|  |  |  | | | | NEWCASTLE SCIENTIST WINS PRESTIGIOUS RESEARCH AWARD | | | | |
| |  Dr Collin
Release Date: 15th January 2002
Dr Matthew Collin, a young haematologist from Jesmond in Newcastle, has become one of the first people to win a prestigious new research award from the UK's leading blood cancer charity Leukaemia Research Fund (LRF). The LRF Clinician Scientist Award will enable him to carry out pioneering research into bone marrow transplantation (BMT).
The thirty-five year-old from will be working alongside BMT experts from the Royal Victoria Infirmary and the University of Newcastle upon Tyne. "I am delighted that LRF has given me the opportunity to work alongside some of the UK's leading bone marrow transplant experts," he said.
"This award will allow me to continue practising haematology whilst giving me time to carry out research that will directly benefit my patients," he added.
Leukaemia Research Fund has today announced that it is spending £245,000 on the research programme to be carried out by Dr Collin. The aim of the award - which has been set up with the Academy of Medical Sciences - is to allow talented young haematologists to combine specialist training in haematology with post-doctoral research.
Dr Collin is looking to establish a way of helping doctors predict which BMT patients are likely to develop a complication called graft-versus host disease (GvHD) after a donor transplant. GvHD occurs when the immune cells from the donor recognise the cells of the patient as foreign and attack them. This can be very serious, affecting the liver and gut, and may even be life-threatening.
"If we can establish an accurate method of predicting which patients will develop problems after transplant, it will allow doctors to try to find ways of preventing such life-threatening complications," Dr Collin said.
Scientific Director of Leukaemia Research Fund, Dr David Grant, commented: "Thousands of patients with leukaemia and other forms of blood cancer need a bone marrow transplant each year. For many, a transplant is their only hope of survival."
"Despite improvements, sadly many people still die after a transplant because of infections, or because of problems that occur if the patient's body rejects the donor's cells.
"Research like this will help us to move towards one of our objectives - an even higher success rate for bone marrow transplants."
It looks like being an exciting year for Dr Collin this year, as he will be getting married in March to Kyra Humphreys - co-leader of the Northern Sinfonia, one of the UK's leading chamber orchestras which is based in Newcastle.
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