Liam O'Toole

Liam O'Toole has been appointed as director of the United Kingdom's newly formed National Cancer Research Institute (NCRI). Theoretically, this makes O'Toole the most powerful man in cancer research in the UK, since the NCRI will coordinate the activities of the Cancer Research Campaign (CRC), the Imperial Cancer Research Fund (ICRF), the Medical Research Council (MRC) and the Marie Curie Research Institute to name but a few. However, he might not have the free reign that he would wish because the NCRI director must answer to a board whose members comprise several heads from the very groups he will oversee.

The NCRI was created in response to a parliamentary investigation last year into cancer research across the country (Nature Med. 6, 360; 2000). It will operate as a virtual center to coordinate the activities of existing specialist institutions. O'Toole, who presently runs the MRC's Cellular and Molecular Medicine Board, will remain within MRC offices when he takes up the new role next month.

In addition to coordinating basic research efforts, the NCRI will oversee clinical cancer research carried out within the National Health Service under the auspices of the equally new National Cancer Research Network (NCRN) (Nature Med. 7, 6; 2001).

Cancer research is one of the most competitive fields of study in the UK, not least because there are over 600 active research charities, dominated by large organizations such as the CRC and the ICRF, which together contribute £180 million ($250 million) to research—more than double the government's expenditure. Persuading these groups to work cooperatively will be O'Toole's biggest task.

According to O'Toole, evidence that these historically independent groups can work together already exists. They have completed a joint national review of prostate cancer research and distributed jointly funded grants to investigators. “That's the first time that we've reviewed an area as a collective and we set up a joint panel to do that,” says O'Toole.

The is now trying to consolidate collections of tissue samples. “There are hundreds of separate tissue collections going on and we need to coordinate this,” says O'Toole. “We've agreed to co-fund a common databank.