Be the catalyst for advances in cancer treatment
Birmingham is helping make great strides forward in the treatment of cancer, through ground-breaking cancer research projects.
As you read this, Birmingham researchers are striving to develop effective tools to diagnose cancers that are difficult to detect, and discover new therapies for them. These conditions include blood, brain, bowel and children’s cancers, in which Birmingham has particular strengths and expertise. With your help, we could detect cancer earlier and create the best personalised treatments for patients, sooner.
Why support research into cancer at Birmingham?
Cara de Faye and Lee Hancock explain why they support Professor Andrew Beggs’ research into finding a cure to chemo-resistant cancer
Audio described version of Cara and Lee's video
Six of the genes that predispose individuals to bowel cancer were discovered at Birmingham. Our current work includes growing a copy of an individual’s cancer outside their body, so we can test a broad range of treatments on it to quickly find the best option, without the patient having to endure all the side effects.
The work you fund will be magnified by our infrastructure; we have the largest clinical trials unit in Europe, we have been awarded Cancer Research UK Centre status and we have established the Institute of Translational Medicine to bring innovations from the lab to patients as soon as possible.
Your generous donation could enable researchers to:
- Find the genetic indicators that could catch cancers earlier, leading to better survival rates
- Teach our immune systems to target cancer cells and better treat disease
- Get more patients into clinical trials
- Test drugs before they are prescribed to find the right match and the right dose for an individual patient
What you can do
• Speed up the research: Cara de Faye and Lee Hancock have donated more than £100,000 through their own fundraising, to support Professor Andrew Beggs’ research into finding a cure to the type of chemo-resistant cancer Lee has. Lee says: ‘To see the work get started is incredible, it has given me a lot of optimism and means there is hope for the future, whether it’s in time for me or not.’
• Fund a dedicated PhD student: Robert Spier is funding a PhD Studentship, in memory of his wife Jean who had a brain tumour. PhD student Himani Rana has already made a breakthrough which could bring us one step closer to developing a new treatment. The Gift Aid on top of Robert’s gift has also funded an extra year of research by a PhD student into the relationship between breast cancers and brain tumours.
Our research teams see you as an integral part of their mission to save lives. To start a conversation about what matters most to you, just get in touch.