In Brief

Abstract

The UK's two prime cancer research charities – the Imperial Cancer Research Fund (ICRF) and the Cancer Research Campaign (CRC) – are merging into what will become the biggest independent cancer research organization in the world: Cancer Research UK (CRUK), effective February 2002. The new organization will combine CRC's strong translational research programme with world-class basic cancer research at the ICRF. The joint forces mount up to 3000 researchers and doctors with a research budget of £130 million a year. Andrew Miller, a biophysicist and former principal and vice chancellor of the University of Stirling, has been appointed as Interim Chief Executive and will mainly focus on the task of integrating the two organizations. Meanwhile, ICRF director general Paul Nurse acts as director of science at CRUK, and CRC director general Gordon McVie will be in charge of fundraising and communications. The funding model of the new charity will be styled after the US National Cancer Institute: about 50% will be spent in universities, and 50% in present labs. In an interview with BioMedNet, Miller said: ‘To have things all together in one building such as in Lincoln's Inn Fields has huge benefits. Different people meet over coffee or in the canteen. It's very powerful there, but we are ignoring a lot of people on the outside.’ The launch of CRUK coincided with the presentation of the Nobel Prize for Medicine to Paul Nurse for his pioneering work on the understanding of cell-cycle regulation. The 100th Nobel Prize was awarded jointly with Tim Hunt, also of the ICRF, and Leland Hartwell (of Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center Seattle, USA). Links: http://www.crc.org.uk; http://www.icnet.uk J.d.B. & D.S.