Deutsche Bank employee giving day to support new blood cancer therapy lab
Melanie May | 18 September 2018 | News
Deutsche Bank is inviting its UK employees to donate a day’s salary this month to help fund a new Therapy Acceleration Laboratory at the University of Oxford, which will drive the development of new personalised blood cancer therapies.
During Blood Cancer Awareness Month, on 27 September Deutsche Bank employees across the UK will be invited to donate a day’s salary to its two UK Charities of the Year, Cure Leukaemia and Rays of Sunshine Children’s Charity, through the bank’s ‘One Day’ initiative, which sees donations matched by the bank.
2016 and 2017 saw Deutsche Bank’s One Day annual fundraising campaigns raise almost £2m for its Charities of the Year.
For Cure Leukaemia, the funds raised will help finance the new Therapy Acceleration Laboratory at the University of Oxford. Led by Professor Paresh Vyas at the MRC Weatherall Institute of Molecular Medicine in Oxford, the Laboratory will apply the latest scientific and computational analysis to blood cancer samples collected from patients treated through the national clinical trials network that is led by the Centre for Clinical Haematology at Birmingham’s Queen Elizabeth Hospital.
Professor Vyas said:
“Using detailed genetic analysis, we are now in a position to understand what causes blood cancer in patients. This Therapy Acceleration Laboratory will analyse samples from a large population of acute myeloid leukaemia patients to identify those who will benefit from specific therapies. Importantly, this will also ensure those who will not benefit are directed to treatments that will work for them, effectively personalising treatment for the disease.”
“We cannot expect the NHS to fund this field of research, so we are reliant on the generous support of corporate partners such as Deutsche Bank through Cure Leukaemia to make these vital strides in our understanding of blood cancer. In ten years, the treatment of blood cancer could be unrecognisable to today but that will only happen through investment of this kind. What a legacy this would be for Deutsche Bank to have been the catalyst for the revolution in the treatment of blood cancer.”
Paul Anderson, Head of Deutsche Bank Birmingham said:
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“It is incredibly exciting that Deutsche Bank has the opportunity to directly help change how blood cancer is treated across the world. I know there are other areas aside from fundraising where the skillset of staff within the bank will be valuable to the success of this project. Put simply, the more engagement we have during ‘One Day’ the greater the impact on the lives of blood cancer patients today and in the future.”
Main image: The MRC Weatherall Institute of Molecular Medicine where the laboratory will be located. Credit: Martin Phelps
About Melanie May
Melanie May is a journalist and copywriter specialising in writing both for and about the charity and marketing services sectors since 2001. She can be reached via thepurplepim.com.