ECMC funding : About Us : Experimental Cancer Medicine Centre (ECMC) Network

ECMC funding

The ECMC Initiative is jointly funded by Cancer Research UK and the Departments of Health for England, Scotland, Northern Ireland and Wales. Together, they contribute £35 million towards early phase clinical research in cancer. This money is shared between the 19 ECMCs and the decision on how their allocation of money should be spent is made by each Centre.

Approximately £1 million is spent on running expenses by the ECMC Network each year. This covers costs such as laboratory expenses (e.g. tissue collection, blood assays, pharmacology and microscope use), specialist pathology laboratory support, specialist clinician sessions (e.g. radiologists) and imaging (e.g. MRI scans).

Most of the funding (approximately £6 million per year) goes towards supporting staff salaries and is distributed as follows:

Administrative staff

Approximately 15 administrative posts are supported by ECMC funding.

Scientific staff

Over 68 scientific staff are funded or part-funded by ECMC Initiative money. These include laboratory technicians, research scientists and pharmacologists.

Clinical trial staff

Approximately 35 clinical trial staff are supported by ECMC funding. Examples of the types of jobs included in this group are data managers, statisticians and clinical trial coordinators.

What does a data manager do?

A data manager is ultimately responsible for planning, organising and managing the accurate collection and recording of patient data for clinical trials, in accordance with study protocols and Good Clinical Practice standards.

Administrative tasks include coordinating regulatory submissions to Ethics Committees, Health Boards and Regulatory Authorities and maintaining accurate records of approvals from such bodies. There is close collaboration with Principal Investigators, research nurses and other relevant site personnel. The data manager acts as the main point of contact for sponsors or their representatives to ensure the smooth running of the trial and resolve problems and queries in a timely manner.

Clinical staff

Nearly 58 clinical staff are funded or part-funded by the ECMC Initiative. The majority of these positions are research nurse posts and the remaining roles include radiologists, radiographers and research practitioners. Tissue banking staff ECMC funding supports 12 staff who carry out tissue banking activities.

What does a research nurse do?

Most ECMC funded research nurses work in either translational research or on Phase 1 studies. Translational research nurses are involved in studies that require collection of blood, tissues or other body fluids and Phase 1 research nurses are usually involved in trials which administer new treatments to patients. This can often be the first time a drug has been given to a human.

The role of the research nurse includes recruiting patients to studies, carrying out and supporting patients and their families throughout treatments, collecting data and specimens, managing research documents and records and following up the patients throughout the course of treatments. Research nurses also play a big role in setting up the research projects as well as educating both patients and other staff members in current research practice.