Funding Supports Research into Cancer Treatment Response

Life science analytical technologies company SCIEX has donated US$17,500 to World Cancer Research Fund (WCRF) to help progress understanding of the factors affecting response to cancer treatments and how these can be best managed.

A donation of US$11,000 was made as the result of 98% participation in the annual SCIEX employee engagement survey, with an additional US$6,500 donated by parent company the Danaher Foundation. The contribution will help to fund urgently-needed research investigating the relationships between food, nutrition (including body composition) and physical activity with cancer prognosis and outcome in cancer survivors. Since 2015, SCIEX has donated more than US$30,000 (£24,068.82 GBP) to the charity.

Although increasing numbers of people are affected by cancer, the current advice on what dietary and physical activity patterns could improve their quality of life is not based on strong evidence1. One important project being funded by WCRF, aims to better understand how body composition affects cancer survival, an area fraught with methodological difficulties. Research2 being conducted by a group at the University of Manchester and led by Professor Andrew Renehan, is investigating whether elevated body mass index (BMI), measured at or after diagnosis in patients with bowel or womb cancer, is associated with reduced overall survival compared with a ‘healthy’ BMI.

“SCIEX is very proud to support organisations that promote healthcare research and discovery, community engagement and efforts toward innovative approaches to improve quality of life around the world,” said company President Inese Lowenstein. “The SCIEX vision of placing the power of life-changing answers into the hands of those who care, everywhere aligns well with WCRF’s focus around empowering the public and healthcare providers with information that could ultimately save lives.”