Paterson Institute for Cancer Research
The Paterson Institute is an internationally renowned centre for cancer research which is supported by major core funding from Cancer Research UK (CR-UK). The Paterson Institute is an integral part of the oncology centre at The Christie- a specialist cancer hospital serving the North West of England - and is part of The University of Manchester. It supports a number of investigative programmes, spanning both basic and translational cancer research. It has excellent laboratory facilities and outstanding core services, including microarrays, confocal microscopy, bioinformatics, histology, and access to mass-spectrometry based proteomics.
The Institute comprises over 250 postdoctoral scientists, clinical fellows, scientific officers, operational and technical staff, postgraduate research students and visiting fellows. It houses both CR-UK core-funded groups and other research activities that are part of The School of Cancer and Enabling Sciences. The groups are working on many aspects of cancer research spanning basic biology through to translational and clinical research, and there is considerable synergy and interaction between the groups.
Basic research programmes fall into three main categories: abnormal growth, including proliferation, cell division and replication, apoptosis, DNA repair and cell signalling; tumour microenvironment, including angiogenesis and immunology; and stem cell research, including haematopoietic and breast and prostate stem cell biology. There are also very active translational and clinical research programmes including genito-urinary cancer, immunotherapy, antibody- targeted therapy, and pre-clinical and early clinical development of new anti-cancer therapies (the CR-UK Clinical and Experimental Pharmacology Group). The translational and clinical research groups benefit immensely from being on the The Christie site which facilitates inter-disciplinary research. One example of the latter is the strong programme involving the clinical research facilities in the Clinical Trials Unit which was opened in 2010, which co-ordinates clinical trial activity within The Christie, and the Clinical and Experimental Pharmacology group which is core-funded by CR-UK, but which also has significant funding from the pharmaceutical industry to develop new anti-cancer therapies.
An essential resource underpinning all the basic and translational research is a range of core service facilities which are at the cutting edge of technology. The Paterson Institute has invested heavily in such facilities, and has a first rate Molecular Biology Core Facility which incorporates a national CR-UK Affymetrix microarray service, and a state-of-the art Proteomics service. The Institute also provides Flow Cytometry and Histology services, and an Advanced Imaging Facility which is dedicated to the development and application of advanced visualisation, computation and simulation technologies to support research throughout the Institute.
The Institute considers education of research and clinical scientists to be a major investment in the future generation of cancer research scientists. It has an active programme of post-graduate studies coordinated through the School of Cancer & Enabling Sciences at The University of Manchester. The Paterson Institute provides first rate postgraduate students and clinical research fellows the opportunity to study for cancer-related M.Phil., M.D. or Ph.D. degrees through a training programme that aims to improve effectiveness in research, provide professional and management skills and enhance career development.
