It is predicted that over 1 in 3 of us will develop cancer during our lifetime and that it will be the cause of death for almost a quarter of the population. Cancer research at the University of Birmingham is playing a major role in the global effort to transform these statistics within a generation.
Our research relies on a balance of cutting-edge scientific methodologies and a deep clinical understanding of the diseases we are trying to treat. Our outstanding laboratory facilities and close links with the NHS support this. We constantly see our research being directly translated into clinical treatments meaning we are working towards finding a cure for cancer everyday.
We have particular strengths in leukaemia and lymphoma, paediatric cancer, urological cancers, pancreatic cancer, brain tumours and cancers of the gastrointestinal tract.
Our internationally-renowned scientific teams have expertise in the most innovative and cutting-edge techniques, including cancer genetics and genomics in the fields of sequencing and DNA damage; cancer cell biology and signalling in treatment and screening; viral oncology across the globe and the potential for vaccination; biomarkers and structural biology to inform new diagnostic and prognostic markers in treatment; and cancer epidemiology to understand the long-term population effects of cancer.
Our understanding of cancer biology and how this leads to the development of new treatments is improving at an impressive rate and it is vital that we maintain this momentum. Undergraduates entering the University are now the first generation to have a very realistic hope of witnessing the control of this disease.