In the financial year 2014/15, the charity spent £422.67 million on cancer research projects (67% of its total income for that year). The bulk of the remaining costs were spent on trading and fundraising costs with a small amount spent on information services, campaigning, advocacy, administration and other activities or was held in reserve. The remainder supports research into over 100 specific cancer types, focusing on
drug discovery and development; prevention, early detection and
imaging; surgery and
radiotherapy; and cancers where survival rates are still low, such as oesophageal, lung and pancreatic cancers. The charity funds the work of over 4,000 researchers, doctors and nurses throughout the UK, supports over 200 clinical trials and studies cancer and cancer risk in over a million people in the UK.
Research institutes • The Cancer Research UK Scotland Institute (formerly the Cancer Research UK Beatson Institute), which sits within the
University of Glasgow and has ties to the
Beatson West of Scotland Cancer Centre • The
Cancer Research UK Cambridge Institute, which sits within the
University of Cambridge close to
Addenbrooke's Hospital on the
Cambridge Biomedical Campus. • The Cancer Research UK Manchester Institute, formerly the Paterson Institute for Cancer Research, which sits within the
University of Manchester and has ties to the
Christie Hospital.
Partnerships • The
Francis Crick Institute, with the
Medical Research Council and the
Wellcome Trust • The
Oxford Institute for Radiation Oncology, with the Medical Research Council • The
Gurdon Institute, with the Wellcome Trust • The
Manchester Cancer Research Centre, formed in 2006 by the University of Manchester, Cancer Research UK, and the Christie NHS Foundation Trust. •
National Cancer Research Institute which also includes the
Medical Research Council (UK) and
Blood Cancer UK. •
UK Department of Health, the Wellcome Trust, the
National Health Service,
NICE, and the Public Health England National Cancer Registration and Analysis Service.
Citizen-science projects The charity participates in numerous
citizen-science projects including: • Cell Slider – its first project set up in 2012. Samples of breast cancer tumours, taken from earlier studies, were analysed through a web-based application. • Play to Cure: Genes in Space – its first mobile game developed with
Guerilla Tea, which originated as a prototype during a 48-hour
game jam. Players plot routes to guide a spaceship in-game, which corresponds to analysis of genetic data. • Reverse the Odds – a mobile game based upon 'Play to Cure: Genes in Space' but with greater accuracy, involved completing puzzles and answering questions on lung and bladder cancer samples. • The Impossible Line – a mobile puzzle game spotting genetic faults in breast cancer data, provided evidence that the game aspect lowered accuracy. • Trailblazer – a web-based application looking at tissue samples identifying the presence or absence of cancer cells.
Research centres The charity funds 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 provide funds for equipment and training. Centre status has been designated to: • Cambridge:
University of Cambridge • City of London:
King's College London,
University College London,
Barts Cancer Institute,
Francis Crick Institute • Convergence Science:
Imperial College London and the
Institute of Cancer Research • Manchester:
University of Manchester • Newcastle:
Newcastle University • Oxford:
University of Oxford • Scotland:
University of Edinburgh and
University of Glasgow Achievements and impact Drugs developed by the organisation's scientists include: •
Cisplatin and
carboplatin, cytotoxic chemotherapy drugs discovered at the
Institute of Cancer Research in London. •
Abiraterone, a
prostate cancer drug discovered at the Institute of Cancer Research in London. •
Temozolomide, which has an effect on
glioblastoma, discovered by CRUK scientists at the
University of Aston. •
Rucaparib, a PARP inhibitor drug discovered by CRUK scientists including
Ruth Plummer at the Northern Institute for Cancer Research . •
Tamoxifen, a hormone therapy used to treat
breast cancer and lower the risk of recurrence. Several of the organisation's scientists have won major prizes, including: •
Tomas Lindahl: one of three recipients of the 2015
Nobel Prize in Chemistry, for mechanistic studies of
DNA repair, joined the organisation as a researcher in 1981, and from 1986 was the first Director of their
Clare Hall research institute in
Hertfordshire, since 2015 part of the
Francis Crick Institute. •
Paul Nurse and
Tim Hunt: recipients of the 2001
Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine, for work started at the
London Research Institute. •
Renato Dulbecco: recipient of the 1975 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine, while deputy director of what was then the Imperial Cancer Research Fund. == Other charitable activities ==