Please note: due to the ongoing impacts of COVID-19 and the related restrictions, we have postponed the lab tours which were scheduled to take place. This page will be updated when new dates are confirmed.
Brain Tumour Research is an official charity partner of the University of Plymouth. We're one of four universities in the UK working with the charity to improve the treatment and outcomes of brain tumours. The Centre of Excellence at the University is one of Europe’s leading research institutes for low-grade brain tumours.
The Plymouth team, led by Professor Oliver Hanemann, has a world-leading track record in researching low-grade brain tumours occurring in teenagers and adults. By identifying and understanding the mechanism that makes a cell become cancerous, the team are exploring ways to halt or reverse them.
Click your way through the lab and watch videos of researchers explaining how they are working to gain a deeper understanding of the disease, developing new treatments and therapies and ultimately getting closer to finding a cure.
Discover the equipment that scientists use every day to make ground-breaking steps in brain tumour research, and visit the Wall of Hope to see tiles which have been placed by our amazing supporters who have sponsored a day of research.
The Brain Tumour Research Centre in Plymouth focuses on the emerging area of personalised medicine in order to provide new understanding of specific groups of common, low-grade brain tumours. The pioneering research team is looking at astrocytoma, oligodendroglioma, schwannoma, meningioma and ependymoma brain tumours. The research at Plymouth also has the potential to inform work on other brain tumour types, including high-grade tumours such as glioblastoma multiforme (GBM), but in fact meningioma alone accounts for over 30% of brain tumour patients diagnosed worldwide with a primary brain tumour.
Research into brain tumours has been neglected
During the last few decades, survival rates for many cancers have undergone a transformation thanks to the investment made in research. Brain tumour research, by comparison, has been shockingly underfunded. As a result, fewer than one in five patients survive more than five years after their diagnosis. In 2014, the University was officially recognised by leading charity Brain Tumour Research as one of only four centres of excellence nationally for brain tumour research. Our long-running partnership aims to help establish, retain and grow world-class research teams.
Find out more and help us to make a difference
From basic research discovering the causes of disease, through to evaluating novel ways of delivering care to the most vulnerable people in society, our thriving community conducts adventurous world-leading research
Transformation in life course, ageing, methodologies, eHealth, technology and interventions in health, social care, lifestyle and wellbeing.
Find out more about Plymouth Institute of Health and Care Research
