Thursday 9 January 2003
HRH The Princess Royal, Chancellor of The University of London, officially opened The Institute’s most exciting new development, the Brookes Lawley Building, on 9th January 2003.
The splendid new Building cost £21.2 million and was funded by the Wellcome Trust and Higher Education Funding Council for England through their Scientific Research Investment Fund schemes and by The Wolfson Foundation, as well as The Institute. Other donations for this building were also received from the Kirby Lang Foundation and the PF Charitable Trust.
The new scientific initiatives based in the Brookes Lawley Building relate to the Cancer Genome Project which was conceived by Professor Mike Stratton and Institute colleagues around 4 years ago. They outlined a bold strategy to search for novel cancer genes using the sequence of the human genome. The Project is already proving to be hugely successful at the Wellcome Sanger Institute in Hinxton, Cambridge and our scientists will continue to collaborate with them on future initiatives.
The availability of the complete sequence of the human genome means that we will see an outpouring of information on the genetic basis of cancer over the next few years. In fact during the next 5 years, the Cancer Genome Project at the Sanger Institute expects to perform around 50 million experiments on dozens of normal and tumour DNA samples searching for changes in genes; deletions, amplifications and point mutations.
Named after former Institute scientists Peter Brookes and Philip Lawley who in 1964 were responsible for discovering that DNA malfunction is the basic cause of cancer, it will integrate 200 scientists from different Institute research groups bringing together a whole spectrum of scientific expertise:
- Section of Cancer Genetics (identification of cancer genes),
- Section of Epidemiology (identification of the causes of cancer, monitoring cancer screening programmes, improving current treatment methods),
- Section of Molecular Carcinogenisis (research into environmental causes of cancer) and the Section of Paediatric Oncology (research into childhood cancers) have already moved into the building.
- Haematology (laboratory and clinical research into cancers of the blood, e.g., leukaemias)
The Building was completed by architects Feilden & Mawson. It covers 8,045m2 and replaces three Victorian buildings. The two laboratory wings and 200-seat lecture theatre are separated by a central atrium which is designed to serve as both a meeting area and a refectory.
This building is a great step towards The Institute’s goal of consolidating its Sutton laboratories in one part of the campus. This will help to ensure that the scientists will interact closely ultimately speeding up the process of finding new treatments and therapies.
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For more information, please contact:
The Institute of Cancer Research
Tel: 0207 970 6056
fax: 020 7970 6093
Out of hours: 0778 842 7856
Notes to editors
- HRH The Princess Royal opened the Brookes Lawley Building in her capacity as Chancellor of the University of London, since The Institute of Cancer Research is an Associate Institution of the University of London.
Please note:
Unfortunately the press office are unable to answer queries from the general public. For general cancer information please refer to The Institute's cancer information page.