Research Programme

Orchid's Pioneering, World-Class Research Programme

Orchid funds clinical and scientific medical research to ensure a better quality of life for all men affected by male specific cancers. We aim to ensure the best treatments are available to all men by making the results of our research widely accessible to enable treatment with minimum side effects.

Our research programme has identified new ways to treat male cancers and improved our understanding of how these cancers behave. Since Orchid was founded in 1996, we have invested over £16 million in exceptional projects that are reviewed and approved by an eminent independent Scientific Advisory Board. Orchid's integrated research consists of three collaborative groups working on four tightly focused programmes of research:

i) molecular biology and cancer genetics, (the genetic mechanisms and development of cells)
ii) histopathology (the study of tissue appearance involved in cancer)
iii) cancer epidemiology (the study of risk factors involved in cancer development) and
iv) clinical trials (to improve treatment).

How collaborative, integrated research makes a difference

The Orchid-funded research teams have pioneered a unique way of working collaboratively which has since become a standard way of working in cancer research. This integrated and translational approach to tackling cancer helps to ensure that discoveries in the lab are translated to patient care in the hospital as swiftly possible.

St Bartholomew's Hospital

Orchid's research is based at St Bartholomew's Hospital (Bart's), located in Smithfield in the City of London. Bart's was founded in 1123 and is the oldest hospital in England. The results of the 2008 Research Assessment Exercise (RAE), published in December 2008, confirmed Bart's and The London as one of the UK's leading medical schools for the quality of its research. Orchid's researchers are based at St Bartholomew's Hospital ensuring that discoveries made in the lab are swiftly translated into patient care. Orchid's clinicians and scientists collaborate closely with major UK and international cancer charities and organisations including: Cancer Research UK, Medical Research Council, National Cancer Research Institute, Guys, University College Hospital and Cambridge University, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, New York, the Cleveland Clinic, Secondary Military Medical University, China and Zhejiang University Medical College, China.