RESEARCH... is underway but it's not enough, there is still so little known

Finding a cure for all types of brain tumours will not happen overnight, it needs more years of dedicated research if we are to achieve the same successes in treatments as have been discovered for diseases such as leukaemia, breast and lung cancer.

Currently UK brain tumour charities raise around £2 million a year between them.  This total is a fantastic sum and goes to providing support and information and to funding research...but it is not enough!

Finding a cure and resolving the issues needs heroes to get behind the cause and to raise awareness both within their own communities, companies and nationally.

February 2008 - Brainstrust funding for PhD research

• NG2 as a possible therapeutic target for brain tumours - Professor Geoff Pilkington, University of Portsmouth, £14k over one year.

January 2007 – Collaboration between the charities Ali’s Dream and Charlie’s Challenge to fund five childhood brain tumour research projects:

• Tumour stem cells in Paediatric brain tumours and experimental glioma: a laser capture microdissection and gene expression study – Professor Geoff Pilkington, University of Portsmouth, £86k over three years.

• GD3 as a potential therapeutic target in paediatric brain tumours – Professor Geoff Pilkington, University of Portsmouth, £83k over three years.

• Investigating the role of epigenetics in the initiation of paediatric brain tumours – Dr Paul Scotting, University of Nottingham, £95k over three years.

• Correlation of advanced magnetic resonance neuro-imaging with neuro-cognitive deficit in survivors of childhood brain tumours – Dr Darren Hargrave, The Royal Marsden Hospital, £60k over one year.

• BMi1 overexpression in medulloblastoma: a new therapeutic target?  – Silvia Marino, Barts and The London, £69k over two years.

November 2004 - Ali’s Dream grants funding for four further projects:

• Novel indicator of prognosis of medulloblastomas – Sebastian Brandner, Institute of Neurology, University College London, £25k over one year.  
• Effective treatment regimes (which lack side effects) for medulloblastomas – Dr Beth Coyle, Institute of Genetics, Nottingham University, £75k over three years.  
• Understanding of what factors drive medullablastoma to differentiate or become anaplastic and whether these factors can be exploited for therapeutic benefit – Professor David Ellison, Northern Institute for Cancer Research, University of Newcastle, £30k over one year.  
• NG2 & GD3 biological consequences and therapeutic possibilities – Professor Geoff Pilkington University of Portsmouth - £75k over three years.

October 2003 - Ali’s Dream first funded research project started:

• Identification of aberrantly expressed genes in different grades of malignancy in paediatric astrocytoma – Dr Tracy Warr, Institute of Neurology, University College London, £90k over three years.