Our Partnerships
Our Partnerships
Working together in Manchester and beyond
Research excellence at the Cancer Research UK Manchester Institute is enhanced by its collaborations; these bring together internationally renowned scientists and clinicians that advance our scientific programme.
Having the Institute all together on one site – alongside our colleagues at the Christie and in the Division of Cancer Sciences – in a building that is designed to maximise collaborations, makes driving innovative cancer research easier and paves the way for breakthroughs in our discovery science and translational research.
Professor Caroline Dive
Interim Director
The Power of Colocation
The Withington Cancer Campus comprises the Cancer Research UK Manchester Institute, the Christie NHS Foundation Trust and the University of Manchester Division of Cancer Sciences and co-locates scientists, clinicians and support staff to drive transformative breakthroughs in cancer research and treatment.
The Paterson Building is home to the largest concentration of scientists, doctors and nurses in Europe. With around 300 scientists and 400 clinicians and operational staff, we practice ‘team science’, working together to ultimately deliver clinical trials covering the full extent of the patient pathway, from prevention and novel treatments to living with and beyond cancer.
Key to the integration of discovery and translational research is our proximity to the Christie Hospital. We are located on the Christie site and the Paterson Building is directly linked to the rest of the hospital by a bridge. This connection accelerates the collection and processing of patient samples and access to clinical trials, further driving progress in personalised medicine.
Tissue and blood samples from patients can now be transferred from research labs to the clinic in a matter of minutes. Some teams from the Christie are also based alongside us in the Paterson and Oglesby Buildings facilitating interactions.
As an Institute, we have clinician scientists who undertake clinical sessions with patients every week at the Christie Hospital. Our strengths in blood cancer research, for example, is enhanced by this reciprocal relationship between scientist, clinical staff and patient.
Having different groups all around us – who tackle different parts of immune-oncology and different aspects of the biology of blood cancer – really is essential for our work.
Mark Williams
Institute Fellow, Leukaemia Immunology and Transplantation | Honorary Consultant in Haematology, Christie NHS Foundation Trust
Collaborations
Research excellence at the Cancer Research UK Manchester Institute is enhanced by its collaborations; these bring together internationally renowned scientists and clinicians that advance our scientific programme.
Being at the heart of the Manchester Cancer Research Centre (MCRC), we have strong links with its founding partners that integrate cancer research across Manchester. CRUK MI has access to the MCRC Biobank, which collects and stores human samples from cancer patients across Greater Manchester and the Manchester Experimental Cancer Medicine Centre, with which the Institute is affiliated.
The considerable synergy between basic and clinical research teams at the Institute and The Christie NHS Foundation Trust (the largest cancer centre in Europe) facilitates rapid translation of fundamental research findings into patient benefit.
The CRUK Manchester Institute is a partner in the CRUK Centre of Excellence for Lung Cancer and is a key part of the Belfast-Manchester Movember Centre of Excellence for Prostate Cancer. We are also a partner of the CRUK and EPSRC Cancer Imaging Centre at Cambridge and Manchester and a partner in the NIHR Biomedical Research Centre in Manchester, where Professor Caroline Dive is Theme Lead for Cancer Precision Medicine.
The CRUK National Biomarker Centre was opened in 2023, having spun out from the CRUK Manchester Institute based Cancer Biomarker Centre, an enterprise that began here over 20 years ago. They remain fully aligned with the Institute and continue to collaborate on biomarker projects with our basic discovery scientists. NBC Director Caroline Dive jointly leads the Small Cell Lung Cancer Biology group at the Institute.
Our Partners in Manchester
Our vision for world leading cancer research in the heart of Manchester
We are a leading cancer research institute within The University of Manchester, spanning the whole spectrum of cancer research – from investigating the molecular and cellular basis of cancer, to translational research and the development of therapeutics.
Our collaborations
Bringing together internationally renowned scientists and clinicians
Scientific Advisory Board
Supported by an international Scientific Advisory Board
Institute Life
We strive to make our community a welcoming, caring and enthusiastic one, fuelling ambition with opportunities for training and mentoring to help us all achieve our personal and professional goals.
“We are so pleased to have received the funding to enable us to test our hypothesis in the lab. If we can create a new medicine that can precisely target a specific type of cell within the tumour, and restore anti-cancer immune responses, this will be a game-changer for oesophageal cancer patients “
Sara Valpione
Former Institute Clinical Fellow and now Clinician in Residence within the CRUK National Biomarker Centre
“My charity bake sales – known as “David’s Great British Bake Off” – are always a hit, home baked products taste so much better than shop bought and are greatly appreciated by staff!”
David Jenkins
Purchasing Officer
“The Paterson Building is an amazing place to work, and already it is clear that its design is helping to promote interactions, which was something we all very much hoped would happen”
Caroline Wilkinson
Chief Operating Officer
“We’ve seen some remarkable responses, with an improvement for some patients within days. This is an early phase trial so there’s a lot more work to do. But the data we have so far is very encouraging and could help many thousands of people in the future”
Tim Somervaille
Senior Group Leader
“We are so pleased to have received the funding to enable us to test our hypothesis in the lab. If we can create a new medicine that can precisely target a specific type of cell within the tumour, and restore anti-cancer immune responses, this will be a game-changer for oesophageal cancer patients “
Sara Valpione
Former Institute Clinical Fellow and now Clinician in Residence within the CRUK National Biomarker Centre
“My charity bake sales – known as “David’s Great British Bake Off” – are always a hit, home baked products taste so much better than shop bought and are greatly appreciated by staff!”
David Jenkins
Purchasing Officer
“The Paterson Building is an amazing place to work, and already it is clear that its design is helping to promote interactions, which was something we all very much hoped would happen”
Caroline Wilkinson
Chief Operating Officer
“We’ve seen some remarkable responses, with an improvement for some patients within days. This is an early phase trial so there’s a lot more work to do. But the data we have so far is very encouraging and could help many thousands of people in the future”
Tim Somervaille
Senior Group Leader