Funds raised by men who grow moustaches for Movember have helped to set up a new centre for prostate cancer research.

Prostate cancer is the most common cancer in men, affecting around 250,000 men in the UK. Movember is a global movement that challenges men to grow moustaches during November, to spark conversation and raise funds for men’s health programmes.

The London Movember Centre of Excellence, which is being launched today, is a collaboration between the Institute of Cancer Research, Imperial College London and UCL, funded by the Movember Foundation and Prostate Cancer UK. It brings together scientists from different disciplines to work on ways to improve the lives of men with prostate cancer.

The overall focus of the centre is to redefine and personalise the care given to men with prostate cancer. Researchers will search for genetic and cellular signatures that can be used to identify men at high risk of aggressive disease, and those that can be used to enable appropriate selection and modulation of therapies at late stage disease. Such information would help doctors choose the best treatment for each patient and avoid over-treatment of men with low-risk disease. The centre aims to begin testing new therapies and diagnostic tools in clinical trials within five years.

The centre will also support the career development of future leaders in prostate cancer research through a strong emphasis on training.

Movember and Prostate Cancer UK are investing a total of £10 million over five years in the London centre and a second centre based in Belfast and Manchester.

Professor Charlotte Bevan, from the Department of Surgery and Cancer at Imperial, said: “The Centre will enable scientists and clinicians from each of the three partner institutes to work together to really make an impact. It is a great vision that Movember and Prostate Cancer UK have, to bring together complementary expertise to expedite results and change for patients and we are excited about being part of it.”

The London centre’s launch is taking place at the Royal Geographical Society in South Kensington. It follows a three-day conference at the same venue, Androgens 2014, where scientists from around the world have been presenting research on male hormones and their roles in cancer, reproductive health and ageing. The conference was opened by Professor Alice Gast, the new President of Imperial.

Photo: Joe Dunckley/Flickr (CC BY-NC-SA 2.0)