Liverpool-based North West Cancer Research (NWCR), incorporating Clatterbridge Cancer Research, is joining forces with the University of Liverpool and moving its offices to the former Roy Castle Centre on the city’s London Road.

NWCR, whose last round of research grants totaled almost £1million, will remain fully independent but its chairman Michael Potts believes that the closer link with the University of Liverpool will raise the charity’s profile among leading businesses and academics and bring it closer to world-class research scientists.

He said: “Moving into such a historic and well known building will better position us not just with the university but with the business community and wider public. It also means we become part of the city’s burgeoning knowledge quarter and will benefit by association not just with the University of Liverpool but with Liverpool John Moores University, The Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine, the new Royal Liverpool University Teaching Hospital and the planned bio-campus and science parks. This is exactly the environment in which we belong.”

Professor Ian Greer, provost and executive pro-vice-chancellor for the Faculty of Health and Life Sciences at the University of Liverpool, added: “The centre will provide a hub for research into the causes and treatment of cancer, making inroads into our understanding of disease and how to tackle it.

“It will enable the translation of breakthroughs into real patient benefit, by working closely with the world class facilities at the university, and with the region’s trusts to develop new treatments and therapeutic targets. We will also develop outreach and educational activities with Liverpool City Council and the public, aimed at prevention and awareness.”

NWCR operates over 20 fundraising committees throughout the North West including at: Chester, Warrington, Frodsham, Hartford, Kelsall, Neston, and South Cheshire.

If you would like to join a committee to help raise vital funds for research in the North West please call NWCR on 0151 709 2919.