The Christie Charity
The Manchester Cancer Research Centre (MCRC) was set up in 2006 by three partners: The University of Manchester, Cancer Research UK and The Christie NHS Foundation Trust.
Since its creation, we have widened our reach to drive forward cancer research in other NHS trusts within Greater Manchester and to link with other cancer-specific funding bodies. Our current Director is Professor Rob Bristow.
The MCRC is a unique collaboration that brings together the expertise, vision and resources of its partner organisations, all of which have formidable individual reputations in the field of cancer research. International cooperation with institutions in China, Australasia, North America and Europe enhances our strategic ambition to be one of the top translational cancer research centres in the world.
The MCRC creates the integrated approach essential to progress changes in patient diagnosis and care within the NHS, and important prevention and early detection research, through the Greater Manchester Cancer Plan. This covers an area of over 3 million people.
Building upon Manchester’s strong cancer research heritage, we provide outstanding facilities where scientists, doctors, nurses, and other health professional researchers can work closely together. In 2015, we opened a new building for MCRC researchers – providing space for clinical and laboratory research in an environment that encourages collaboration.
Our ‘Collaborative Town Hall’ meetings allow ambitious Mancunian ideas to be pump-primed within a cooperative approach to cancer research.
Vision and strategy
Our vision is to be a world-leading comprehensive centre for translational cancer research – transforming the clinical care of cancer patients by developing and implementing an integrated personalised medicine strategy.
We harness the power of basic and discovery research from the Cancer Research UK Manchester Institute, the wider scientific community at The University of Manchester, including the chemical and physical sciences, as well as the clinical research taking place within the NHS.
The MCRC brings together researchers with diverse interests across a range of specialisms. Our ‘Team Science’ approach is focused on enabling multidisciplinary groups to collaborate towards a shared goal – building upon excellence in basic and translational research to improve patient outcomes.
Our research within the MCRC includes multiple disease site groups and has programmes linked to a range of themes. Some of this work is enabled through externally funded research centres and networks.
Key to the vision of the Manchester Cancer Research Centre as a world-class cancer research centre is the availability of a large quantity of high quality biological samples for research purposes. The MCRC Biobank has been set-up to collect human samples from cancer patients in the Greater Manchester area and is fully licensed by the Human Tissue Authority.
