About us

The National Institute for Health Research Biomedical Research Centre for cancer is a partnership between The Royal Marsden and The Institute of Cancer Research. The partnership supports innovative translational research, taking leading-edge cancer research from the laboratory and rapidly translating it into a clinical setting.

Facilities and infrastructure at our Biomedical Research Centre — About the BRC

The Royal Marsden and The Institute of Cancer Research (ICR) carry out groundbreaking work on the latest cancer treatments and technologies. Together the two organisations are ranked in the top four centres for cancer research and treatment worldwide, and form the only Biomedical Research Centre (BRC) dedicated specifically to cancer.

Cancer is a complex disease. There are more than 200 types of cancer and the same type of cancer can differ between patients as individual cancers can carry their own molecular footprint.

The BRC's goal is to increase cure rates and improve survival with smarter, kinder treatments which significantly reduce immediate and long-term side effects and allow patients to live well with and beyond cancer.

The BRC aims to:

- Prevent cancers from developing by identifying people most at risk of the disease

- Detect cancer earlier and more accurately to make cure more possible

- Tackle the enormous complexity and unpredictable nature of cancer

- Deal with the ability of cancers to adapt and evolve within the patient and in response to treatment

The BRC delivers this leading-edge research through its world-class facilities in Chelsea and Sutton, home to a critical mass of experienced internationally renowned clinicians and biomedical scientists.