Based on the Cambridge Biomedical Campus, it brings together over 100 scientists, clinicians, engineers and physicists from across biology, physics, mathematics, epidemiology, medicine and computer science, all working towards a single mission: to understand cancer at its very earliest stages, so it can be caught and treated before it becomes lethal.

Most cancer patients are still diagnosed too late, once the disease has already spread and become far harder to treat. The Institute's research is built around three big questions: who is at risk of developing cancer, how can it be detected while it is still curable, and how can its progress be intercepted before it becomes dangerous.

Its research groups focus in particular on cancers that are hard to treat and have seen little improvement in outcomes in recent years, including cancers of the lung, pancreas, oesophagus and liver, as well as acute myeloid leukaemia. One notable innovation to come out of the Institute is the Cytosponge, a simple "pill on a string" test that helps identify people with a precursor condition to oesophageal cancer long before symptoms of cancer itself appear. This kind of work, translating fundamental discoveries into simple, scalable tests, is at the heart of the Institute's approach, and its researchers work closely with NHS and industry partners on the Cambridge Biomedical Campus to move discoveries from the lab into the clinic as quickly as possible.

Supporting this research will help accelerate the discovery and rollout of new tools to predict, detect and stop cancer before it takes hold, giving many more patients the chance of a cure.

Next steps

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