The Patricia Swannell dormancy and late recurrence research funding programme

We're the UK’s largest dedicated breast cancer research funder. To date, we've invested over £284 million in groundbreaking research.

In this section

We work solely on bringing together research and support to tackle breast cancer more effectively, to reduce the risk and to better support all those affected by the disease, whether directly or indirectly.

What's the purpose of this scheme?

This funding programme aims to support research addressing dormancy and late recurrence of breast cancer. It has been created thanks to the Patricia Swannell Appeal for secondary breast cancer and the incredible generosity of everyone who has supported the appeal.

Driven by a selfless passion and determination to make a difference for those who come after her, Patricia devoted the last 18 precious months of her life to driving change for people affected by secondary breast cancer. With the loving support of her family, The Patricia Swannell Appeal for Secondary Breast Cancer was set up in 2022 to:

Raise awareness of the signs and symptoms of secondary breast cancer
Support healthcare professionals with education and training
Develop better testing, diagnosis and treatment through funding research to tackle the challenge of dormancy

Which areas of research do you support?

Areas we can support:
- Improving and developing effective research models (in vivo and ex vivo) to understand dormancy and recurrence
- Studies to understand the role of the microenvironment in maintaining or triggering escape from dormancy
- Translational research to better understand the genetic and molecular mechanisms underlying recurrence, and to understand at a cellular level what happens to breast cancer cells that become dormant during initial treatment and when treatment ends
- Studies focused on what happens to patients at the end of their primary treatment, particularly those ending endocrine therapy, and including ways to identify those who would benefit from additional or altered treatment
- Studies on adjuvant therapy (such as endocrine, targeted and immunotherapies), exploring what factors determine both the optimal timing/duration of different adjuvant therapies and their impact on breast cancer dormancy and recurrence, and to make treatments as effective as possible
- Identifying and developing biomarkers of dormancy and late recurrence
- Developing and establishing a cohort of women who have completed their primary treatment for breast cancer, to investigate the aetiology of dormancy and late recurrence, including involving those in the cohort in other clinical studies
Areas we're unable to support:
We will not accept the following
- Applications from commercial entities
- Research proposals into conditions other than breast cancer
- Applications for equipment only; we will accept requests for small pieces of equipment (up to £5000) as part of your proposal, but you must include a clear justification for this request.
- Applications which request funding for consumables or running costs only
- Applications from an individual who is not employed by an eligible institution
- Requests to cover salary costs of tenured lead applicants and/or co-applicants. We'll allow costs to cover the salary of named post-doctorate researchers who are listed co-applicants on the application, as long as they don’t have their salary covered by other sources
- Projects part-funded with other organisations
- Applications from prospective PhD students themselves
- Applications from clinicians taking time out of programme to undertake a PhD