April Research News
Welcome to the April edition of Research News!
Please get in touch with any feedback or suggestions for future editions of Research News.
TRANSFORM – discover more about our £42 million prostate cancer screening trial!
This edition spotlights our TRANSFORM trial, the UK’s largest and most ambitious prostate cancer screening trial for 20 years. Discover how this innovative trial is designed to deliver conclusive evidence on the safest, most accurate and most cost‑effective ways to screen men for prostate cancer.
As part of this ambitious programme, a new prostate cancer research resource will be established. Known as TRANSFORM Discovery, it will encompass patient samples, high‑resolution imaging scans, genetic data and clinical information from TRANSFORM participants who have provided consent. The TRANSFORM team is currently recruiting a Tissue Bank Manager—read more about the opportunity on the Imperial College London website ahead of the 29 April deadline.
Our new LinkedIn channel is live – follow us for updates!
A space just for the research community
For the first time, we have a dedicated space designed specifically for those working in prostate cancer research.
This is where we’ll share funding opportunities, research news, events, and ways to engage with Prostate Cancer UK, alongside insights and perspectives from across the research community.
If you’re a researcher, this space is for you.
Research Impact: What We've Achieved
Our Research Impact pages showcase how ideas we fund grow into real‑world advances — from early lab work to clinical trials that bring new diagnostics and treatments closer to helping men. Each month, we’ll spotlight one of these stories.
This month’s feature: the STAMPEDE radiotherapy analysis
Researchers have long questioned whether treating the prostate with radiotherapy could still help men after their cancer has spread elsewhere in the body. To explore this, a team led by Professor Noel Clarke, supported by our Belfast–Manchester Movember Centre of Excellence, analysed over 7,000 bone scans from men who took part in the STAMPEDE trial.
The analysis showed that men whose cancer had spread to four or fewer sites lived longer when radiotherapy was added to standard treatment. These findings have informed NICE guidelines and helped men with prostate cancer live longer across the world.
From Ideas to Innovation – thank you for joining us!
A huge thank you to everyone who joined us for our From Ideas to Innovation meeting on 15–16 April. Over two inspiring days, researchers networked, shared their research and sparked new collaborations alongside strengthening existing ones.
We’ll share our reflections in May's edition, but for now thank you to everyone who made the event such a success!
UK Prostate Cancer Clinical Research Strategy Group
How do we keep the UK prostate cancer clinical research pipeline strong - now and for the future?
That question was at the heart of the UK Prostate Cancer Clinical Research Strategy Group’s (CRSG) first in‑person meeting of the year, which welcomed new and Early Career members for a day of discussion and collaboration.
A key highlight of the meeting was the in-depth discussion of three clinical research proposals that are in development, with researchers receiving constructive, cross‑disciplinary feedback to help strengthen their study design. The meeting also provided an opportunity to thank Professor Hashim Ahmed for his leadership as Chair of both the current group and its previous form, the NCRI Prostate Cancer Group, as he steps down after several years at the helm.
We’ll soon be inviting proposals to be considered for the next meeting in September 2026, so keep an eye on our social channels for the upcoming submission deadline.
Researcher Achievements
We’re delighted to congratulate Dr Emily Grist on her promotion to Honorary Consultant in Medical Oncology. Emily is working with Professor Gert Attard on research funded through our Transformation Impact Awards, exploring how prostate cancer becomes resistant to lutetium‑177 PSMA treatment.
We always welcome the opportunity to celebrate the achievements of our research community. If we've missed anything or you have an achievement of your own to share, please get in touch.
Funding Opportunities
Open now:
Career Acceleration Fellowships
Are you a promising Early Career Researcher looking to pursue your own independent research goals? If so, why not think about applying to our Career Acceleration Fellowship scheme.
The scheme supports researchers establish collaborations, develop new skills and techniques, and gain experience in leading research environments — helping you to carve out your own niche and begin your journey towards becoming an independent leader in prostate cancer research. Deadline 26 May 2026.
Coming soon:
Windsor Fellowship: Prostate Cancer UK Internship Programme
This year, we’re partnering with the Windsor Fellowship to launch an internship funding scheme for Black and mixed‑Black heritage undergraduate students in the UK. The programme aims to address under‑representation in the research workforce and support the development of future Black leaders in prostate cancer research.
Successful candidates will complete an 8‑week summer placement in a prostate cancer laboratory, gaining experience, skills and networks to progress to a PhD. The scheme opens in June, so if you’re interested in hosting an intern, please visit our website or contact us at [email protected].
Recently Published Papers
Each week, via our social media profiles, we highlight a newly published paper that has derived at least in part from our funding. Here are last month's specially selected papers:
Professor Emma Hall, Dr Angela Pathmanathan and Professor Nick van As from The Institute of Cancer Research, London outlined the clinical trial they're leading, funded by Prostate Cancer UK, which aims to explore whether extending stereotactic body radiotherapy (SBRT) to include the pelvic lymph nodes can improve outcomes for men with high‑risk prostate cancer.
A team led by Professor Richard Clarkson at Cardiff University explored whether inhibiting cFLIP, in combination with either TRAIL or docetaxel, could be a novel therapeutic approach for the treatment of prostate cancer.
An international team, including several Prostate Cancer UK–funded researchers, investigated a new tool that uses a man's genetic information, family history and ancestry to estimate his risk of developing prostate cancer.
An international research team used a dataset that our funding helped create to understand how MRI image quality can affect the ability of AI to detect prostate cancer on scans.
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