Award for cancer researcher

Paul Clarke of the Biomedical Research Centre has been awarded a prestigious Wolfson Research Merit Award from the Royal Society for his work on cancer cell biology.

Over the last five years, Paul's research team has made important discoveries about the ways that cancer cells divide out of control and evade a form of cell death called apoptosis. Their work is aimed at discovering new treatments for cancer and is supported by Cancer Research UK and the Medical Research Council.

Commenting on his prize, Paul said, "I am very grateful to the Royal Society for its support. This award acknowledges the importance of the work carried out by the dedicated scientists and students in my research team. We have benefited enormously from the superb biomedical research environment in Dundee and, together with our colleagues, we hope to make further discoveries about cancer cells that will help the development of more effective therapies in the future."

The purpose of the Royal Society Wolfson Research Merit Awards is to give institutions additional support to attract to this country or keep here researchers of outstanding achievement and potential. Paul's award was one of only seven successful nominations and the overall standard of applications according to the President of the Royal Society Lord May of Oxford was "extremely high".

Principal Sir Alan Langlands said, "This award recognises Paul's exceptional contribution to biomedical research and the understanding of apoptosis. He has my sincere congratulations and best wishes for continued success."