UCC scientists discover berry molecule kills leukaemia cells

Scientists at University College Cork were bowled over when tests showed that their cancer-killing drug was far more powerful than expected.

Professor Tom Cotter, chair of biochemistry at the university, said the team targeted acute leukaemia, a difficult-to-treat cancer, but he did not expect the experiments to work as well as they did.

“In fact, I was so surprised with the results I kept looking at them for ages; I couldn’t really believe what I was seeing,” Prof Cotter said yesterday.