University celebrates a decade of funding for brain tumour research

The University’s research has been significant in helping advance understanding of brain tumours and develop potential treatments

Brain Tumour Research Centre of Excellence

Mr Alan Williams

Media and Communications Manager

Corporate Communications (Marketing and Communications)

13 March 2025

The University of Plymouth is celebrating a decade of funding from the charity Brain Tumour Research, which has enabled it to maintain its status as one of the world's leading centres for brain tumour research.

In late 2014, the University was chosen to host a Brain Tumour Research Centre of Excellence, bringing together expertise from across its Peninsula Medical School .

Just over a decade later, its facilities on the Plymouth Science Park have been transformed thanks to the funding from Brain Tumour Research and other sources, and it is now home to around 30 researchers carrying out work on a range of research projects and clinical trials.

That includes work to advance understanding of different types of brain tumours, with much of the Plymouth research centred around meningioma, schwannoma and glioma.

The researchers are also working to identify how and when brain tumours might develop as well as unlocking new therapies and treatments – many of them repurposed from treating other medical conditions – that might improve the lives of those currently living with brain tumours or being diagnosed on a daily basis.

With the only treatments currently available for many of these brain tumours being invasive surgery and/or radiotherapy, any advances in therapies and other treatments could be transformative.

Through my work as a researcher and a Consultant Neurologist, I see the impacts of brain tumours on a daily basis.

They affect people of all ages and their families, but the fact remains we still know relatively little about them compared to other types of cancer. The funding we have received from Brain Tumour Research over the past decade has enabled us to achieve a number of scientific breakthroughs, many of which are already having – or could have – real and lasting benefits for those with brain tumours. That is what continues to inspire us in our work.

Professor Oliver Hanemann
Director of the Plymouth Brain Tumour Research Centre of Excellence

Brain Tumour Research Centre of Excellence - Research Leads

Professor Oliver Hanemann , Professor David Parkinson and Dr Claudia Barros are the theme leads at our Brain Tumour Research Centre of Excellence

The research carried out through the University’s Centre of Excellence is featured in a major report launched today by Brain Tumour Research, as the charity celebrates its 15^th anniversary of providing research funding.

Over the past 15 years, Brain Tumour Research has contributed £46.4 million to the national investment on brain tumours and has supported more than 130 research projects at its Centres of Excellence and Funded Initiatives spread throughout the UK.

The report, Closer to a Cure – 15 Years of Impact, highlights game-changing achievements realised since the charity was launched. They include:

Using a ‘bionic eye’ to enhance precision and safety in brain tumour operations;
Repurposing HIV medication to treat schwannoma and meningioma tumours;
Accurately detecting high-grade brain tumours with a blood test, negating the need for invasive biopsies;
Accelerating the launch of clinical trials for children with high-grade gliomas;
Developing less invasive treatments for meningioma.

The launch of the report also coincides with TV personality, author and entrepreneur Sarah Beeny becoming a patron for the charity, on account of several family members having been impacted by brain tumours.

I’m proud and honoured to become a Patron for Brain Tumour Research. We have achieved amazing things over the past 15 years, and, with continued support, I have so much hope for what we will achieve in the future. Together, we will get closer to a cure. Brain tumours are just really brutal. They affect young people too and, for me, these illnesses are the ones we really need to focus on. Anyone who has been touched by brain tumours has a tragic story to tell, which was the same 30 years ago for those who got breast cancer. I would love it if, in my lifetime, we can achieve better outcomes for people with brain tumours.

Sarah Beeny
Patron, Brain Tumour Research