The Race So Far...

The success of The Bob Champion Cancer Trust in the research field owes much to our policy of rapid assessment for funding of carefully selected research projects, thereby opening the way to early investigation of any potential advances in treatment.

1986 - The Bob Champion Cancer Research Unit within the royal Marsden NHS Trust Hospital at Sutton, Surrey was opened. Through the Research Unit, the trust has supported research into:

• The frequency of cancer
• Hereditary aspects of cancer within families
• The testing of high dose chemotherapy treatments with bone marrow transplant
• The fertility of patients after treatment
• Reducing the side effects from radiotherapy
• Targetting tumour cells and investigating tumour growth rate
• Psychological support for cancer patients

1992 - The Bob Champion Lounge - a special leisure area, for those requiring long term in-patient care, was opened.
2000 - The Bob Champion Research Centre for Urological Cancers was opened in conjunction with the institute of Cancer Research - the first male dedicated cancer research facility in Europe.
2015 – The Bob Champion Research and Education Building opened.
Based on the Norwich Research Park and operated by the University of East Anglia (UAE) in partnership with the Norfolk & Norwich University Hospital, the centre provides state-of-the-art laboratories for researchers to explore new treatments for diseases from prostate cancer and antibiotic resistance, to musculo-skeletal and gastrointestinal diseases. The facility will also house a unique bio-bank facility to store DNA and tissue samples.

The Trust's major grant commitment is to Professor Colin Cooper, Chair of Cancer Genetics at UAE and who is based within the Bob Champion Research and Education Building. The Trust is funding research to develop a urine test that can diagnose prostate cancer and ultimately, whether the prostate cancer is the aggressive type. Current projects also include looking at genetic changes in cancer patients with the Genome Analysis Centre.

The Race isn't over yet...