Major U.S. and U.K. cancer initiative to tackle big unanswered questions in research

The National Cancer Institute in the U.S. and Cancer Research UK just joined forces to launch Cancer Grand Challenges, an international initiative to address the biggest unanswered questions in cancer research. The initiative expands on a program from Cancer Research UK, which is a research and advocacy group in the U.K., since 2015 that has funded research into unnecessary breast cancer treatment and using the microbiome to treat bowel cancers. The new Cancer Grand Challenges program will announce its chosen themes in October, and hopes by 2022 to award $25 million over five years to four research teams. The new initiative also hopes to offer three such rounds of funding, with new themes announced every other year.