New myeloma research centre launches at Imperial

The Hugh and Josseline Langmuir Centre for Myeloma Research has launched at the College’s Hammersmith Hospital Campus.

The Hugh and Josseline Langmuir Centre for Myeloma Research aims to consolidate and intensify research into multiple myeloma, a type of bone marrow cancer. In 2019, Imperial College London received a £10 million gift from benefactors Hugh and Josseline Langmuir to establish the centre, which has now celebrated its formal launch at the College’s Hammersmith Hospital Campus.  

Despite considerable progress in the understanding of its biology and improved treatment options, multiple myeloma remains an incurable cancer. The establishment of the Hugh and Josseline Langmuir Centre for Myeloma Research at Imperial provides an unprecedented opportunity to consolidate, expand and intensify the College’s research in this area. 

The mission of the Centre is to perform basic and applied research into multiple myeloma and collaborate with other academic and industry-based centres and laboratories with interest in myeloma research and cancer in general, across the College, UK, and internationally. The Centre will also provide research training to clinicians and scientists, as well as opportunities for community engagement, interacting with and educating patients, their families, and patient groups. 

Pursuit of new treatments 

Professor Tassos Karadimitris the Director of the Hugh and Josseline Langmuir Centre for Myeloma Research said: "This opening was a momentous day for me and my colleagues, marking the official opening of the Hugh and Josseline Langmuir Centre for Myeloma Research.  

“Our ambition is to make the Centre a physical and spiritual home for researchers studying the biology of multiple myeloma in pursuit of new treatments that will improve the outlook of this incurable blood cancer and eventually cure it. We will forever be grateful to Hugh and Josseline Langmuir and their family for their most generous support.” 

World-leading centre 

Imperial’s Centre for Haematology at the College’s Hammersmith Hospital Campus is one of the world’s leading diagnostic and treatment centres for blood disorders. It brings together researchers and clinicians to deliver fundamental, translational and clinical research programmes encompassing all aspects of haematology – including myeloma. 

The Centre was one of the first hospital teams in Europe to perform a stem cell transplant using donor cells, and the first centre in Europe to perform successful unrelated donor bone marrow transplant for aplastic anaemia and chronic myeloid leukaemia. 

Imperial’s lab-based myeloma research programme is led by three principal investigators – Professor Tasso Karadimitris, Dr Aristeidis Chaidos and Dr Holger Auner – and is home to ten full time clinical and scientific staff dedicated to myeloma research. This newly launched centre will provide a focal point for this activity, allowing Imperial to consolidate and grow research into this devastating disease. 

Through its proximity to Imperial’s White City Campus, which co-locates academics, global companies and emerging businesses, the Centre will drive collaborations with researchers in fields such as genomics, bioinformatics and drug discovery, as well as with multidisciplinary groups, startup companies and corporate partners.