Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 9 April 2024
1682. Deputy Éamon Ó Cuív asked the Minister for Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science the amount of money being invested each year by his Department or agencies funded by his Department into cancer research; the amount of this directed towards research into brain tumours and brain cancer; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [13662/24]
View answerScience Foundation Ireland (SFI) annually supports significant research in the broad research priority areas of Health and Well Being (connected health, medical devices, diagnostics, therapeutics) and basic Biomedical Sciences, all of which can underpin cancer research. Providing an accurate figure for an amount that is specifically focussed on brain tumours and brain cancers is difficult as research under any of the above categories could be impacting in this field. SFI typically spends ~20% of its annual budget on the Health and Well-being, and Basic Biomedical areas (c.f. Annual Report 2022 www.sfi.ie/Annual-Report-2022/SFI_AnnualReport_2022_Website.pdf).
Some examples of SFI grants which are specific to brain cancer research are provided below: from SFI’s Annual reports in 2020 (www.sfi.ie/research-news/publications/annual-reports/SFI-Annual-Report-2020-English.pdf), 2021 (www.sfi.ie/research-news/publications/annual-reports/SFI-Annual-Report-2021-FINAL-w-alt-text.pdf) and 2022 (www.sfi.ie/Annual-Report-2022/SFI_AnnualReport_2022_Website.pdf), and SFI-IRC Pathway 2022 list of awardees (www.sfi.ie/research-news/news/rising-research-leaders/List-of-funded-projects-SFI-IRC-Pathway-Programme-3.11.23.pdf) – 2023 data is being validated and is due for publication in June 2024:
|
SFI Awardee |
Programme |
Project Title |
Research Body |
Total Value of Award inc. Overheads: |
|
Brona Murphy |
Frontiers for the Future |
GLIOTREAT-Novel treatments for Glioblastoma Patients |
RCSI University of Medicine and Health Science |
€556,161 |
|
James Curtin |
Frontiers for the Future |
Plasma PLUS: Discovery of plasma assisted therapies for cancer |
Technological University Dublin |
€1,272,129 |
|
Mark Cunningham |
Frontiers for the Future |
Gene therapy approaches for brain tumour related epilepsy |
Trinity College Dublin |
€556,218 |
|
Nanasaheb Thorat |
SFI-IRC Pathway Programme |
Plasmonic Nanomedicine Coupled Biomolecular Fingerprinting of Brain Cancer |
University of Limerick |
€551,901 |
|
Leonie Young |
Frontiers for the Future |
Epi-Genomic and Epi-Transcriptomic Aberrations in Breast Cancer Brain Metastasis |
RCSI University of Medicine and Health Science |
€1,166,431 |
|
Damir Vareslija |
Frontiers for the Future |
Epigenetic and microenvironmental regulation of brain metastases |
RCSI University of Medicine and Health Science |
€487,500 |
|
Daniela Ottaviani |
SFI-IRC Pathway Programme |
CDK12/MED1/ER, a functional transcriptional complex and actionable vulnerability in breast cancer brain metastasis. |
RCSI University of Medicine and Health Science |
€547,977 |
Additionally, SFI-funded Prof. Walter Kolch, Director of Systems Biology Ireland and Professor in University College Dublin, leads a €11.9 million research collaboration in the field of precision oncology.
Precision Oncology Ireland is a consortium of five Irish universities, six Irish cancer research charities, and ten companies aiming to develop new diagnostics and therapeutics for the personalised treatment of cancer.
It is supported by a €5 million Government investment through the SFI Strategic Partnership Programme, matched by a €6.9 million investment from the charity and industry partners making up the Precision Oncology Ireland Consortium - the first time that researchers, charities and industry have combined forces in this way.
Precision (or ‘personalised’) medicine uses data about a person’s genes (genomics), along with additional information on their cancer, to understand the unique pathways of a disease or treatment response in that person. With this new science, doctors can prescribe the right treatment in a timely fashion, saving the wasted resources and time our current ‘trial and error’ method incurs, while greatly improving response rates.
The Irish Research Council (IRC) is currently supporting or has previously supported a number of projects relating to cancer research, including those targeted specifically at brain tumours and brain cancer. The total investment in these projects for the period 2019 to 2023 is €15,537,642.00
The investment in projects targeted at brain tumours and brain cancer was €650,369.00 The investment in projects targeted at all other types of cancer was €14,887,273.00
The projects were funded under a number of programmes listed below:
- Government of Ireland Postgraduate Scholarships
- Government of Ireland Postdoctoral Fellowships
- Enterprise Programmes
- Laureate Programme
- COALESCE Programme
- New Foundations Programme
