Q & A with Dr Daniel Tennant

In the autumn 2013 issue of The Grey Matters, our printed newsletter, we featured an interview with Dr Daniel Tennant, one of the leading researchers we fund. You can read the full interview below.

Dr Tennant is investigating a new approach to treating adult and paediatric glioma brain tumours with a grant from The Brain Tumour Charity.

Why did you become a researcher?

I was always interested in why things are the way they are. As I got older, I also wanted to do research that could help people so I started to work on cancer and then, more specifically, brain tumours.

What do you hope your research project will achieve?

Every advance we make in our understanding of brain tumours allows us to identify new ways to treat them. I hope that this research project will make a significant contribution to our knowledge of gliomas and therefore help improve patient survival.

Could you explain how you got your grant?

First I submitted an outline application to be considered by The Charity’s Grant Review and Monitoring Committee, an independent panel of scientists and patient representatives. They were interested but wanted more detail so I wrote a full application which was sent for review by top international researchers. The Charity’s independent experts and trustees then took everyone’s views into account from all over the world and decided to fund my project.

Why is more money needed for research?

Brain tumours have not been well-funded historically but we have recently developed new techniques that are really helping us to make progress. More money now could mean considerable breakthroughs in the next five years.

What would you say to anyone thinking about fundraising?

Please raise as much as you can. Personally I’m thinking think about a “Researchers cook for cancer” event! Brain tumour researchers have more ideas to develop new treatments than funding allows us to work on. It’s as simple as that.