Do your bit to help world-class research
FEBRUARY 11 is International Day of Women and Girls in Science and we want to remind everyone in Wales of the inspirational women working tirelessly to discover how we can prevent breast cancer, save lives, and help people to live well with this disease.
At Breast Cancer Now, women affected by breast cancer have shared with our nurses how they have at times felt forgotten during the Covid-19 pandemic with postponed breast screenings, cancelled surgeries and difficulties accessing in-person healthcare. But patients have always been at the forefront of the minds of Breast Cancer Now’s researchers.
The pandemic put a lot of vital medical research on hold and many of our funded scientists faced months unable to carry out new experiments. While our labs are now open, the first wave of the pandemic saw our funded researchers lose around 230,000 hours of laboratory research.
But our researchers won’t give up. They know science can bring hope even in the bleakest of times – the creation of the Covid-19 vaccine showed us all what can be achieved.
Many parties help make medical breakthroughs happen including industry, government and charities. Often charity funded researchers will undertake vital early-stage discovery research in the lab, and as with most developments the creation of the Covid-19 vaccine was built on research supported by charities and generous fundraising from their supporters.
At Breast Cancer Now we are steered by world-class research and fund some of the brightest minds in breast cancer research across the UK and Ireland.
Professor Awen Gallimore at Cardiff University is working to improve immunotherapies to successfully treat breast cancer. Awen and her team are investigating how we can persuade the immune system to recognise and destroy breast cancer, and specifically which immune cells are the best at fighting cancer.
Awen is just one of the incredible female researchers who are carrying out research that could save lives. But we can’t continue to make this world-class research happen without your support.
We are calling on readers to donate to Breast Cancer Now and help us continue our research. For more information visit https:// breastcancernow.org/research