How small or large donations can help in cancer fight

£1 to £50 -A donation of £10 buys enough glass slides for a scientist to examine 300 tumour samples down a microscope. Studying tumour samples in minute detail could reveal new causes of cancer or new ways to treat it. The ‘hub’ of a cell that contains all the genetic information – the ‘nucleus’ - is much smaller than the width of a human hair. (A donation of just £1 buys 30, £2 buys 60, £4 buys 120 etc.) - Every day the Cancer Research UK scientists use lots of different chemicals as part of their groundbreaking work and some of them can be harmful. Around £22.50 is enough to kit them out with a lab coat and a pair of safety specs to protect them. (Around £45 kits out two scientists etc.) - Cancer Research UK scientists grow cancer cells in the lab to help them understand how the disease develops and find new ways to treat it. £33 buys around 250 special sterile dishes to grow the cells in and keep them healthy, helping answer fundamental research questions that could lead to the breakthrough discoveries of tomorrow. (£1 buys 8, £2 buys 16, £4 buys 32 etc.) - Cancer Research UK Cancer Information Nurses never stop learning. That way they can answer as many questions as possible that people have about cancer. £40 buys a key textbook to keep them up-to-date on cancer medicine.

-Scientists have to keep cancer cells and tumour samples at a very chilly minus 80°C to preserve precious material like DNA. That’s colder than the average temperature of the Antarctic! Most plastic cracks at this temperature, but specially designed ‘cryotubes’ save the day and keep valuable samples safe. £45 buys over 500 of these tough little tubes. (£1 buys 11, £2 buys 22, £4 buys 44 etc.) £51 to £500 - Boiling the perfect egg without a timer is tricky and it’s the same with experiments. They need to be precisely timed to help ensure results are accurate. Around £50 buys digital timers for seven scientists to use in their research to understand cancer. (£7 buys one timer, £14 buys two timers etc.) - Just like it takes the right temperature to bake the perfect cake, scientists also need to monitor the temperature of their experiments to make sure they work properly. £54 buys 22 thermometers to help them ‘feel the heat’ and ensure their groundbreaking research to beat cancer is as precise as possible. (£2.50 buys one, £5.00 buys two, £10 buys four etc.) - Cancer Research UK’s Cancer Information Nurses never stop learning. That way they can answer as many questions as possible about cancer. £90 enables one of Cancer Research UK’s nurses to attend a study day to keep them up to speed on the latest advances in cancer medicine.

- Over 130 women are diagnosed with breast cancer every day. We’re working tirelessly to find new ways to beat the disease. £94 enables one woman to take part in a clinical trial to improve survival for post-menopausal women with early-stage breast cancer.

- Cancer Research UK’s experienced Cancer Information Nurses are a listening ear at the end of the telephone for anyone with concerns about cancer. £95 enables a nurse to go on a telephone helpline skills training day to ensure they provide the best support for people they speak to.

- Cancer Research UK’s experienced Cancer Information Nurses provide a confidential service for anyone with concerns about cancer. £120 pays for a trained counsellor to facilitate the nurses’ monthly clinical supervision meeting. During this time they anonymously share and discuss recent phone calls.

This will develop their skills in dealing with calls and help them cope with the emotional impact of the experiences they hear.

- Cancer Research UK’s experienced cancer information nurses are a listening ear at the end of the telephone for anyone with concerns about cancer, and around £130 could fund one of them for a day.

As Deborah Parker, a breast cancer survivor who used the helpline says: ‘They do an excellent job, you know, they’re worth their weight in gold’.

- Around £260 pays for a powerful bit of kit called a microarray, which staggeringly can examine around 40-50,000 genes in a tumour sample all in one go! Scientists use them to help figure out the differences between cancer cells and normal cells and pinpoint new targets for the treatments of tomorrow.

- £300 buys a thermostat controlled ‘water bath’ that Cancer Research UK scientists use almost every day to monitor the temperature of their experiments and ensure results are accurate. Precise experiments are vital to ensure Cancer Research UK’s groundbreaking research is reliable and leads to advances in beating cancer.

- Cancer Research UK’s experienced Cancer Information Nurses provide a confidential service for anyone with concerns about cancer. £500 could pay for a training afternoon for the whole team to help them develop skills in talking about bereavement and loss, dealing with emotionally difficult calls or talking to children and young people about cancer.

£501 to £5,000 - Imagine venturing into the Antarctic without anything to protect your hands from the freezing cold. Well that’s what it would be like for Cancer Research UK scientists retrieving valuable samples from ultra-cold freezers and liquid nitrogen tanks, if we didn’t provide them with protection! £550 helps keep the frostbite at bay for 10 of Cancer Research UK researchers by buying them each a pair of gloves. Did you know that liquid nitrogen is so cold that it boils at minus 196°C? (£55 buys one pair, £110 buys two pairs, £220 buys four pairs etc.) - Bowel cancer is the third most common cancer in the UK, with nearly 40,000 people being diagnosed in the UK every year. We’re working tirelessly to find new ways to beat it by finding new treatments. £677 enables one person to take part in a clinical trial to see if a combination of chemotherapy before and after surgery and a new drug Vectibix can save more lives from the disease. (Valid until end of May 2013).

- Cancer Research UK experienced cancer information nurses are a listening ear at the end of the phone for anyone with concerns about cancer, and £920 pays for all the services offered by one of them for one week.

- There are more than 200 different types of cancer, and we are the only charity with the knowledge and expertise to tackle them all. £2,979 could cover the basic costs for one patient to take part in a clinical trial to improve treatment for head and neck cancer. The trial is testing if a new way of delivering radiotherapy can help reduce hearing loss, a common side effect of treatment, improving the lives of people with the disease.

- Just like freezing food at home keeps it fresher for longer, freezing cancer cells and tumour samples preserves them. But to preserve precious material like DNA we need to keep it at a very chilly -80°C – that’s colder than the average temperature in the Antarctic! £4,000 buys a freezer to keep these samples ‘super-cold’ and of the best quality to use in Cancer Research UK research to beat cancer.

£5,001 to £50,000 - Scientists can grow cancer cells in the lab. In fact, growing them in sterile conditions is a cornerstone of research to beat cancer. £6,000 buys a special safety cabinet to enable scientists to keep their valuable cells safe from infection.

- Rhabdomyosarcoma is a rare type of children’s cancer. It costs £16,900 to run a whole year of a study looking for molecules important in driving tumour growth. This could lead to better treatments and more children surviving the disease in the future. (It costs around £1,400 for one month, etc.) • Cancer Chat is a moderated discussion forum open to anyone affected by cancer to discuss any aspect of disease, from symptoms and treatment, to living with cancer, in a safe environment. £19,250 is the cost of moderating the Cancer Chat forum for 1 year.

- Cancer Chat is Cancer Research UK’s online discussion forum where people affected by cancer can share information and experiences with someone who’s been there. £23,000 could cover the technical costs of running Cancer Chat for 1 year.

- CancerHelp UK receives 10 million visitors a year, helping people to find clear and concise information on more than 95% of cancer diagnosed in the UK. £31,000 could pay for the technical costs of CancerHelp UK for 1 year.

- To study cancer cells and tissues in detail, scientists need to separate out their individual components, such as DNA or proteins, by spinning them at extremely high speeds. £40,000 buys an ‘ultra-speed centrifuge’ - a vital piece of kit to help scientists understand why cancer develops and find new ways to treat it. These centrifuges can subject samples to 2,000,000 times the force of gravity!

- Cancer Research UK’s experienced cancer information nurses are a listening ear at the end of the phone for anyone with concerns about cancer, and £48,000 pays for all the services and expertise of one cancer information nurse for a year.

- Every week almost 100 people will lose their lives to bladder cancer. We are working tirelessly to find new ways to treat it. It costs around £48,400 for six months of a large clinical trial finding out if a drug called celecoxib can help stop bladder cancer returning after treatment. It costs around £97,000 for a year.

£50,001 to £millions - Rhabdomyosarcoma is a type of children’s cancer. It costs £61,200 to run four years of a study looking for molecules important in driving tumCancer Research UK growth. This could lead to improved treatments and more children surviving the disease in the future. (Ends Dec 2012) - Cancer Research UK’s world-class London Research Institute (LRI) is a hub of groundbreaking research, where scientists are working tirelessly in the lab to understand how and why cancer develops. It costs around £91,000 to run a lab at the LRI for a month. Research at the LRI could reveal new ways to tackle cancer and make vital progress to beat it.

- Cancer Research UK’s world-class Cambridge Research Institute (CRI) is a hub of groundbreaking research, where scientists are working tirelessly in the lab to understand why cancer develops and translate their findings into new treatments in the clinic. It costs around £91,000 to run a lab at the CRI for a month. Research at the CRI could reveal new ways to tackle cancer and make vital progress to beat it.

- Before drugs can be given to people with cancer, scientists need to work out the best way to give them – in tablets, capsules or injections. It costs £163,000 to run Cancer Research UK’s Strathclyde Formulation Unit in Glasgow for six months, a dedicated unit working to find out if the promising new drug discoveries can become the drug treatments of the future.

- Radiotherapy helps save more lives every year than chemotherapy. It costs £177,000 to run one year of two large clinical trials looking at new ways of giving radiotherapy for breast cancer. The trials will find out if these treatment methods are as effective as current treatments and if they have fewer long-term side effects, which could make a real difference to the lives of women with breast cancer.

- Cancer Research UK’s experienced cancer information nurses are a listening ear at the end of the phone for anyone with concerns about cancer, and £480,000 pays for this vital service for a year.

- cancerhelp.cancerresearchuk.org is Cancer Research UK’s award-winning patient information website, provides clear, comprehensive and trustworthy information for anyone affected by cancer. It costs £539,000 to run this vital resource for a year.

- Cancer Research UK’s world-class London Research Institute (LRI) is a hub of groundbreaking research, where scientists are working tirelessly in the lab to understand how and why cancer develops.

It costs around £545,000 to run a lab at the LRI for six months. Research at the LRI could reveal new ways to tackle cancer and make vital progress to beat it.

- Cancer Research UK’s world-class Cambridge Research Institute (CRI) is a hub of groundbreaking research, where scientists are working tirelessly in the lab to understand why cancer develops and translate their findings into new treatments in the clinic. It costs around £546,000 to run a lab at the CRI for six months. Research at the CRI could reveal new ways to tackle cancer and make vital progress to beat it.

- Over 130 women are diagnosed with breast cancer every day. We’re working tirelessly to find new ways to beat the disease by finding new ways to treat it. £580,000 pays for one year of a large programme of research looking for new drugs to treat breast cancers that are resistant to other treatments. Finding effective new treatments is crucial to help more women beat the disease.

- Cancer Research UK’s world-class London Research Institute (LRI) is a hub of groundbreaking research, where scientists are working tirelessly in the lab to understand how and why cancer develops.

It costs around £1.1 million to run a lab at the LRI for a year. Research at the LRI could reveal new ways to tackle cancer and make vital progress to beat it.

-Cancer Research UK’s world-class Cambridge Research Institute (CRI) is a hub of groundbreaking research, where scientists are working tirelessly in the lab to understand why cancer develops and translate their findings into new treatments in the clinic. It costs around £1.1 million to run a lab at the CRI for a year. Research at the CRI could reveal new ways to tackle cancer and make vital progress to beat it.