As a kind supporter of The Christie Charity, you are part of this team effort too, working together with our brightest minds against cancer. Not only have you helped us open the doors of the Paterson building, you’re helping to fund the game-changing research taking place inside.
With a donation to The Christie Charity today, you can help us continue to make a huge difference through innovative research.
Support trailblazing new projects
In the Paterson research centre, researchers have the best equipment and technology at their disposal. Next door in The Christie hospital, patients take part in clinical trials. Being in such close proximity makes it easier to share knowledge and improve patient outcomes.
We call clinicians and researchers working together like this Team Science. And with your help, The Christie Charity has committed to funding millions more in cancer research at The Christie over the next few years: £30 million by 2030. We cannot do that alone.
Please give today to support groundbreaking research projects at The Christie and help offer cancer patients better, kinder treatments. Together we can improve their quality of life, as well as giving cancer patients of the future hope.
New treatments delivering better patient outcomes
Experts at The Christie are working on innovative research projects right now, with funding made possible thanks to supporters of The Christie Charity. This includes projects led by researchers like Dr Sara Valpione, whose work to help patients with oesophageal cancer is focused on biomarkers – biological indicators found in blood, body fluids and tissues that give us information about their cancer.
By understanding more about biomarkers, experts can personalise someone’s treatment specifically to them. Targeted treatments offer patients better outcomes, improved quality of life and fewer side effects.
As well as opening up more personalised treatments, experts can also improve the speed and accuracy of diagnosis with more information from biomarkers. Importantly, they could then deliver treatment more quickly.
Another research project currently taking place at The Christie is into central nervous system (CNS) tumours in teenagers and young adults. CNS tumours in young patients are rare, but this also means there’s been less research into their long-term effects. Dr Kate Law’s research aims to put that right.
Kate wanted to make it easier for young people to openly discuss medical and nonmedical issues that they may not otherwise raise with doctors. Her research will study later-life effects of CNS tumours. She wants to improve support so when young people share their problems, their medical team is better equipped to give them the best support from the right professionals.
The research will also focus on psychosocial challenges to help develop new ways of providing support for CNS tumour patients, like Kat Watson-Wood. Kat was diagnosed with an aggressive brain tumour aged just 4. After her treatment, she had some ongoing mobility issues, hormonal problems, muscle tightness and some cognitive difficulties. Read Kat’s story to find out how she will be working closely with Kate’s team.
Researchers at The Christie are also working to reduce the risk of cancer spreading. Consultant Paul Sutton and his team have been testing and developing new treatments to improve treatment outcomes for bowel cancer.
Bowel cancer is the third most common cancer in the UK. Cancers in this area of the body can grow into nearby organs.
Usually, a combination of chemotherapy and radiotherapy is used to shrink the tumour. However, the success rate varies considerably between patients. Research to date suggests a link to the immune system, and this is the focus of Paul Sutton’s innovative research.
Survival outcomes for bowel cancer remain largely unchanged over the last 20 years. Mr Sutton’s research could help patients see a reduced risk of cancer spreading and an increased rate of organ preservation.
Research offers cancer patients better, kinder treatments. Together we are improving their quality of life, as well as giving cancer patients of the future hope.
This is work over and above what the NHS funds. Without The Christie Charity and supporters like you, research projects with the power to save and transform lives simply would not be possible.
It is why you are such a vital part of Team Science – and by donating today, you help make this research work possible.
Together we can help improve the lives of more patients.