Cancer Research UK Cambridge Centre to receive £22.5m from charity to accelerate work on early diagnosis and imaging
A £22.5million cash injection for Cancer Research UK Cambridge Centre will be used to accelerate work in early diagnosis and imaging.
The funding, from Cancer Research UK, will be delivered over the next five years.
It will aid work on diagnosing a wide range of cancers - including pancreatic, ovarian and children’s cancers - at a much earlier stage.
And it will support the development of the Cambridge centre’s advanced imaging capability, helping scientists to examine cancer cells in more detail than ever before and find physical features that may be vulnerable to new treatments.
Cambridge is one of seven locations to secure funding in Cancer Research UK’s review of its centres.
Prof Richard Gilbertson, director of the Cambridge centre, said: “We’ve had a challenging year and Covid-19 has slowed us down. But we will not stop working hard to find new treatments for cancer, and this investment will give us the tools we need to deliver high quality research that will make the biggest difference for patients.
“This investment means we will be able to further develop our work in translational research – getting cutting-edge discoveries from the laboratory to patients and learning as much as possible from patients to initiate new research.”
Around 37,300 people are diagnosed with cancer in the East of England each year.
Dr Iain Foulkes, executive director of research and innovation at Cancer Research UK, said:
“This past year proves, more than any other, the value of investing in science and medical research, and what can be achieved with collective focus and collaboration. Just like science is our route out of the pandemic, science is our route to beating cancer.
“Despite the impact of the pandemic on the charity’s income, we’re funding some of the best and most promising research in Cambridge to help more people survive.
“Survival rates have doubled since the early 1970s and Cancer Research UK’s work has been at the heart of that progress. Every step our doctors, nurses and scientists take relies on every pound raised through fundraising, and they need support now more than ever.
“Our determination to beat cancer hasn’t faltered and we’re even more focussed on our ambition of seeing three in four people survive their cancer by 2034. One in two of us will get cancer in our lifetimes and all of us can support the research that will beat it.”
Some of the work in Cambridge
Cancer Research UK spent more than £51m in 2020-21 in Cambridge.
Prof Richard Gilbertson is seeking to improve survival for children with brain tumours. He and his team have shown that childhood brain tumours are not a single disease and are seeking to match new treatments to the biology of a child's individual brain tumour.
Prof Rebecca Fitzgerald is pioneering new ways to detect oesophageal cancer early. She developed the cytosponge - the “sponge on a string” pill that detects 10 times more cases of Barrett’s oesophagus (a condition that can sometimes lead to oesophageal cancer) compared with routine GP care. The cytosponge is now licensed for use in NHS Scotland, helping tackle backlogs in cancer care caused by the pandemic.
Dr Daniel Munoz-Espin is investigating the role of senescence caused by chemotherapy in lung cancer. He hopes to find a way to prevent cancer cells slipping into this sleep-like state, allowing the cancer to be fully eradicated.
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