Ten years ago, Cancer Research UK took a bold decision alongside our founding partners the Medical Research Council, Wellcome, University College London, King’s College London and Imperial College London to invest in a new way of doing research. Through our Create the Change campaign, we brought together a constellation of philanthropic donors and partners to raise £100 million to help establish one of the world’s leading biomedical research institutes. 

The Francis Crick Institute’s vast presence leaves an indelible impression on everyone who walks past it. I’ll always remember my first visit: its curved roof looming over the familiar King’s Cross St Pancras surroundings – a ‘cathedral of science’, as its Nobel Prize-winning founding director and former chief executive Sir Paul Nurse memorably described it — with collaboration and innovation baked into the very fabric of the building’s design.  

Over the last decade, the institute has nurtured one of the world’s most distinguished research communities, creating innovative partnerships and spinout companies that have strengthened the UK’s position as a global research leader, helped establish the area as one of the most dynamic life sciences, tech and data clusters and is expected to generate long-term economic benefits worth around £13 billion 

As one of our flagship institutes, the Crick exemplifies some of Cancer Research UK’s most deeply held values. We have long understood that major progress against cancer starts with fundamental scientific discovery and that requires backing ambitious ideas, investing for the long term, and creating the conditions for world-leading science to flourish. 

At its heart, our shared vision was simple: we wanted to bring together exceptional people, institutions and technologies under one roof, to push the boundaries of scientific understanding – and so accelerate progress for people affected by disease like cancer.

For me, its anniversary is about more than celebrating a decade of remarkable discoveries. It’s a chance to reflect on the model of discovery science the institute represents – which is core to what we do at Cancer Research UK – and why it remains as important today as it was back then. 

A partnership to accelerate discovery 

The bold decision to merge an institute dedicated to cancer research — our own London Research Institute — with another, the Medical Research Council’s National Institute for Medical Research, whose focus was far broader — may have raised a few eyebrows at the time, but to us it was necessary. Scientific creativity is fostered at the boundaries between disciplines. 

Indeed, the more we’ve learnt about cancer, the clearer it has become that no single approach or organisation holds all the answers. As Crick researcher Professor Ilaria Malanchi recently remarked, “everyone here works on cancer, even if they don’t think of themselves as ‘cancer’ researchers.” 

Of course, since the Crick was founded, there have been profound changes in the way science itself is done. Technological advances in fields like genomics, imaging, data science and, of course, artificial intelligence have transformed the tools available for biological exploration, opening up new possibilities for discovery.  

As I’ve witnessed these advances unfold, I’ve become acutely aware of how brilliantly the Crick has been set up to navigate, and capitalise on, these trends. 

Incredible progress against cancer 

Reflecting on the progress the Crick’s scientific community has made against cancer over the last decade, several things stand out.  

• The pioneering insights into cancer evolution revealed by the group of our former chief clinician, Professor Charles Swanton, which have fundamentally changed understanding of how cancers become resistant to treatment and spread. 

• The spinning out of oncology biotech start-ups, like Myricx Bio and Artios — both rooted in Cancer Research UK-funded, Crick-based cancer science, looking to bring new treatments to people with cancer. There are now 15 Crick spinouts, attracting £2.3bn follow-on investment, along with 75 joint projects involving 37 Crick research groups and GSK, AstraZeneca and MSD. 

• How the institute has attracted, nurtured and developed the leaders of the future — for example, Professor Samra Turajlić, who joined the institute as a Cancer Research UK Clinician Scientist, before going on to become an internationally recognised leader in cancer evolution research. She now leads our Cancer Research UK Manchester Institute as its Director.