluding 13 Skills Development Grants
Since adopting our 2017-2022 Research Strategy, we have seen an almost exponential increase in the number of applications received for funding. This is a positive sign and evidences a growing community of primary bone cancer researchers. The below graphs include all applications received and funded up to the end of 2022.
Figure 4: BCRT research applications received and funded - 2017-2022 Research Strategy
Figure 5: BCRT research applications received and funded - success rate (%) 2017-2022
The Bone Cancer Research Trust is proud to be a member of the Association of Medical Research Charities (AMRC), the national membership organisation of leading medical and health research charities
AMRC membership is the hallmark of quality research funding. To be accepted into the AMRC membership, charities must demonstrate that they follow the AMRC's rigorous standards in peer review, and therefore, providing supporters with reassurance that their money is being spent on only the highest quality research.
Membership also helps our research money go further:
Funding from AMRC members that is awarded via open competition is eligible for the Charity Research Support Fund (CRSF). This means that for every pound BCRT fund another 20p is invested in universities. This means that BCRT funding can be spent purely on research and the CRSF can allow the maintenance of labs, lighting and heating – the full economic costs of conducting research.
The AcoRD agreement ensures that AMRC members only pay the direct research costs of clinical research in the NHS. The Department of Health will meet all costs for local trial co-ordination and management, data collection, and regulatory fees.
By working with member charities and partners, the AMRC aims to support the sector’s effectiveness and advance medical research by developing best practice, providing information and guidance, improving public dialogue about research and science, and influencing government policy.
The role of our Independent Scientific Advisory Panel is to evaluate all grant applications, and recommend to the Board of Trustees the grants that are suitable for funding.
The panel is comprised of experts who review all our grant applications for relevance, scientific merit, cost and suitability of the applicant. They also conduct interviews for Studentship and Fellowship applications.
The Bone Cancer Research Trust are committed to funding research in a fair and transparent manner, supporting research of the highest quality and most likely to succeed. To do this, we must ensure that those involved in funding decisions do so in an independent manner and do not have conflicts of interest that might see them benefit personally or academically from a funding decision. Therefore, we have developed a conflict-of-interest policy to maintain our position as a transparent funder and to protect those who freely provide their time to our charity from any accusations of bias. The Bone Cancer Research Trust Conflict of Interest Policy for ISAP members can be found here. The Bone Cancer Research Trust Terms of Reference for SAP members can be found here.
Members of the Independent Scientific Advisory Panel
Chair: Professor Pamela Kearns MBChB, BSc (Hons), PhD, FRCPCH.
Professor Pam Kearns is Chair of Clinical Paediatric Oncology at the University of Birmingham and Honorary Consultant Paediatric Oncologist at Birmingham Women and Children’s Hospital. She is Director of the University of Birmingham’s Institute of Cancer and Genomic Sciences and Director of the Cancer Research UK Clinical Trials Unit (CRCTU). As Director of CRCTU, she leads the research strategy for one of UK's largest cancer trials unit, delivering a trials portfolio of over 100 multi-centre & international cancer trials for a wide-range of cancers, occurring in all children, young people and adults, notably leading the National Children’s Cancer Trials Team which is responsible for the vast majority of the UK’s clinical trial portfolio for children and young people with cancer. She was elected President of the European Society of Paediatric Oncology (SIOP Europe) in 2019, having been a Board member since 2013. She has several European roles including Executive Board Member of the academic consortium ‘Innovative Therapeutics in Childhood Cancer’ (ITCC), Chair of ITCC’s European Sponsor Institutions Committee and Steering Committee member of the International multi-stakeholder platform ‘ACCELERATE’. She was a Senior Clinical Advisor to Cancer Research UK from 2015 to 2020 and is now as Trustee for Cancer Research UK and of a Child of Mine. She is also Chair of the Research Assessment Panel for GOSH Charity.
Mr Piers Gaunt BSc MSc
Senior Statistician, UK Clinical Trials Unit, Birmingham.
Piers Gaunt is a Senior Biostatistician within the Cancer Research UK Clinical Trials Unit in the Institute of Cancer and Genomic Sciences, University of Birmingham. He obtained an MSc in Medical Statistics from the University of Leicester prior to joining the CRCTU. He is responsible for the design and analysis of several trials within the CRCTU in various cancer types including soft tissue sarcoma, lung, skin and head and neck.
Mr Gaunt has a keen interest in efficient clinical trials methodology, encompassing adaptive trial design and, when he has time, statistical programming in Stata. In addition to his trials work Piers participates in teaching a number of statistical Small Group Teaching sessions to Clinical Oncology and Medical students and has also lectured on other courses within the university. He is fully committed to working to improve patient outcomes with an emphasis on survival and quality of life using efficient statistical methodology.
Dr Paulo Ribeiro BSc MSc PhD
Senior Lecturer and Group Leader, Bart's Cancer Institute.
Dr Ribeiro completed his undergraduate studies in the Faculty of Sciences of the University of Lisbon, where I studied Microbial Biology and Genetics. He then entered the Gulbenkian PhD Programme in Biomedicine at the Gulbenkian Institute, which included one year of classes and laboratory rotation. This allowed him to undertake his doctoral research at the Institute of Cancer Research, London, supervised by Prof Pascal Meier, in the characterisation of the role of inhibitor of apoptosis proteins in the regulation of cell death and innate immunity.
In 2009, he joined Dr Nicolas Tapon's laboratory at the Cancer Research UK London Research Institute, where he studied the mechanisms regulating tissue growth, namely the Hippo tumour suppressor signalling pathway.
In August 2013, he joined Bart’s Cancer Institute in the Centre for Tumour Biology. His research group uses the fruit fly Drosophila melanogaster as a model organism and his research has three major areas of focus: role of ubiquitylation in the regulation of tissue growth; role of reversible ubiquitylation in tissue invasion; and modelling tumour heterogeneity
Professor Thomas G P Grünewald MD.
University of Heidelberg, Germany
Professor Thomas Grünewald graduated in medicine from the University of Würzburg (Germany) in 2007, after completing clinical rotations in Germany, Japan, USA, UK, and Argentina. He obtained his M.D. with summa cum laude in clinical biochemistry in 2008 and started his clinical training in paediatric oncology at the Department of Paediatrics of the TU Munich (TUM). In 2012, he obtained his Ph.D. with distinction in Medical Life Science and Technology from TUM. After a postdoctoral fellowship at the Institut Curie in Paris, in 2014, he was appointed resident physician and principal investigator at the Institute of Pathology of the LMU Munich. From 2016 to 2020, he has been leading the Max-Eder Research Group for Pediatric Sarcoma Biology funded by the German Cancer Aid. In 2018 he completed his habilitation and obtained the venia legendi for ‘Experimental Pathology’. In 2020 he was appointed head of the division of Translational Pediatric Sarcoma Research at the German Cancer Research Center (DKFZ) and Hopp-Children’s Cancer Center (KiTZ) in Heidelberg. Since 2021 he holds a full professorship at the Medical Faculty of the University of Heidelberg. In parallel, he continues his residency in pathology at the Institute of Pathology of the Heidelberg University Hospital.
His research aims at elucidating the interplay of germline variation and somatic mutation especially in Ewing sarcoma and examines, how somatic driver mutations interfere with developmental pathways to promote tumorigenesis, tumour heterogeneity and drug-resistance.
Dr Nathalie Gaspar
Paediatric oncologist, Institut de Cancérologie Gustave Roussy, France.
Dr Nathalie GASPAR, MD, Ph, is a paediatric oncologist at
Gustave Roussy Cancer Campus (Villejuif, France), head of the adolescent and young adult (AYA) unit and chair of the AYA programme of the
institute (SPIAJA programme), since 2009. She is in charge of bone sarcomas,
cancers with peak incidence in the AYA population, from biology to clinical
care. Dr Gaspar is also paediatric head of the French bone adult and paediatric
sarcoma group, GROUPOS. She is actively involved in early new drug development
in France and in Europe, through her participation to the clinical trial
committee of the Innovative Therapeutics for Child and
adolescent with Cancer (ITCC) consortium and through her action as co-chair of the Fostering Age Inclusive Research (FAIR)
trial initiative of the multi-stakeholder ACCELERATE platform.
Professor Didier Surdez
Head of Tumour Research Balgrist University Hospital Zurich, Switzerland
Didier Surdez, PharmD, PhD.
Didier Surdez studied pharmacy and graduated in 2001 at the University of Basel (Switzerland). He then moved to Ecole polytechnique fédérale de Lausanne, EPFL (Switzerland) where he obtained is PhD in 2007. After a post-doctoral stay in Olivier Delattre's laboratory, in 2014, he was appointed as senior scientistt at the Institut Curie in Paris. In 2021, he moved to the University of Zurich (Switzerland) and is now Head of Tumour Research at the Balgrist University Hospital where his research focuses on the genetic vulnerabilities of bone sarcomas and on the identification of therapeutic vulnerabilities against these cancers.
His research on Ewing sarcoma has highlighted key EWSR1-FLI1 targets (PRKCB), vulnerabilities (PARPi) and secondary alterations (STAG2) in this cancer. Since 2012, he has been actively involved in the EE2012, rEECur and Combinair3 clinical trials. To address key questions around tumour heterogeneity, plasticity and to identify novel therapeutic strategies, he has established over 80 PDX models of paediatric solid tumours.
Dr Olivia Rossanese
Director, Cancer Therapeutics Unit Head of Division, Cancer Therapeutics.
Reader in Molecular Therapeutics, The Institute of Cancer Research, London.
Olivia Rossanese, PhD, FRSB
Dr Olivia Rossanese is a cancer biologist and drug discovery professional with experience leading and contributing to drug discovery and target validation programmes within both academia and the pharmaceutical industry. She started her drug discovery career at GlaxoSmithKline, contributing to the discovery of both dabrafenib and trametinib, FDA approved drugs currently in use for the treatment of metastatic melanoma. In 2010, she joined Vanderbilt University, establishing and leading a cell biology and molecular pharmacology team to support a newly formed academic drug discovery group. She joined ICR in 2015 as Head of Biology in the CRUK Cancer Therapeutics Unit and Team Leader in Molecular Therapeutics, where she has been Project Leader / Lead Biologist on several drug discovery projects, including APOBEC3B, BCL6, and KDM4. In 2020, Olivia became Interim Director and Head of Division of Cancer Therapeutics and was official appointed to both roles in May 2022. She has been a member of the CRUK Drug Discovery Leaders group, CRUK DDC Small Molecule Expert Review Panel, and the CRUK CDD New Agents Committee. She is currently a member of the UKRI Future Leaders Fellowship Panel College, MRC AZ Centre for Lead Discovery, Open Targets Scientific Advisory Board, and chairs the Worldwide Cancer Research Scientific Advisory Committee.
Dr Apostolos Tsiachristas
Dr Apostolos Tsiachristas is a Research Fellow at Green Templeton College and an Associate Professor in Health Economics at the University of Oxford.
Apostolos has a joint post at the Department of Primary Care and the Department of Psychiatry to lead a programme of research that focuses mainly on the economic evaluation of new models of care and financial incentives in healthcare, particularly for people with mental health conditions and multi-morbidity.
He also leads the Oxford Mental Health Economics and Policy (OMHEP) group, holds honorary research position at the Office for Health Improvement and Disparities (UK GOV), and acts as a scientific consultant for the World Health Organization on topics related to health financing.
Dr Tsiachristas’ work has influenced health policy and clinical guidelines, for example, the Early Intervention in Psychosis Programme of NHS England, and the Cervical Cancer Screening Programme of Public Health England.
Prior to his current position, Apostolos undertook research at the Erasmus University Rotterdam and consultancy work at Aarts Public Economics in The Hague.
Funding Remit
The Bone Cancer Research Trust are dedicated to improving the outcomes for patients with primary bone cancer. One of the main ways in which we aim to do this, is by funding cutting edge research. Our funding is dedicated to projects that are genuinely centered around improving knowledge of this disease, with a clear line of sight to patient benefit and with good prospects of being published in high impact journals.
We fund research into the causes of the disease, research looking at cures and treatments and also research looking at care and quality of life; funding basic ideas through to translational research projects. Please download our full funding remit policy to learn more (Updated March 2023).
Resubmission Policy
At the Bone Cancer Research Trust, we do not allow the resubmission of any previously unsuccessful proposals, unless you have been explicitly invited to resubmit.
Details of any requirements for resubmission, as requested by our Independent Scientific Advisory Panel, will be described in detail in the application and review feedback. You can download our resubmissions policy here (updated May 2021).
Acceptable Costs
The Bone Cancer Research Trust is a member of the Association of Medical Research Charities and will fund direct costs of research only. We have developed guidance to aid applicants when completing the costings section of their application.