SCIENTISTS in the region are to become world leaders in leukaemia research after receiving a £1.7m boost.

The money, from the European Union, will be used to improve research which has already helped North-East leukaemia victim Peggy Edmunds.

Doctors at Newcastle University and Newcastle Royal Victoria Infirmary are at the cutting edge of genetic research designed to increase the number of successful bone marrow transplants for leukaemia victims.

The doctors should soon be able to predict to what extent genetic differences will affect the success of the transplants. That knowledge will help them to prescribe the most appropriate treatment after the operation to avoid life-threatening complications.

Ms Edmunds, of Stockton, Teesside, was diagnosed as having acute leukaemia last year. The North-East doctors discovered that Ms Edmunds, a 52-year-old retired pub landlady, had a chance of contracting potentially fatal complications as a result of a bone marrow transplant last December.

As a result, the problem was avoided and Ms Edmunds is now recovering at home. Her brother, Ralph, was the donor.

The new project will develop a network for the exchange of information from transplant patients and donors across Europe, to create a Eurobank co-ordinated in Newcastle.

During the next three years, about 400 patients and donor cell lines will be added to the bank.