Career Profile: Victoria Cowling on her MRC Fellowship June 21, 2018 Today, UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) launched its prestigious £900 million Future Leaders Fellowship Scheme that is open to best researchers from around the world. Previous recipients of government funding from up and down the UK were featured as part of the launch. These case studies show how investment in research talent through previous Fellowship schemes is already resulting in incredible results which are helping to build a greater understanding of the world we live in, as well as creating the next game-changing technologies and innovations. Professor Victoria Cowling from GRE was one of the individuals selected to talk about how how her government funded fellowship supported her research into cancer-causing proteins. In 2007, Professor Cowling was awarded a MRC Career Development Award to study a cancer-causing protein called Myc. During her award, she had two periods of maternity leave and her fellowship was extended accordingly. In 2014, she successfully competed for a prestigious MRC senior fellowship. Her work focuses on identifying other proteins targeted by Myc in cancer cells, so that new targets for drug development can be identified. Her fellowship provided the flexibility for her to build in collaboration with the Dundee Drug Discovery Unit to use cutting-edge technology. Since then Professor Cowling has received several million pounds’ worth of funding for her research work from the UK Government. In 2015 she won the British Society of Cell Biology Women in Cell Biology Early Career Medal, an award given to an outstanding female cell biologist who has started her own research group in the UK within the last 6 years.
