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1CREATE THE CHANGE

In 2012, Cancer Research UK took on its most ambitious fundraising challenge yet: to raise £100 million in four years through philanthropic donations. We called our campaign ‘Create The Change’, because its purpose was to fund the building of a facility that would break the mould for scientific enquiry, and transform outcomes for cancer patients across the world.

Four years later, the success of this campaign has helped establish one of the world’s leading biomedical research institutes, the Francis Crick Institute. Under director Sir Paul Nurse, 1,500 talented scientists representing a vast spectrum of disciplines will collaborate at the Crick on the study and treatment of the world’s major diseases, including cancer, Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s, heart disease, stroke, diabetes and infectious diseases such as HIV and malaria.

The Francis Crick Institute is a visionary collaboration between six of the world’s leading medical research organisations: Cancer Research UK; the Medical Research Council; Wellcome; UCL (University College London); King’s College London; and Imperial College London. £100 million of Cancer Research UK’s £160 million contribution to the £650 million capital cost of the Crick was the only funding to be raised through philanthropic donations.

This publication celebrates the collaborations that made all of this possible: philanthropists, scientists and fundraisers all working together to create the change.

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SIR HARPAL S KUMAR

C ancer is a global problem. It cannot be solved unless we encourage

forward-thinking collaboration of great complexity, across organisations and across international borders. That’s why Cancer Research UK joined forces with five partner organisations to establish the Francis Crick Institute as a new UK-based, international hub for biomedical research. A project of this ambition depends on all parties putting individual agendas to one side. I’m very proud that Cancer Research UK was at the foundation of and is at the heart of this endeavour.

Our four-year-long Create The Change campaign – fuelled by the incredible energy and commitment of chairman Charles Manby and his fellow Campaign Board members – has been our most ambitious and successful

CEO, CANCER RESEARCH UK

fundraising drive to date. I want to take this opportunity to add my personal thanks to everyone who made it possible: the staff and volunteers, the organisers of fundraising events both great and small, and above all the generous philanthropists who gave unstintingly to help us reach our goal and make the Crick a reality.

For Cancer Research UK, the Crick represents an unrivalled opportunity to transform outcomes for cancer patients across the world. We firmly believe that the Crick, with its focus on creative, young scientists operating as part of a cross-disciplinary, international web of researchers, is the future of biomedical discovery research. In the pages that follow, you’ll get a glimpse of this exciting new approach and the role it plays

in breaking down barriers between scientific fields. And you’ll meet a few of the young scientists who will carry the baton into the future – as well as the world-renowned figures who are their champions and mentors.

You’ll also get a chance to relive some of the high points of Create The Change: a campaign that has only increased our appetite for fundraising challenges, just as it has strengthened our commitment to bringing forward the day when all cancers are cured. Because although the Crick represents a huge leap forwards, our work is far from over if we are to achieve our goal of three in four people surviving cancer by 2034. We are enormously grateful for everything you’ve done to help us get this far. I hope we can count on your support as the journey continues. ●

The Crick represents an unrivalled opportunity to transform outcomes

for cancer patients across the world

LETTER FROM THE CEO

of lab benches

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funds raised in total

was the biggest donation – from HSBC Group

(Cancer Research UK’s largest ever gift)

In total, theyran 62,300 miles(that’s further thanLondon to Tokyo)

people ran the LondonMarathon for CRUK in2015 – including 10 ofCRUK’s senior leaders

was the biggest individual

donation – from thelate Dame Phyllis

Somers

They raised

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removed from site

was recycled

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7CREATE THE CHANGECREATE THE CHANGE6

THE CAMPAIGN IN NUMBERS


A FEW HIGHLIGHTS FROM OUR FUNDRAISING CAMPAIGN

WINDSOR CASTLEOn 13th November 2014, HRH The Duke of Gloucester and HRH Princess Alexandra, Joint Presidents of Cancer Research UK, hosted a gala dinner at Windsor Castle on behalf of the Charity. Donors and supporters gathered to celebrate the progress of the Create The Change campaign and hear about the progress of construction at the Francis Crick Institute – made possible by their generous philanthropy.

RIGHT Former CRUK chairman, Michael Pragnell speaking at the Windsor eventBELOW Joint president of CRUK HRH Princess AlexandraBELOW RIGHT Former CRUK chairman Michael Pragnell with joint president of CRUK HRH The Duke of Gloucester

SEBASTIAN COE FOUNDATIONLord Sebastian Coe and his Foundation are on track to raise over half a million pounds for the Francis Crick Institute through a range of fundraising events including a dinner and live auction at the St Pancras Renaissance Hotel, a polo match at The Royal County of Berkshire Polo Club, and ‘In Conversation with William Hague’ at the Shangri-La Hotel in the Shard, to name a few. Partners Strutt & Parker have played

BELOW LEFT Polo players at the Sebastian Coe Foundation’s charitable polo matchBELOW Spectators enjoying the polo at the Royal County of Berkshire Polo Club

a vital role in the total amount raised, and are currently on track to raise over £300,000 through a range of fundraising activities including a staff Three Peaks challenge and a Christmas Carol Concert.

ABOVE Lord Coe with winners of the Sebastian Coe Foundation charitable polo matchRIGHT Lord Sebastian Coe with Lord William Hague at the ‘In conversation with William Hague’ event

FOREIGN SISTERSFounded in 2007, Foreign Sisters UK is a fundraising committee which exists to increase the awareness and international standing of Cancer Research UK, and to support the outstanding and vital work of its scientists and doctors. Their famous annual luncheons are attended by women from over 60 countries based or living in London. For their 10th anniversary dinner, an elegant evening at Banqueting House sponsored by Dior, the Sisters made Create The Change their focus, taking their total raised in support of the Crick to £967,000 (and counting).

ABOVE 2016 Foreign Sisters committee at Banqueting HouseRIGHT 2015 Foreign Sisters committee at the Royal Opera House


LONDON MARATHONIn 2015, with your help CRUK became the most successful marathon fundraising team to date, raising £3.6m. Extra thanks to board member, and Ted Baker-founder, Ray Kelvin for dressing our runners and putting forward a great fundraising team along with fellow board member Inderneel Singh, whose Edwardian Hotels team raised £31,000 and Sir Martin Sorrell whose WPP team raised £25,000. Ten of CRUK’s directors, including CEO Sir Harpal Kumar, ran the marathon.

MAY FAIR BALLA truly magical evening of glamour, fundraising and fine dining, the annual May Fair Ball held in aid of CRUK and the Francis Crick Institute has been the highlight of a partnership between Edwardian Hotels London and CRUK. Combined, the 2015 and 2016 balls have raised over £600,000 for the Francis Crick Institute. The Ball is hosted by Create The Change Campaign board member Inderneel Singh.

RIGHT Jasminder SinghFAR RIGHT Create The Change Board member Inderneel Singh

A Business Leaders team was fronted by Governor of the Bank of England, Mark Carney, who raced against other high-profile individuals including Jayne-Anne Gadhia, CEO of Virgin Money. 15 teams from companies including Amazon, Google, Goldman Sachs and 21st Century Fox also raced against one another in the ‘Corporate Challenge’, with a fundraising target of £50,000 per team. Special mention should go to Goldman Sachs for hitting that target ten times over, with a final total of more than £500,000.

RIGHT Runners in their ‘Ted Baker for CRUK’ running jacketsBELOW CEO Harpal Kumar after running the marathon along with 10 of CRUK’s directors

CAMPAIGN DIARYCAMPAIGN DIARY

ABOVE DNA sculptures on display at Christie’sBELOW Acrobats performing as human DNA at King’s CrossBOTTOM RIGHT Create The Change campaign board member Andrew Pisker

FAR RIGHT Guy Weston, Chairman of the Garfield Weston Foundation with campaign chairman Charles ManbyBELOW RIGHT Kindra Crick, Francis Crick’s granddaughter with friends at the auction

DNA SCULPTURE AUCTIONOne of the highlights of summer 2015 was an art installation of 21 double-helix sculptures across London. Each sculpture was decorated by an artist, designer or celebrity in response to the brief, ‘What’s in your DNA?’. The sculptures were designed by notable figures such as Ai Wei Wei, the late Zaha Hadid and Orla Kiely. On 30th September, some of the sculptures were auctioned at Christie’s. In addition to the 10 lots auctioned on the night, an online auction was launched featuring donated works by prominent artists. The auctions raised a total of £360,000 for the Create The Change Campaign.


vertical. But the story of the building and of the Crick led me to these ideas – that you work from an assumption and build upwards and upwards.”

The metaphor is obvious in the sculpture’s teetering design: discovery requires risk, and taking those risks requires thinking tangentially, cooperating, and standing on previous discoveries even though they might seem too fragile to hold firm. It’s also in the title, taken from philosopher Thomas Kuhn’s concept of the ‘paradigm shift’ – the idea that science, and indeed the world, sometimes changes through seismic shifts in thinking.

The material from which Paradigm is forged tells a different side of the story. This copper-impregnated steel is weathered in appearance by the atmosphere, taking on a colourful, rusty patina that references the area’s rich industrial heritage. So, in its own way, Paradigm is literally coloured by London – reflecting the fact that this world-class biomedical research facility, working for the benefit not just of the UK but the whole world, is also committed to belonging in its local King’s Cross community.

To Sir Paul Nurse, director of the Crick, Paradigm conceptualises the way the institute operates: developing an idea, building from a small beginning to a big idea, but always aware that the whole thing could collapse.

“It reminds us that we have to always be self-critical and sceptical,” says Nurse. “That if you put just one more fact on top of your idea, maybe the whole structure collapses”. ●

S tanding sentinel before the entrance to the Francis Crick Institute is

a 14-metre-tall sculpture made of weathering steel. Erupting from the pavement, a base just one metre wide bears on it a slightly larger tetrahedron – a triangular-based pyramid – jutting at an angle in imperfect geometry. The latter shape holds another, 10 per cent larger again, and so forth, like a lopsided helix unsteadily reaching for the sky, until the crowning pyramid: a somewhat worrisome tetrahedron seven metres wide, towering one and a half stories above the King’s Cross street.

“If you added another to the top,” artist Conrad Shawcross, the creator of this bold new London icon, says calmly, “it would collapse.”

Don’t worry: it won’t. Beneath the paving stones, Paradigm, as Shawcross’s piece is called, descends more than 20 metres in cement, keeping it well anchored no matter what may come. The sculpture was chosen after a demanding series of competitions and commissioned by Wellcome, one of the founding partners of the Crick and an organisation well known for its interest in the crossover between science and contemporary art. And that sense of precariousness is one reason Paradigm was chosen. It’s an acknowledgement that the institute embodies the sense of wonder in scientific pursuit, and that such wonder is based not on absolutes, but on adventurous curiosity.

“I want it to be slightly apocalyptic,” says Shawcross. “The sculpture is partially a formal response to the Crick’s building and its concave façade, and we felt it needed to be totemic and

PARADIGM SHIFT

Paradigm is one of the tallest public sculptures in central London at an imposing 14 metres high, comprised of a twisting stack of tetrahedral blocks made of weathering steel

AN ICON FOR THE CRICK – AND FOR LONDON


CUTTING-EDGE SCIENCE REQUIRES SERIOUS EQUIPMENT. AS WELL AS MANY OF ITS BEST AND BRIGHTEST SCIENTISTS, THE FRANCIS CRICK INSTITUTE WILL HOUSE SOME OF THE WORLD’S MOST ADVANCED TECHNOLOGY.

R esearchers at the Francis Crick Institute know the importance of studying the tiniest building

blocks of the human body – from individual carbohydrates and strands of DNA to the molecules that make up our proteins. By tracking the interactions between these all-but-invisible particles, scientists can learn how cancer cells are misbehaving at the most minute and delicate level. Understanding these differences may help us find ways in which cancer can be stopped. But in order to analyse those tiny interactions you need big technology – very big.

The institute is home to one of the three largest Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR) spectrometers in the country, located in the Crick’s basement as part of the Medical Research Council’s new Biomedical NMR Centre. The Crick’s NMR spectrometer is a lesson in scale: its magnet alone weighs 7.5 tonnes, the same as an eight-metre lorry. Yet its subject matter is the most minute particles in the body – it can ‘see’ objects just a few millionths of a millimetre in diameter, giving Crick scientists the ability to observe samples at a molecular level. That means, for example, that researchers studying how cancer cells use energy can identify the tiniest of nutrients inside cells, detail the behaviour of HIV or ‘watch’ the pathogen that causes tuberculosis. The facility will act as a national NMR centre, supporting researchers based at more than a dozen other universities and institutes across the UK.

It was quite an operation to manoeuvre a piece of kit so big and so valuable into its new home in the depths of the Crick’s basement. The magnet that is at the heart of the giant NMR spectrometer is incredibly sensitive to vibrations, so a special concrete platform and four pneumatic dampers had to be built to protect it from the tube trains rattling through nearby St Pancras. Once in place, the spectrometer went through a delicate commissioning process, which involved cooling the magnet to an astounding -271 degrees

Celsius using liquid helium and then energising the superconducting magnet to achieve a stable magnetic field. Fully energised, the magnet should run for 25 years or more without the need for any external power input – as long as it is kept at the temperature of liquid helium.

Getting this precision instrument relocated and up and running at the Crick involved many people across the organisation. Dr Tom Frenkiel, head of the MRC NMR Centre, said: “Moving the 950 MHz NMR spectrometer has been a masterclass in how challenges can arise at short notice but can be overcome by the enthusiasm, optimism and combined effort of staff from across the Crick. It’s a huge relief to see it in place at the Crick Lab.”

Now that the heavy lifting has been done, the exciting work of the NMR facility within the Crick can begin. It’s the perfect marriage of intuition and precision: a collaboration between humans and machines that broadens the horizons for medical research. Dr Frankiel is eager to continue his research in his new surroundings. “It’s wonderful to be here in the building, collaborating with the different teams at the Crick. We are excited to get to work!” ●

The 950 MHz spectrometer is located in the Crick’s basement as part of the new Biomedical NMR Centre

MIGHTY MACHINES,MOLECULAR INSIGHTS

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The Francis Crick Institute has instantly become a part of the

fabric of London. Its iconic building, its location in the new scientific hub of King’s Cross, its commitment to excellence: the Crick does London and the UK proud.

And at the same time, the Crick opened as part of an international scientific community that – like the diseases it seeks to cure – knows no boundaries. The Crick’s researchers come from the four corners of the map and the work they do will impact everyone: not only is their research part of an international network, the young scientists trained at the Crick will, one day, take their knowledge and skills back to the four corners of the earth, bringing the institute’s creativity and forward-looking methods to institutes everywhere.

Just like its researchers, the funding raised for the Crick by Create The Change has come from around the world – proving that the future of philanthropy is just as global as the future of biomedical research. Led by Michael Geoghegan, the international element of our fundraising campaign has created valuable collaborations between the Crick, CRUK and philanthropic partners the world over.

THE NEW YORK TIMESUSA

One highlight of our international fundraising efforts came in November 2015, when Mark Thompson (CEO & President of the New York Times Company) hosted a dinner at the New York Times offices for the Create The Change campaign. Sir Paul Nurse spoke to a room of distinguished guests about the Francis Crick Institute, with supporting speeches from Sir Harpal Kumar and Mark Thompson. Guest of honour was Francis Crick’s Nobel Prize-winning collaborator James Watson.

THE SULIMAN S OLAYAN FOUNDATIONSAUDI ARABIA

The Saudi-based Suliman S Olayan Foundation has generously pledged to support the Create The Change campaign. This gift is recognised in the naming of the Suliman S Olayan Meeting Room, which will support the world-class research taking place at the Institute by providing scientists with valuable space to collaborate and discuss their research with their peers.

KUOK GROUP FOUNDATIONHONG KONG

One of the Crick’s most generous benefactors, the Kuok Group Foundation has given its name to a whole laboratory quadrant. This facility is home to a multi-disciplinary group of scientists, including Professor Charles Swanton’s team and their groundbreaking research into lung cancer.

SILK RIBBONSHONG KONG

The Silk Ribbons initiative aims to strengthen the ties between Hong Kong and the Crick, primarily by bringing Hong Kong-based postdoctoral researchers to work at the institute for a period, to take their studies into new areas, and then return to Hong Kong.“We are most willing and enthusiastic about partnering to create an international network of research excellence.”Professor Paul TamProvost and Deputy Vice-Chancellor, Li Shu-Pui Professor and Chair of Paediatric SurgeryThe University of Hong Kong

GREAT FESTIVAL OF CREATIVITYCHINA

In March 2015, the Crick’s David Roblin took the Create The Change message to Shanghai, where he showcased the Crick to an international audience at the GREAT Festival of Creativity alongside NHS England, British Airways and Prince William. His message – about the Crick’s emphasis on collaboration, and how this will translate into medical benefits for patients around the globe – was enthusiastically received by the Chinese and international delegates. The trip was also an opportunity for Cancer Research UK to establish relationships with Chinese business people, researchers and doctors, as well as philanthropic individuals and corporations from China and beyond with a particular interest in biomedical and translational research.

HSBC GROUPINTERNATIONALHSBC was Create The Change’s biggest donor, supporting the scientific leaders of tomorrow through a contribution of US$25 million towards the development of the Crick. This transformational collaboration between HSBC, Cancer Research UK and the Francis Crick Institute was marked by 150 PhD scholarships in HSBC’s name. Young scientists will be selected from across the world for the PhD programme.“We are very proud to support the 150 PhD students at the Francis Crick Institute. In working with the team at Cancer Research UK, it became clear that the Crick would be an environment where the best and brightest talent from all over the world would come together in new fields of research, to make groundbreaking progress in the fight against some of the most urgent health and disease issues. We hope our PhD students will be the future leaders in their field and wish them all the best in their vital work at the Crick.”Douglas Flint, HSBC Group Chairman

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MAP KEY●Home nations of

Crick researchers●Donations to

Create The Change


THE CRICK DOESN’T JUST INSPIRE COLLABORATORS – IT IS ONE


S tanding on the top-floor mezzanine suspended above the atrium of the Francis Crick Institute,

one can’t help but be struck by the view. Not the view of Camden – of St Pancras station’s taxi ranks or the bustling streets of this centre of London’s most recent renaissance. No, it’s the view within the Crick itself that draws a slight gasp, because from so many places within this slick cathedral of glass and steel, one can see everything.

Look up or down from any floor and you’ll see multiple stories of glass-paned laboratories and open-plan communal spaces; rows of rammed bookshelves and three-screen computer desks; futuristic moving walls and the bulbous, modernist silicon of the building’s theatre. And most of all, you’ll see people – floor after floor of people, visible as they work, as they meet together, as they walk the halls and stairways.

One of those people, sitting on a sofa in a communal space just a few metres from the nook that serves as his office, is Sir Paul Nurse, director of the Francis Crick Institute and a world-renowned figure in cancer research. To Nurse, the transparency built into the Crick’s architecture isn’t just a nice feature, it’s potentially a key to unlock the future of medical research. Not because a few sofas and windows will find a cure for cancer, but because every part of the Crick, from its administrative philosophy to the architecture

Collaboration, openness, interaction – they’re all built into the concept of the institute, but they’re also built into the physical structure

BUILDING

ABOVE Sir Paul Nurse, director of the Francis Crick InstituteRIGHT The multiple stories of glass-paned laboratories and open-plan communal spaces encourage people to meet and work together


of these rooms, is designed to create connections between those people walking the halls. And Sir Paul Nurse believes in building connections.

“Collaboration, openness, interaction – they’re all built into the concept of the institute, but they’re also built into the physical structure,” says Nurse. “Look at my office. No more than two people could work in there: I want people to have to come out of their offices, to mix together. This building is all about allowing that to occur.”

In biomedical research, the tradition is one of distinct silos: laboratory groups work on narrow topics of research, communicate within their fields and dwell amongst their kind. The Crick has been designed with an experiment in mind. In an age in which technology has made it possible to parse out incomprehensible amounts of data, to see the smallest of particles and track the tiniest workings of the body, is it possible to invent new ways not to find answers, but to ask questions?

“It emerged from asking, ‘if you organised it differently, would there be different outcomes?’” says Nurse. “We’re doing experiments to see how we should do experiments. It’s a sort of gentle anarchy.”

The brief given to the architects tasked with designing the Francis Crick Institute must have been challenging – and in the end, two separate architectural practices were employed. London firm PLP Architecture was brought in to create an aesthetic vision to go with global giant HOK’s initial facility design, a unique draft for the Crick’s unique needs. The Crick needed to fit into its relatively tight King’s Cross footprint and suit the local community’s desires for its neighbourhood. At the same time, it needed to unite the requirements of a broad spectrum of scientists from across the biomedical-research spectrum, merging together from the Crick’s six founding partners: the Medical Research Council, Wellcome, UCL (University College London), Imperial College London, King’s College London, and, of course, Cancer Research UK. And, walking into the Crick for the first time, it doesn’t take long to see that the plan wasn’t subtle but, in fact, a dramatic reversal of the scientific-research facility norm.

Standing in the second-floor communal area, Nurse points to a cluster of desks aligned beside the open hallway: that, he points with upturned palms, is a research group; and that next cluster of desks, with hardly a wall between, is another. It might not seem like a revolution. It is.

For a generation or more, many scientific research bodies have followed certain formulae in their architectural and administrative design. Research groups are sequestered in their own corners of the building, where they often operate behind closed doors. The group leader, in her

BUILDINGBUILDING

DESIGNING THE FUTURE: THE ARCHITECTURE OF THE FRANCIS CRICK INSTITUTE

The design deliberately ‘nudges’ inhabitants towards collaboration: the atria cross at the centre of the building to create a hub with break areas, informal collaboration space, and a large central

stair. Walkways and informal meeting areas crisscross the main atrium and connect neighbourhoods. The roof is curved to reduce the effect on local views, and the height of the building is lower

on one side to reflect the buildings it faces. Both the masonry and the distinctive vaulted roof recall features of the adjacent St Pancras International station.To reduce its visible mass, one-third of

the structure is below ground. The roof is arranged into two shells; a feature that is not simply decorative but conceals the heating and cooling units and incorporates solar panels.

Gleaming walkways cut across the space of the atrium encouraging chance encounters between scientists and new collaborations


office or lab in one corner, is removed from her own graduate-student and post-doctoral researchers, and even more removed from the lab across campus. And even if she does venture out for lunch with a colleague, it’s likely someone from a neighbouring lab with a focus only slightly different from hers.

At the Crick, all of that is turned on its head. “Here, each lab has a half-dozen labs on each side, and they’re all open,” says Nurse. “We don’t have any departments or divisions, but encourage people to work across disciplines, even extending beyond biomedical areas into physics, computing, maths. You sit down and literally a few feet away is a different group. And they’re not working on the same thing – you have to talk to people who are working on different projects.”

It’s a straightforward idea: the body doesn’t work in a compartmentalised way, so neither should scientists studying it. Knowledge begets knowledge, and sharing ideas from different educational backgrounds, nationalities and disciplines can only result in new and interesting questions. Nurse dashes over to the wall of the shared space, pushes on it and releases a catch: the wall pulls outward, revealing a three-sided whiteboard, complete with a scribbled equation from a previous impromptu meeting. Scientists

are curious creatures: if researchers have their meetings in the open, the thinking goes, enquiring minds will stop and glance, getting a taste of their neighbours’ work and interests.

Whatever their discipline, one can assume those neighbours will be the best. The Crick is organised around attracting the top young talent from around the world.

“We’re trying to attract the most accomplished and creative researchers who will set the programmatic agenda from their own creativity,” says Nurse. “In other words, we’re not a top-down institute. My job as director isn’t to say, ‘we’re going to do this,’ but to identify the right people and provide them the tools and ways of working that allow their creativity to be released.”

Because the Crick’s remit is across the biomedical and related sciences, and because the facility is built to be adaptable with its relatively ‘open-plan’ laboratories, the institute can find the best new people each time it recruits: not the best new immunotherapist or the best new cell biologist, but simply the best young scientists, regardless of specialty.

And that emphasis is on ‘young’. Nurse’s plan calls for a full two thirds or more of the institute’s 120 groups to be led by early-career researchers, boosted by another 40 highly experienced group

leaders. After one or two six-year terms, the Crick will help place those young researchers in high-quality facilities around the globe – in a way, spreading the Crick’s best practices, while always keeping fresh ideas coming. It also sets aside professional – though not scientific – competition: with no chance of tenure, and few opportunities for ladder climbing, the concentration is on doing great work and communicating with one’s colleagues.

Entering the Crick via its atrium feels like boarding the bridge of a futuristic spaceship: its vast ceilings and clear walls make it feel larger on the inside than the outside, expanding in every direction. It’s an apt metaphor to Sir Paul Nurse, that of exploration; of ‘boldly going’.

“If we were an exploration society in the 19th century, we might say we want an expedition to the Antarctic, but not which glacier should be investigated: our job would be to identify the umbrella objectives, and then to find the best explorer, equip them and nurture them to be successful. That’s what we’re doing.

“This is all connected – the theory, and the practice, and the building in which we’re trying to do it. I couldn’t really imagine doing it any other way, given this building. It dictates a certain way of operating, which I hope will long outlast me”. ●

Entering the Crick via its atrium feels like boarding the bridge of a futuristic spaceship: its vast ceilings and clear walls make it feel larger on the inside than the outside, expanding in every direction

Chance conversations between scientists have been the foundation of many meaningful discoveries throughout history. Informal meeting spaces and working areas provide the staging areas for future collaborations and breakthroughs. Open plan and communal, these areas will encourage scientists to share their thoughts and discussions with others

With 1,500 scientists and only limited meeting rooms in the building the internal Collaboration Spaces in the Crick will be key to its success – they are large, visible, informal meeting spaces where scientists can break out of the lab to discuss and debate their challenges or developments

BUILDING BUILDING


THE CRICK’S NEXT GENERATION OF SCIENTISTS


PEOPLEPEOPLE

P aola Scaffidi is new to leading her own laboratory, but she knows exactly the

environment she wants to create for her young team at the Francis Crick Institute. Scaffidi, has spent most of her career working in other scientists’ labs both as a student and as a post-doc, investigating epigenetics – the study of how cells control their gene activity patterns – in the rare childhood rapid-aging disease progeria, and then a variety of cancers while working in the USA’s National Institute of Health. It’s taught her that scientific success at the highest level requires that scientists be ‘raised’ in an environment of excellence.

“You need to be exposed to good science the first day you come in the lab,” says Scaffidi. “As a researcher, you do – so to speak – as you see at home: if you see excellence around you at all times, it makes all the difference. There are going to be great scientists coming out of the Crick because everybody around them is excellent.”

That ‘good science’ she’s talking about isn’t just dependent on the latest equipment, world-renowned researchers and projects of international importance - although the Crick’s laboratories will tick all those boxes. ‘Good science’ means getting creative, in the questions scientists ask and the way they seek the answers. These qualities are the life’s blood of the Crick and they will ensure it’s a home

not just for the best biomedical thinkers of this generation, but the best thinkers yet to come.

Youth is one of the conceptual pillars on which the Crick is built, and it’s one that Scaffidi represents: out of the 120 labs in the Crick, around 80 of them will be headed up by young group leaders like her, alongside another 40 more experienced group leaders who will double as de facto mentors. It’s not a random demographic. The Crick’s director Sir Paul Nurse, Cancer Research UK’s CEO Sir Harpal Kumar and their colleagues have steered the institute in this direction because they believe that the roadmap to successful research involves hiring and guiding young scientists at this intensely creative and hungry moment in their careers – a time when many would struggle to find a leadership position at another world-class institute, despite their brilliance.

“This is a really important part of the Crick vision,” says Sir Harpal Kumar. “Many scientists are at their most productive early in their careers – it’s not that creativity dissipates, but people become less willing to take risks and explore new avenues. The Crick must be a place for groundbreaking, fundamental discovery research that underpins everything else we’re going to do, so we need people who are going to be creative and open in their thinking. Plus, an institution

more, it works the way it should: communication and collaboration is vital to this work now.”

The broad range of knowledge and open environment of the Crick, in which different labs working on different research sit beside one another and interact openly, was key to Paola Scaffidi joining as well – and key, she believes, to the scientists she will help train in her lab.

“What my lab does is at the crossroads of three fields,” says Scaffidi, whose work on gene mis-regulation in cancer stem cells aims to slow the growth of malignant tumours. “One is stem cells; another is cancer biology; then there’s epigenetics. They’re very distinct, and we’re in the middle. At the Crick, there are people who work on all three, and we can get the most expertise in each field. By putting together the way a stem-cell biologist thinks, and the way I think, that’s where interesting ideas come from.”

Attracting the best candidates to student and post-doc positions, as well as exciting young group leaders, isn’t the end of the story: the Crick also needs to have the resources and positions to land them. Which is why the open-minded approach that goes into the Crick’s research also extends to the bureaucratic and financial systems in place to hire. Because so many different research strands are represented under one roof, the Crick has a

like this – it’s not for the next 10 years, but the next 100 years. So it has to play an important and continuing role in delivering the next, and the next and the next generations of scientists.”

First, the Crick has to attract the best of the next generation of scientists. One way to do that, it seems, is to give them a radically different environment in which to work and learn. Many traditional research institutes concentrate on a single area of expertise, gathering the best scientists they can get working on that subject. But that’s not how young scientists see the world: partially because of the new ways in which they are trained, and partially just by being members of a connected generation. Someone like Tim Van Acker sees his research as part of a bigger picture – and the Crick as the place that picture comes into focus. Post-doctoral researcher Van Acker left his home in Belgium to join Sharon Tooze’s molecular cell biology lab at the Crick, where he studies the cellular processes of pancreatic cancer. To him, it was not just a step to a higher level, but the future of medical research.

“Being in this building is like a scientist’s dream,” says Van Acker. “The technology is here, the funding is here, most importantly, the knowledge is here. Whatever you want to learn, just go up or down two flights of stairs. What’s

The Crick must be a place for groundbreaking, fundamental discovery research that underpins everything else we’re going to do, so we need people who are going to be creative and open in their thinking

PAOLA SCAFFIDI

From Italy

Field Cancer Epigenetics

Laboratory

Inspiration I was working on

the rare rapid-aging disease progeria,

and at the time there was a doctor, Leslie Gordon, whose son was diagnosed with progeria. From that

moment, she focused her entire life and career on it. And

she established the Progeria Research Foundation, which is basically a vast

collaboration between doctors, patients,

donors, geneticists, biologists – everyone.

They found the protein responsible, called Lamin A – and

it’s quite a boring protein actually,

because people knew almost everything about it; it’s been studied for a long

time. So once it was discovered that this

protein was mutated in progeria, they could

mobilise this huge amount of information

already existing, and from the moment they discovered

the mutation to the moment they started clinical trials of a drug

was just five years. So it’s a triumph of collaboration – a paradigm of how

translational research should go – but it also shows the importance

of researching basic biology: no one knew the knowledge about

this protein would become so important.

The Crick’s leaders believe that the roadmap to successful research involves hiring and guiding young scientists at this intensely creative and hungry moment in their careers

Sir Paul Nurse plans for a full two-thirds of the institute’s 120 groups to be led by young researchers, around the 40-year

mark and under

8040

EMPHASIS ON YOUTH


PEOPLEPEOPLE

From Hong Kong

Field Stem Cell and Cancer

Biology Laboratory

Inspiration The lab in which I did my post-doc,

in the Netherlands, had an impressive multidisciplinary

approach to research. They were interested in intestinal stem-cell biology: it was unclear whether these six stem

cells we all have in our intestines divide

symmetrically or asymmetrically. And it’s something that

couldn’t be explained just by looking at the biological data. In the

lab, they made a model that could trace the progenies of a stem

cell, which generated a lot of data – too

much to interpret. So to explain the data, they collaborated

with a mathematician and combined the

biological data with mathematical

modelling to develop a stochastic stem

cell model. Thanks to this process, they

determined that intestinal stem cells

divide randomly, becoming daughter

cells, or symmetrically, becoming other stem cells. It’s a very elegant

and logical way to explain a complicated

biological research question.

From Belgium

Field Molecular Biology

of Autophagy

Inspiration In chemistry class at secondary school in

Belgium they showed us a photo from 1911 of the Solvay conference

in Brussels. It’s the greatest scientists of that time, all in one

place: Albert Einstein, Frederick Lindemann, Max Planck – and then there’s Marie Curie, and she’s writing or reading

in the photo. One woman, and it looks

like she’s the only one doing any work! They

all gathered in one place to think about

what questions in physics needed to be addressed; to imagine how they could push

physics forward. I remember thinking how complicated it must’ve been at the time to get all those

people in one place so they could find a way

to collaborate.

VIVIAN LITIM VAN ACKER

These young group leaders will be reevaluated and, after about a dozen years at most, ‘spun off’ to go to other labs in their home nations or elsewhere. In doing so, the Crick will raise new generations of students and leaders able to spread the gospel of cross-disciplinary, creative, energetic research across the world

Photograph from the inaugural International Solvay Institutes for Physics and Chemistry, held in Brussels, 1911

unique potential for hiring cross-disciplinary positions. For example, a candidate contacts Paola Scaffidi about their interest in epigenetics, but also has an interest in intravital microscopy (imaging processes within a living organism). In a more traditional institute, one or the other of that candidate’s specialties may well go unused.

“But we can do a joint appointment where that post-doc is working between our lab and a microscopy lab,” says Scaffidi. “It can happen externally, too, like with a pharmaceutical lab. Then the student can act as the connection between the two. And this wouldn’t have happened before, because of the logistics and the bureaucracy.”

Vivian Li knows first-hand how important these kinds of joint appointments can be. As a student in Hong Kong, she did her PhD work in a hospital, working in a clinical lab with patients and samples from patients; later, her post-doctoral research took place in a developmental lab, separated from patient data entirely. This education led her to a vision of cancer research that combines the two – a vision she’s putting into action now that she’s a newly appointed group leader at the Crick, running a lab that studies stem cell biology.

“The students and post-docs trained at the

Crick will have an advantage,” says Li. “Being exposed to multiple different backgrounds like that – it’s a huge advantage. And we can do that because we have joint students, with clinical labs, with other projects – you need all of these kinds of knowledge.”

The Crick’s focused hiring isn’t meant to simply populate the institute with a one-time injection of youth and internationalism. These young group leaders – and, of course, the students they train – will be reevaluated and, after about a dozen years at most, ‘spun off’ to go to other labs in their home nations or elsewhere. In doing so, the Crick will raise new generations of students and leaders able to spread the gospel of cross-disciplinary, creative, energetic research across the world.

It also allows the Crick to continuously look at the way it operates and refresh its ideas with new ways of thinking from young scientists. It’s the best way forward for the Crick, and the best way of training the next generation.

“Everyone will want to come here,” says Scaffidi. “They’re enabling young scientists to focus on their research, giving us space and resources and teaching us, it’s not just about your project: here, you’ll see the bigger picture, and that makes all the difference.” ●

Being in this building is like a scientist’s dream. The technology is here, the funding is here, most importantly, the knowledge is here. Whatever you want to learn, just go up or down two flights of stairs

32 CREATE THE CHANGE 33CREATE THE CHANGE

HOW PHILANTHROPY AND SCIENCE CAN COLLABORATE TO SAVE LIVES

A CONVERSATION WITH JIM SMITH AND CHARLES MANBY


C reate The Change set out to raise an unprecedented amount of money: £100

million is by far the most ambitious fundraising campaign Cancer Research UK has ever set itself. And the recipient of this money – the Francis Crick Institute – was something unique. So how did they do it? One essential element was collaboration, the same principle that underpins everything about the Crick. Create The Change was more than a successful fundraising campaign, it was a means of bringing people from backgrounds as different as investment banking and molecular biology together for a common goal. That sense of collaboration between donors, volunteer fundraisers, staff and scientists has helped define the institute – and the horizon towards which it strives.

We sat down with Create The Change fundraising campaign chairman Charles Manby and Crick scientist Jim Smith to discuss how the campaign forged new connections between the people who made this immense effort a success.

GETTING STARTED

Charles Manby chaired the Create The Change fundraising board and is a senior partner at Goldman Sachs.

Charles Manby I received an email from a

headhunter saying Cancer Research UK was looking for someone to chair a campaign to raise funds for the Crick, but I didn’t read it properly – I thought they were looking for new trustees. So I wrote back a two-letter response: ‘OK’.

At the meeting I found out they wanted someone to chair the whole campaign, and they told me about the Crick: it’s about scientific excellence – about exploring new boundaries, and doing things in new ways. Helping fund a groundbreaking centre for excellence that’s also something for the UK – I thought, ‘somebody’s got to do it’. I had no idea if it was doable or not, but I wanted to give it a go.

Jim Smith came to the Francis Crick Institute from the Medical Research Council’s National Institute for Medical Research, where he was director. He is a senior group leader and director of research at the Crick, and his lab studies developmental biology. He worked closely on the Create The Change campaign.

Jim Smith I wasn’t previously funded by CRUK, so it wasn’t immediately obvious that I should play a role in this campaign. But I saw one of my jobs, along with Richard Treisman (Jim’s fellow director of research at the Crick, and formerly director of CRUK’s London Research Institute) as bringing our two institutions together, whether that was scientifically, socially, emotionally or fiscally. So I saw Create The Change as a way to do that for the benefit of the Crick as a whole.

‘SELLING’ THE CRICK

In giving to Create The Change, donors were expressing support not just for Cancer Research UK, but also for an exciting new understanding: that medical research doesn’t occur in a vacuum, and the next cancer breakthrough may come from a lab studying something else entirely.

CM When you talk to a donor the main message is very simple: we are building the Francis Crick Institute, and it’s going to have a massive impact on all kinds of medical research. Cancer Research UK is one of six bold partners who are all taking a risk on something dramatically new.

JS Absolutely. When I’ve shown people around, sometimes we focused on things like tuberculosis and neuroscience rather than just cancer: there’s a sense that they’re giving to the Crick and all it can do – a very important recognition that you never quite know where the breakthroughs are going to come from. The next breakthrough may come from work on bacterial immunity, or from the way in which a tadpole extends its tail. So the Crick

Helping fund a groundbreaking centre for excellence that’s also something for the UK, and for London – I thought, ‘somebody’s got to do it’

When I’ve shown people around, sometimes we focused on things like tuberculosis and neuroscience rather than just cancer: there’s a sense that they’re giving to the Crick and all it can do

Glass walls allow for views into labs, promoting transparency and openness. Unless specific functions require closed walls, labs are open to encourage interaction

Jim Smith is a Francis Crick Institute group leader and worked closely on the Create The Change campaign

IMPACTIMPACT


is focusing on basic discovery research but we’ll have this remit – as soon as we have something important that can be (translated to medical practice) we will translate it.

So the Crick is in some senses taking over the discovery research remit of the CRUK London Research Institute, but is adding to it the discovery work of the NIMR in Mill Hill, and further adding to the contributions of Wellcome and the three universities, UCL, Imperial College London and King’s College London. So this mixing up of people creates opportunities for scientists to do things that they might never have done before, and that’s what people are giving to as well.

CM People interested in the Crick are going to be intellectually curious, so your best salesperson is going to be Jim Smith, Paul Nurse, Richard Treisman, and perhaps most importantly it’s going to be our younger scientists, who were some of our biggest successes; the junior scientists. Andy Oates (leader of a cross-disciplinary lab investigating developmental biology) and Andreas Schaefer (who studies neurophysiology), for example, were fantastic in talking to potential donors at our Science Evenings – neither of them work directly on cancer.

People know they’re the beneficiaries of science, but it’s exciting for them to see what people are doing in science – this wonderful new building speaks for itself, but actually what you’re backing is the work of these young scientists. You’re backing people who are doing stuff that has a patience and longevity of approach that most people can’t imagine – certainly anybody in the City has no concept of doing something that could take 10 to 20 years. They’re thinking about what’s happening in three weeks, in three minutes for that matter. And then to meet someone who says, ‘look, it’s a long path but I’m totally confident we’re going to get there’ – that’s inspiring.

JS And we discovered that it was terrific fun! The experiences that I’ve had, whether it’s speaking at a dinner for one of our top ten donors, or to 800 CRUK staff, or to a polo club in Windsor, have really helped me understand what’s needed when you speak to people about science.

I believe that whether you’re talking to scientists, fundraisers, potential donors – you can use the same language as long as you treat

THE BUSINESS OF PHILANTHROPY

them as intelligent people and make sure that the language you use is straightforward. And, in turn, you’ll be respected for doing so. I like to think that when you speak about the science at the Crick, you can bring people into the conversation. It’s a little-understood fact that scientists are people too!

It’s not just me. All the activities we’ve undertaken with Create The Change have ‘lowered the activation energy’, to use a chemical term; they’ve convinced our scientists how important it is to undertake that sort of outreach work – whether it’s talking to schoolchildren, or at New Scientist Live. The knowledge and skills that you acquire from both inside and outside the lab can feed into each other.’

CM An acquaintance of mine working on a campaign for another charity said, ‘you’re trying to raise ten times the amount I am, but you’ve got a swanky new building’. And the building does help. But it’s also the fact that this institute is a game-changer – there’s quite a lot of national pride in that. And the idea that a scientist working on HIV should be talking to a scientist working on cancer, and that there’s stuff they can learn from one

Laboratories are furnished with the latest cutting edge equipment that Crick scientists require to undertake their research

Charles Manby with Clive Anderson and Lynsey Golding, one of the Create The Change fundraisers

In addition to his £5 million contribution toward the Create The Change campaign, billionaire financier David Harding (above) – founder of Winton Capital Management – and his foundation collaborated with Cancer Research UK to create the Big Data Conference. This annual conference provides a setting for those interested in the management, curation, ethics and understanding of so-called ‘big data’.

Biologists use big data all the time, learning from experiments that often involve tens of thousands of invisibly small moving parts, each with numerous data points to track. And while researching the workings of cancer stem cells might seem a million miles away from the financial markets, business is another realm in which big data is big news. It turns out that each has something to learn from the other.

“Because of the parallels between the data analysis that we do at Winton, and the data analysis that they do at the Crick, I thought it fitting to have our name associated with the bioinformatics effort there – the analysis of what they call ‘big data’,” says Harding. “The joint conference we set up brings together some of our research staff that work in the field of financial data, with some of their research staff.” Harding points out that the issues faced by medical researchers in dealing with data are the same as those faced in the financial world, “though of course, in bioinformatics, the consequences are far more serious.”

It’s just the kind of philanthropic collaboration that Create The Change was meant to inspire – finding mutually beneficial links between the work taking place at the Crick and what’s going on in other arenas. Those links help forge relationships between the institute and its supporters in the corporate world, whose financial support gives Cancer Research UK – and through it the Crick – a vital element of freedom.

“It’s always been critical for CRUK that we’re an independent organisation,” says Sir Harpal Kumar, CEO of Cancer Research UK. “We’re neither funded by government, nor do we have shareholders – we can take decisions purely aligned with our mission, to beat cancer. That has been vital to both the campaign, and the contribution we have made towards creating the Crick.”

IMPACTIMPACT


PHILANTHROPIC FUNDING

Cancer Research UK is the only partner

who has raised funds for the Crick through philanthropic means.

The £100 million raised was one of

the largest charitable campaigns ever in the UK, and takes CRUK’s overall commitment to building the Crick

to £160 million, with the extra £60m arising from the sale of existing research

laboratories in London.

£100m£60m

another – donors really appreciate that.Our very first Science Evening was called

Extraordinary Collaborations Uncovered. We had a CRUK scientist from Cambridge who talked about how he worked with the astronomers there on how to deal with masses of data, and then we had (former Institute of Cancer Research director and UCL professor) Robin Weiss discussing the fact that if you have HIV, you don’t get certain types of cancers: why?

JS Those kinds of collaborations are built into the design of the Crick building. When I worked in Cambridge, one of the delights was that we had the biology department, biochemistry, chemistry, physics – all right nearby. So if you had the right

connections, and liked riding a bicycle, it wasn’t long before you were collaborating with lots of different people. And that works really well as long as the communications are made as simple as possible. Here in the Crick, you just look up!

The design of the building is such that people will bump into each other – you stand in the atrium, you see someone you want to speak to, you wave and they come down, or you go up.

THE HIDDEN VALUE OF PHILANTHROPY

Of the six partners that collaborated on the Crick, CRUK was the only one that needed to raise its contribution to the budget predominantly through

philanthropic giving – which Manby and Smith believe is key to the Crick’s success.

CM The fact that we were able to raise £100 million philanthropically is, for the scientists I’ve talked to, an important mandate: they know, inherently, that what they’re doing is good and worthwhile, but the fact that we could raise that amount of money for an institute that nobody at the time had ever even heard of…

JS Before Create The Change, the MRC scientists were funded primarily through the government, so one never really had to think about fundraising. It wasn’t as true for CRUK because everyone sees them shaking the tin, but from the perspective of the scientists the visible fundraising activity made us think, ‘you can’t take scientific funding for granted – you’ve got to go out and work for it’. But more importantly, there are people who will support you. And then you have a relationship with those people.

That shared responsibility with the philanthropic donors extends beyond just the campaign; it makes me realise the responsibility we have as scientists. It increases, for me, my level of responsibility, which I think is a good thing.

CM What really unlocked support was when people saw the brilliance of the architects, both physically and spiritually, of this institute. At first some of them said “no, it’s too new, too early-stage, too complicated”. I said, “have you met Sir Paul Nurse?” You put a major potential donor on top of the Wellcome building with Paul Nurse for an hour, and they can’t help but say, “we’re in”.

SHAPING THE FUTURE OF SCIENCE – AND FUNDRAISING

Create The Change and the establishment of the Crick changes the face of Cancer Research UK, just as it points medical research towards the future.

CM For Cancer Research UK, the Crick is something very visible and very major. If you look at donations to Create The Change, in 2012 it’s set up and running, but no donor knows about it really – no one has heard of the Crick. Three years later, look at the legacies – at the end of the campaign we had legacies of over a million pounds come in: we went from an unknown project, to the point where people were saying, “I hear you’re doing the Crick, I want to give you a million pounds in memory of…”

If you are CRUK, you don’t invest this much unless you totally believe that it will work. And they do: they believe the Francis Crick Institute will revolutionise medical research. ●

These bright new labs are currently being filled with eager scientists as they migrate from their previous centres into the Crick. The scientists should be completely moved in by January 2017

IMPACTIMPACT

That shared responsibility with the philanthropic donors extends beyond just the campaign; it makes me realise the responsibility we have as scientists

40 CREATE THE CHANGE 41CREATE THE CHANGE

COMMUNITYCONNECTIONS

local housing estates. But it was just a taste of what is to come: in response to community feedback, the Crick recently commissioned the LWT to create a landscaped, wildlife-friendly garden at the Crick, for staff and residents alike. A community gardening group will give residents a continuing stake in the project.

Something even bigger has been brewing indoors. Just inside the rear

entrance to the Crick is the Living Centre – a community space operated by the Living Centre Partners, a group of Camden-based charities such as the Somers Town Community Association, Citizens Advice Camden, Hopscotch Asian Women’s Centre and many more. The Partners provide community space and an ongoing schedule of events and programmes that directly targets the needs of the people of Camden.

Perhaps most importantly, each year, the Crick will provide every one of Camden’s 27,000 schoolchildren with the opportunity to engage with the institute’s education staff and programming. And educational opportunities don’t end there. For example, the Crick’s educators have recently begun working on two collaborations with the Frank Barnes School for Deaf Children. For the Barnes School’s family day at the British Museum, the Crick’s participants had the opportunity to use UV light to find hidden sea creatures in the depths of the museum – and, in doing so, to see how fluorescence is used to track and identify cells within developing embryos.

Meanwhile, the Crick’s educators adapted their Senses workshop – which introduces young children to scientific methods – for a deaf audience. In this workshop, children use the senses of sight, touch, taste and smell to determine what is hidden in a bag.

“At the start of our Senses workshops, children often make random guesses about what the mystery object might be,” says Maria Ocampo-Hafalla, the Crick’s Education Lab Manager and Science Educator. “But as they go on, their firsthand observations help to inform their thinking. It’s fascinating to witness the evolution of their ideas, from initial random guesses to their final, often correct, prediction based on information from their investigation.” ●

F rom the beginning, being a good neighbour has been important to the

Crick. While still nothing more than a building site, the institute reached out to its neighbours in what is one of the most disadvantaged wards in the UK and asked how the Crick and its staff could contribute. Their input has helped shape the institute’s community engagement programme, which includes initiatives to help improve health and wellbeing, and science education opportunities for children living in the area.

Through a partnership between the Crick and the London Wildlife Trust (LWT) residents of Somers Town were invited to make their mark on the Crick early on. For the project, the Crick’s then-empty building site was turned into a one-season community allotment. Local residents snapped up the 100 plots, where they planted, raised and harvested vegetables, herbs and other plants. At the end of the season, the allotment beds were relocated to

CAMDEN SCHOOLCHILDREN WILL HAVE THE OPPORTUNITY TO ENGAGE

WITH THE CRICK EACH YEAR

27,000

THIS PAGE The London Wildlife Trust were commissioned to create a landscaped, wildlife-friendly garden at the Crick for staff and residents alikeOPPOSITE The Living Centre, a community space inside the Crick


ROYAL OPENING

1,500 Crick staff and researchers, and a number of high profile political figures attended the event, and we were also given the opportunity to invite 150 of our most generous supporters to celebrate this momentous occasion.

Foundation; Guy Weston, Garfield Weston Foundation; Douglas Flint, HSBC Group; Samantha Sackler Hunt, Dr Mortimer and Theresa Sackler Foundation, Hon Mrs Laura Wolfson Townsley, The Wolfson Foundation; David Dangoor, The Exilarch’s Foundation

BOTTOM, FROM L–R Charles Manby, Create The Change campaign chairman; Michael Pragnell, former chairman, CRUK; Sir Leszek Borysiewicz, incoming chairman, CRUK; Inderneel Singh, Edwardian Hotels London; David Harding, The David and Claudia Harding

The opening ceremony of the Francis Crick Institute took place on 9th November 2016, in the company of Her Majesty The Queen and His Royal Highness the Duke of Edinburgh.


1 Board member Ray Kelvin and wife Claire; 2 Board member Lee Portnoi and wife Caroline; 3 Board member David Harding; 4 Mike and Fiona Gooley; 5 Amrit and Jasminder Singh; 6 Mark and Rosemary Yallop; 7 Bill Budenberg, David Wilkinson, Harpal Kumar and board member Sherry Coutu; 8 Campaign chairman Charles Manby and his family

1

3

6

7 8

4 5

2


Gladys BarnbyStephen & Caroline ButtSir Naim Dangoor CBE &

The Exilarch’s FoundationForeign Sisters UKFreshfields Bruckhaus Deringer LLPThe Mike Gooley Trailfinders CharityDinah Lucy HainesThe David & Claudia Harding FoundationEdwardian Hotels LondonThe Kelvin FamilyKuok Group FoundationMike & Angela LynchCharles & Nicola ManbyThe Dr Mortimer &

Theresa Sackler Foundation Garfield Weston FoundationThe Wolfson Foundation2015 London Marathon Runners

Aspect Capital LimitedThe Brenninkmeijer FamilyTim & Sarah BuntingThe Capstick-Dale FoundationThe Cecil Rosen FoundationChallenge Adventure CharitiesRichard & Lucinda CormackHadyn & Joanna CunninghamCRUK Sussex FundraisersDerwent London plcIsabelle Ealet & John Corbani Beryl & Arthur ElmsElsevierLord & Lady FinkChristopher French & Ghizlan el GlaouiGonzalo & Maria GarcíaDhanraj Chatamal GidwaneyRichard & Kara GnoddeSusan & Richard Hayden The Hobson Charity ltdThe Hogs Back Brewery Charitable TrustSimon & Tracey HoldenThe J Isaacs Charitable Trust I Kirk & C Kirk

Sukhpal Singh AhluwaliaHeini Al FayedThe Alan Howard FoundationThe Altuzarra Family FundSurinder & Anita AroraAyman & Sawsan AsfariThe Ashley Charitable TrustBank of America

Charitable FoundationChris & Katrina BarterPeter BeckwithJohn Bloor, Bloor HomesAlex ChestermanCharles & Ann CottonJames & Una CrosbyPaul Deighton Irene DornerRobert Drake-BrockmanGlenn & Phyllida EarleSimon EyersMichael & Lara FaresTim FreshwaterGhadia FoundationRaghida GhandourMarc Gilly & Pilar Enrich

The Family of Philip LangsdaleJohn & Camilla LindforsRoger & Helen MatthewsPatrick & Marie McKennaDalip & Chandrika PathakAndrew Pisker & Belinda Wilson PiskerLee & Caroline PortnoiPrudential plcThe Pugh FamilyRangoonwala Foundation The Gerald Ronson Family Foundation Rosetrees TrustJoseph Schull & Anna YangPriscylla ShawMichael & Melanie Sherwood FoundationSir Martin Sorrell & Cristiana Lady Sorrell Strutt & Parker The TRS FoundationMarcel & Irina van PoeckeFelicity & Robert Waley-CohenAlasdair WarrenThe Lord Leonard & Lady Estelle Wolfson FoundationMark & Rosemary YallopVictor Yeoh SK

Avnish and Anita GoyalGreat Eagle HoldingsRobin HambroR S HoffmanLaura Howard & Dieter TurowskiMichael R JacksonAmanda & Antony JenkinsJohn Guest ltdSimran KanwarPaul & Nicolette KirkbySam & Deborah LaidlawLewis Silkin LLPWilliam W.Y. LoChristian & Cathrin LorenzenAlastair Lyons CBEMark Machin &

Melissa Mowbray-d’ArbelaFrançois-Xavier de MallmannHelle McLainJim MellonPaul MichaelsSteve Mobbs & Pauline ThomasBarbara & Jonathan MoontThe Murley FamilyNational Events Committee

Barry & Sue O’BrienPeter OppenheimerLady Palumbo of WalbrookPetra, Lana & Philip PalumboJames & Heidi ParadiseAtul Pathak OBEMichel PéretiéRami Ranger CBEJ. Timothy RichardsFranck RuimyClare Scherrer & Gary LapidusDavid SemayaMark SorrellEdward & Debbie SpeedThe Swire Charitable TrustMartin & Anne ThatcherTotteridge SocietyAnn VernauWates Family Enterprise TrustGwyneth Rosetta WaxmanWesterham Local CommitteeHumphrey WightwickWimbledon Group of Friends

HH Sheika Jawaher Bint Mohammed Al QasimiMaggie AlexanderSebastian Coe Charitable Foundation CIOThe Coutu Budenberg FamilyJohn CummingClore Duffield FoundationMichael & Jania GeogheganGoldman Sachs GivesSusan Carolyn GriffinThe John Horseman TrustICAPEashwar Viswanathan Krishnan & Tzo Tze Ang Stavros Niarchos FoundationSuliman S Olayan FoundationPeacock Charitable TrustMichael & Susan PragnellJames H ReynoldsSteve & Nina RobertsSonia StrashunThe Werth Trust

OUR DONORS

WITH SPECIAL THANKS TO THE CREATE THE CHANGE BOARD

Charles Manby, ChairmanSherry Coutu CBELord Fink of NorthwoodMichael Geoghegan CBEDavid HardingRichard HaydenMohammad Kamal SyedRay Kelvin CBEMike Lynch OBEPatrick McKennaHelena Morrissey CBELady Palumbo of WalbrookDalip PathakAndrew PiskerLee PortnoiInderneel SinghSir Martin SorrellEdward SpeedMark ThompsonMark Yallop

HSBC GroupDame Phyllis Somers DBE

We are grateful to everyone who has supported the Create The Change campaign to help establish the Francis Crick Institute. In particular we would like to thank all the major donors listed here for their generosity, as well as those who wish to remain anonymous.

48 CREATE THE CHANGE

IAIN FOULKES

The Francis Crick Institute is internationally outstanding in

terms of its scale and ambition. Within a month of its official opening, over 300 scientists from around the world have applied for the small number of new positions available right now. Over 2000 students from around the world have applied to undertake a PhD within the institute. These early indicators demonstrate the international pull the institute is already having on the very best scientists and is testament to the truly amazing facility that has been built thanks to the generosity of many donors and partners.

Knowledge is our most powerful

EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, STRATEGY AND RESEARCH FUNDING, CANCER RESEARCH UK

weapon, and thanks to the rapid development of new technologies, this is a time of exceptional opportunity. As a central hub for biomedical research, the Crick will benefit from these technologies and deliver new discoveries that change the way we understand human disease including cancer.

Over the last 40 years, cancer survival in the UK has doubled to two in four. By 2034, we want to see three in four people surviving for 10 years or more. We are determined to change outcomes for cancer patients. Bold moves, such as establishing the Crick are vital if we are to accelerate

progress. We need to challenge how research is carried as well as the nature of research that is carried out. Our latest funding scheme the £20 million Grand Challenge awards, harnesses the power of collaboration and is the only scheme in the world which brings together the world’s best scientists to tackle the greatest challenges in cancer. Like the Crick it won’t be bound by borders – working across disciplines and across national borders to change the future for people with cancer.

Now is the time to be bold, and with your continued support, the stage will be well and truly set for the next generation of cancer discoveries. ●

Knowledge is our most powerful weapon, and thanks to the rapid development of new technologies, this is a time of exceptional

opportunity

NEXT STEPS

DesignWilliam JosephCopywritingLucy Greeves and Justin HopperPhotographyPatrick Harrison: 2, 15, 21–25, 29, 33, 35, 37, 41, 45Fiona Hanson: 20Adrian Brooks/Imagewise: 42IllustrationEd Risbey: 4Marcus Freeman: 6, 14Alec Doherty: 26–31

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