A state-of-the-art research laboratory has been built in Aintree University Hospital to improve care for cancer patients.
The lab will focus on multiple cancers, but mainly head and neck. Merseyside and Cheshire have the highest rates of head and neck cancer in England.
The £130,000 facility has been funded by the hospital and the University of Liverpool with additional money from the Johnson Foundation
It will allow researchers who are based within the university to collect and prepare samples on site, which is considered essential for specific projects.
The new laboratory will act as a satellite lab, allowing researchers based at the university to be nearer to the patients they are studying.
Catherine Beardshaw, chief executive of Aintree University Hospital, said: “Aintree’s staff deliver some of the best outcomes in the world for the treatment of head and neck cancers.
“We are delighted to be able to support this new facility, along with the University and the Johnson Foundation, because it demonstrates our commitment to research and development and to improving the health of our local population.”
Researchers from the Institute of Transnational Medicine’s specialist research group for head and neck cancer will be using the lab.
Such cancers are rare but numerous, and include mouth and tongue cancer or rarer forms of the disease which affect the nose or sinuses. The lab will also host researchers specialising in liver cancer.