Our Centres of Excellence
The Scottish Brain Tumour Research Centre of Excellence
The Scottish Brain Tumour Research Centre of Excellence is dedicated to advancing the development of new treatments for glioblastoma, with the aim of producing the evidence required to rapidly progress these treatments into clinical trials for patients in Scotland and beyond.
The Scottish Centre is based at the Universities of Edinburgh and Glasgow and is funded through a game-changing collaboration between Brain Tumour Research and Glasgow-based Beatson Cancer Charity.
Imperial College London
The Brain Tumour Research Centre of Excellence at Imperial College London is working to improve the diagnosis and treatment of adults with high-grade glioma, including glioblastoma (GBM), the most common primary high-grade brain tumour in adults.
The Centre has an outstanding 'Convergence Science' research programme that brings together researchers from a wide range of disciplines, leveraging their unique skills to answer scientific and clinical questions that will improve patient survival.
The Institute of Cancer Research
The Brain Tumour Research Centre of Excellence at The Institute of Cancer Research is studying paediatric-type diffuse high-grade gliomas (PDHGG), a collection of brain tumours in children in young adults which have extremely poor clinical outcomes.
The research team is identifying, testing and validating new therapeutic targets for PDHGG, including diffuse intrinsic pontine glioma (DIPG), as well as developing new drug delivery methods. The truly translational Centre is generating the laboratory data needed to support the launch of new clinical trials.
Queen Mary University of London
The Brain Tumour Research Centre of Excellence at Queen Mary University of London is developing personalised treatments for glioblastoma in adults and discovering gentler, more specific and effective therapies for childhood brain tumours, including medulloblastoma, diffuse intrinsic pontine glioma (DIPG), and ependymoma.
Leveraging the power of epigenetics — the study of how genes are turned on or off — the Centre is identifying genes that are crucial for tumour growth in individual patients and exploring whether these genes can be targeted with new or repurposed drugs, paving the way for innovative, personalised cancer treatments.
The University of Plymouth
The Brain Tumour Research Centre of Excellence at the University of Plymouth is working to improve the diagnosis and treatment of children and adults with low-grade brain tumours, including schwannoma, meningioma and glioma.
The Centre is one of Europe’s leading research institutes for low-grade brain tumours and proactively works with national and international groups to swiftly translate their research into clinical benefit for patients.
Retired Centres
University of Portsmouth
Our first Brain Tumour Research Centre was established at the University of Portsmouth in 2010 under the leadership of Professor Geoff Pilkington, now a Professor Emeritus having retired in 2019.
The University of Portsmouth now stands alone as a sustainable brain tumour research centre in its own right, having been supported by Brain Tumour Research for its first nine years.
Becoming a Brain Tumour Research Centre of Excellence
Potential applicants are required to submit a preliminary application that outlines the Centre’s proposed research programme in accordance with the application requirements.
The preliminary application is assessed by the Charity’s Scientific and Medical Advisory Board to ensure that it fulfils all of the requirements. Where appropriate, the applicant is invited to submit a full application.
The full application includes comprehensive details of the proposed programme of research, including existing study areas and how these will be included in the Centre. It also details the approach and methodology of planned investigations.
We do not currently have an open funding call.