Introduction to the Cambridge Research Institute

The Institute's location on the Cambridge Biomedical Campus, to the south of Cambridge, and its membership of many collaborative initiatives are vital in helping us to achieve our goals.

The Cambridge Biomedical Campus is home to Addenbrooke's Hospital, the University of Cambridge teaching hospital, and many of our collaborating institutes, including the MRC Laboratory for Molecular Biology, the Hutchison/MRC Research Centre, the Strangeways Research Laboratories for Genetic Epidemiology and the Cambridge Institute for Medical Research. In the wider Cambridge area we also have extensive links with the Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute, and the European Bioinformatics Institute.

The CRI is also a member of the Organisation of European Cancer Institutes (OECI).

Institute funding

The CRI is core funded by Cancer Research UK, which allows our researchers to focus on answering challenging research questions. In addition group leaders apply for grants from external funding agencies to support their work, and around 50% of our PhD students and postdocs are externally funded.

In addition, the CRI contributes to many of the collaborative centres and initiatives that Cancer Research UK helps to support, including the Cambridge Biomedical Research Centre, the Experimental Cancer Medicine Centre, and the Cambridge Centre for Pancreas Cancer.

Cambridge Cancer Centre

The CRI is a key member of the Cambridge Cancer Centre a partnership between the University of Cambridge, Cancer Research UK, Cambridge University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust and Cambridge University Health Partners. The aim of the centre is to bring together researchers in biology, medicine, maths, physics, chemistry and biology, as well as clinicians and pharmaceutical companies from across the Cambridge region, whose research as implications for the prevention, detection or treatment of cancer. A key focus of the centre is translating the work done in Cambridge laboratories into benefits for patients in the clinic.

Institute management

The Institute Director is Professor Sir Bruce Ponder. Professor Ponder is group leader of the genetic susceptibility to cancer laboratory, and is responsible for fostering multi-disciplinary relationships between the CRI, University of Cambridge and Addenbrooke's Hospital, and directing the Institute's research strategy.

The Institute Deputy Director is Professor Fiona Watt. Professor Watt is group leader of the epithelial cell biology laboratory, and also leads a research group at the Wellcome Trust Centre for Stem Cell Research where she is also Deputy Director.

The CRI's Director of Operations is Dr John Wells. Dr Wells is responsible for the operational management of the Institute, including the operating plan and budget and CRI committees. In addition Dr Wells is the main link between the CRI and other Cancer Research UK central departments.