Peter, the father of Anouska Georgia London- a jewellery designer- visited the BCI today for a laboratory tour with Professor Trevor Graham, Lead for Evolution and Cancer Biology Laboratory, and his team. Anouska, who lost her mother to cancer in 2016, has designed a limited-edition Unity Band for this year’s World Cancer Day to raise money for cancer research.

Anouska said:

As a jewellery designer, I wanted to utilise my skills to create something that would help Cancer Research UK continue their work to fund more research, more treatments and more cures.

Our research lab brings together ideas from many different areas of science, including biology, mathematics, physics and evolution, to find new ways of tackling cancer. We are very mindful of ideas from across the scientific disciplines and, together with the support of those who help to fund our research, are all absolutely essential ingredients to make our research successful.

CRUK Barts Centre

The BCI is one of 13 CRUK Centres of Excellence in the country and the funding we receive from CRUK and other charities is vital for us to drive forward research to better understand the biology of cancer and translate our findings into new approaches to treat patients who are diagnosed with cancer.

Last year, our CRUK Barts Centre status was renewed with an award of over £10 million from the charity. This investment helps support our facilities and researchers, and enables the continuation of pioneering research on a variety of cancer types including some of the ‘cancers of unmet need’ – (pancreatic, oesophageal, bladder, melanoma, lung, mesothelioma). Many of these cancers have not seen any significant improvements in survival rates for decades and are a particular research focus at the BCI.

Our Institute Director, Professor Nick Lemoine, said:

Cancer is a growing problem across the globe. The work that we are doing on prevention, early detection and new treatments at the CRUK Barts Centre has the potential to make an impact on the incidence and outcomes of the disease not just here in the UK but throughout the world.

United approach

Cancer research cuts across boundaries and unites scientists from around the world, and the BCI community is made up of individuals of about 100 different nationalities. This international reach and collaboration of intelligent minds accelerates our understanding of cancer, uniting people from around the world with a common goal of saving the lives of cancer patients.