Partnerships

ACED is a partnership between Cancer Research UK, the Canary Center at Stanford University, the University of Cambridge, OHSU Knight Cancer Institute, UCL, and The University of Manchester that is worth over £55 million.    

The Cambridge ACED centre was secured by Prof Sarah Bohndiek with Prof Rebecca Fitzgerald, Director of the Early Cancer Institute. It is made up of 355 members from the University of Cambridge, the Gurdon and Wellcome Sanger Institutes, and NHS Departments.   

The Centre designs, develops, and delivers clinical infrastructure for research in early detection, a clinical facility that will enable early phase clinical trials of novel diagnostics. This will be key to test and validate early diagnostics and accelerate the adoption of the most promising early detection approaches by doctors.    

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We are proud to house the headquarters of Black in Cancer, an organisation dedicated to strengthening the network between black people in the cancer space whilst highlighting black excellence in cancer research and medicine.

We have partnered with Black in Cancer to offer two summer research places to UK undergraduate students from the Black and Cancer mentorship scheme. Mentees are matched with a mentor from academia or industry currently contributing to the fight against cancer, for career mentoring.

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The Cambridge Cancer Research Hospital will bring together clinical and research expertise in a new world-class hospital designed in partnership with patients. The new hospital will detect cancer earlier, treat it more precisely, and save more lives. 

Prof Richard Gilbertson is the Cambridge Cancer Research Hospital’s research lead, co-chairing the Joint Delivery Board to develop plans for the new hospital. Prof James Brenton is the research co-lead for the new Integrated Cancer Medicine Institute, and Prof Jason Carroll is the research co-lead for the Precision Breast Cancer Institute. Together, they are ensuring the integration of our cutting-edge research with the advanced clinical resources of the new Cambridge Cancer Research Hospital, to improve both patient care and scientific discovery. 

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The joint Cancer Research UK – AstraZeneca Functional Genomics Centre is a dedicated national resource for AstraZeneca and Cancer Research UK’s academics and alliance partners working at all stages of translational research, from target discovery and validation to assessing novel drug combinations.  

Established with the expert guidance of Prof Greg Hannon, the centre is a world leader in genetic screening, cancer models, CRISPR reagent design, and computational approaches to big data processing, all to accelerate the discovery of new cancer medicines.   

Through the Functional Genomics Centre, we are developing CRISPR technology to better understand the biology of cancer and creating preclinical models which are more reflective of human disease.  

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Cancer Research UK has created networks in seven locations across the UK to drive collaborations between universities, NHS hospitals, and other research organisations. Centre status is awarded to locations performing the highest quality cancer research to accelerate the transition of lab-based science to the clinic to benefit people affected by cancer, providing funds for equipment, training, and networking.   

We work closely with the centre on many strategic initiatives with our faculty and associated faculty making up half of leadership positions within the CRUK Cambridge Centre. The Centre in Cambridge specialises in: early detection, integrated cancer medicine, cancer immunology, cell and molecular biology, advanced cancer imaging, nursing and allied health, as well as breast, blood, pancreatic, lung, ovarian, and paediatric cancers.   

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Brain tumours remain the most common cause of cancer-related death in children. Limited progress in these diseases relates directly to the use of inaccurate preclinical pipelines that fail to identify drugs with activity in patients. In April 2018, Cancer Research UK launched the CRUK Children’s Brain Tumour Centre of Excellence to drive progress in paediatric brain cancer research. 

The centre convenes a critical mass of experts, infrastructure and global collaborations in paediatric brain tumour biology, medicinal chemistry and pharmacology.  Hosted by the University of Cambridge and The Institute of Cancer Research, the centre is led by Prof Richard Gilbertson and co-funds the Creixell Research Group within the Institute.

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Cambridge is one of seven centres of excellence in a UK-wide network that will accelerate advances in radiotherapy research. The funding brings together Institute researchers Prof Greg Hannon, Prof Richard Gilbertson, Prof Sarah Bohndiek, and Prof Steve Jackson with collaborators Prof Charlotte Coles and Dr Raj Jena to build on local expertise and create a centre of excellence for radiotherapy research.   

The funding supports researchers to understand how radiation interacts with cancer cells at a molecular level, to find out how they become resistant to radiotherapy and how this can be overcome. 

Scientists are also using the latest gene-editing technology to search for new genetic targets for drug-radiotherapy combinations. They will trial new drug-radiotherapy combinations, develop biomarkers to predict how patients will respond to radiotherapy, and use artificial intelligence to predict how tumour cells and normal cells will react to radiotherapy.  

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In partnership with Cambridge Africa, we’ve teamed up with the Uganda Cancer Institute to support them in their mission to provide state-of-the-art cancer care and prevention.  

Each year, two places on our Undergraduate Summer Research Programme are reserved for students from the UCI and the eastern Africa region. Along with free accommodation and stipend, all Ugandan students will be provided with transport to and from Cambridge.   

We have also worked with the UCI to develop the Cambridge Makerere Summer School where members of the Institute take part in a series of lectures and workshops at Makerere University. 

This collaboration has lead to shared learnings for both parties and high-quality training for the African cancer research community.  

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