University of Dundee scientist, Dr Barbara Spruce, was named as the winner of the £50,000 Gannochy Award at a glittering ceremony on Saturday evening (June 21).
Dr Spruce received the prestigious Royal Society of Edinburgh award for her groundbreaking work in the field of cancer treatment. Two of the three finalists in the prestigious awards were from the University of Dundee.
Dr Alex Knebel, founder of University spin-out company Kinasource, received a silver medal in recognition of his work.
Dr Spruce was recognised for her ongoing work in developing what may represent an important treatment advance for cancer patients. She has identified an "Achilles' heel" in cancer cells and a way to cause some of them to self-destruct, without harming normal cells. Through Dr Spruce's innovation, this new discovery is well on its way from bench to bedside. Dr Spruce considers the great advantage of the new research to be that the treatment will be largely devoid of side effects and could be used alone or alongside conventional cancer therapies. When used together with chemotherapyor radiotherapy, dosages of these could be reduced, lessening side effects in turn and treatments could be tailored specifically to the patients' needs. Dr Spruce also cites evidence that this treatment may tackle cancers that don't respond well to conventional therapies, opening up new options and hope for some patients with more aggressive disease.
Reacting to the announcement, Dr Spruce said, "I feel extremely honoured and delighted to have won such a prestigious award. I am particularly pleased that The Royal Society of Edinburgh and The Gannochy Trust have recognised the novelty of our work and its potential importance to the clinic. What is vital about this award is that the prize money will help us to take the next crucial steps towards testing these drugs in patients with cancer. It will also assist us in our longer term goal of linking with a corporate partner to generate improved versions of the existing drugs."
German born Dr Axel Knebel, 36, established Kinasource in 2002, a company at the forefront of international research into identifying drug targets in human cells - which could ultimately result in new treatments for life threatening diseases. Kinasource is the latest spin-out company from the MRC Protein Phosphorylation Unit, which is located in School of Life Sciences at the University of Dundee.
Royal Society of Edinburgh President, Lord Sutherland of Houndwood said, "Dr Barbara Spruce is a very worthy winner of this the inaugural Gannochy Trust Innovation Award of The Royal Society of Edinburgh. It is right that we should seek to encourage and reward our most talented innovators for work which has the potential to benefit Scotland; that is the purpose of this new award. Barbara Spruce's research and development clearly has the potential to make a very real impact on wellbeing internationally. Each of tonight's Finalists has made an outstanding contribution to their field of expertise and it is for this reason that we have chosen to award Silver Medals to both of the other Finalists. I am grateful to Lord Ross who has Chaired the distinguished selection panel and to its judges: Sir Bruce Pattullo, Professor Andy Walker, Dr Ian Sword and Chairman of Trustees of The Gannochy Trust, Dr Russell Leather. We look forward to a fruitful partnership with The Gannochy Trust, with the expectation that this Award will stimulate and encourage our young and gifted people to use their talents to the full, for the future wellbeing of Scotland."
By Jane Smernicki, Press Officer 01382 344768 j.m.smernicki@dundee.ac.uk