The University of Southampton’s campaign to build a new center dedicated to cancer immunology research has just £1m to go before hitting its target.

The Centre for Cancer Immunology is the first of its kind in the UK and will bring together world-leading cancer scientists under one roof and enable interdisciplinary teams to expand clinical trials and develop lifesaving drugs.

The University launched a £25m campaign in 2015 to build the Centre and has now reached £24m.

The campaign has been fully funded through philanthropic donations and community fundraising.

Professor Tim Elliott, Director of the Centre for Cancer Immunology, said: “We are thrilled to have reached the £24m mark and we are hugely grateful to everyone who has contributed so far. It has taken a lot of hard work by a lot of people to reach this brilliant milestone. Although we still have some way to go, it is very exciting to be within touching distance of our new Centre being a reality.”

Immunotherapy is a revolutionary treatment, supercharging the body’s natural defenses to find and destroy cancer. For decades, Southampton scientists have made a number of advances in tumor immunology and immunotherapy research with a reputation for its ‘bench to bedside’ results.

The new treatments being developed by Southampton scientists, in the form of vaccines and antibodies, direct special immune cells against cancers. These ‘killer’ cells can control and shrink cancer and give long-lasting protection. The University is developing treatments to target some of the most aggressive forms of the disease, including cancers of the lung and skin and childhood neuroblastoma.