Future developments

There are two major new capital developments in progress which will further enhance our status as the Specialist Biomedical Research Centre for Cancer.

Paediatric cancer research

We are currently building a new paediatric unit at our hospital in Sutton. When complete, it will house four dedicated beds for Phase I clinical trials in children. Such a facility does not currently exist in the UK.

Using established links between the ICR’s Section of Cancer Therapeutics and The Royal Marsden’s Drug Development Unit, we will initiate early-Phase trials of molecularly targeted drugs in paediatric cancer with associated translational research studies.

Translational Research Centre

Following an award of capital funding from the National Institute for Health Research, detailed plans have been submitted for a Translational Research Centre at our Sutton site.

This building will be dedicated to the molecular pathology of cancer. It will house a tumour banking facility together with translational research laboratories for up to 80 staff. This will:

strengthen our capabilities in molecular profiling of human tumours
enhance our ability to determine which patients benefit from the new generation of targeted therapeutics
facilitate the discovery of novel molecules in human cancer.