The Reason

How your donations will help.

The money raised by Future Dreams will help Breakthrough Breast Cancer fund its world class research including the work of Professor Clare Isacke, Deputy Director of the Breakthrough Research Centre and Team Leader of the Molecular Cell Biology Laboratory.

Professor Clare Isacke: “When the opportunity to join the Breakthrough Research Centre came up, it was everything I wanted: a top class research institute with direct links to the cancer hospital that is just next door, and a much more focused approach to one disease.”

Preventing breast cancer spreading and saving lives

Of the 1,000 women who die from breast cancer every month in the UK, the overwhelming majority die as a result of their cancer spreading away from the breast. A secondary tumour forms when cancerous cells from the primary tumour migrate into the blood system and subsequently establish themselves elsewhere in the body. Once the cancer has spread, it becomes extremely difficult to treat.

Professor Isacke and her team are investigating how some cancer cells develop the ability to spread away from the breast. Understanding these processes in minute detail is necessary for developing new methods to prevent breast cancer from spreading and in doing so, increase the likelihood that women will survive this disease. Ultimately, if we are able to stop the spread of breast cancers, more women could be successfully treated through surgery alone.

What your money can buy

Here are some examples of how your support could help Professor Isacke and her team carry out their vital work:

In a laboratory, breast cancer cells are grown in a special pink liquid called nutrient broth, which provides them with nutrients they need to grow.

£60 buys enough nutrient broth to keep cells alive in the laboratory for 3 months enabling scientists to continue studying the molecular mechanisms at work

When scientists are doing their experiments, they carefully prepare all the ingredients they need using a ‘pipette’ – a scientist’s best friend!

£125 buys a pipette for measuring exact amounts of solutions.

To study all the thousands of different proteins in breast cancer cells, scientists use a special gel, which separates them out according to their size.

£600 would by the equipment and specialised gels needed to examine proteins during experiments.

Scientists often want to study cells’ DNA, to do this they need to use a centrifuge – a crucial piece of equipment which scientists use on a daily basis in a wide range of different experiments.

A small, bench-top centrifuge costs around £2,500 and they play a central role in all our research work.

Scientists grow breast cancer cells in an incubator set at body temperature.

£4,000 buys a specialist incubator that is vital for growing these cells.

£16,000 buys enough specialist chemicals and essential equipment to fund a Breakthrough scientist’s work for a whole year.

£22,000 pays the salary of a PhD student in the Molecular Cell Biology laboratory. PHD Studentships at the Breakthrough Research Centre attract the brightest, most inspiring individuals from around the world – they are the future of breast cancer research.

About Breakthrough

Breakthrough Breast Cancer is the UK’s leading charity committed to fighting breast cancer through research, campaigning and education.

One in nine women will develop breast cancer at some point in their lifetime. Whether it be mothers, sisters, daughters, friends or those who love them, the disease directly affects far too many of us.

The work of Breakthrough Breast Cancer – funding scientific research; campaigning for improvements in access to diagnosis, treatment and care; and promoting breast awareness and breast screening to encourage early diagnosis – aims to fulfil a vision of a future free from the fear of breast cancer for everyone.

To find out more about this vital work please visit www.breakthrough.org.uk (Charity No. 1062636).