The Centre Scientifique de Monaco has welcomed a cheque of £10,000 from the Climbers Against Cancer. It is a generous donation that will help further the centre’s work fighting paediatric brain cancer. 

The World Health Organisation estimates that 400,000 children develop cancer each year worldwide. The most common types are leukaemia, lymphoma and brain cancer, but the causes for the development of cancer in young patients are far less known. 

CLIMBERS AGAINST CANCER 

To mark the 10th anniversary of Climbers Against Cancer’s (CAC) founding by John Ellison, who launched the association after learning he had terminal cancer, the group is this year making 10 donations of £10,000 to cancer research programmes, and the Centre Scientifique de Monaco (CSM) is among those beneficiaries.  

“We are resolutely looking to the future and our ambition is to double our fundraising,” said the CAC’s Sheila McCarron. “We want to reach even more members of the generous community of climbers and well beyond, in particular to support research, allow a better understanding of the development of cancers, [and] thus leading to greater effectiveness of treatments and the deployment of new therapeutic strategies.”  

CSM’S EFFORTS 

The CSM’s medical biology team, headed up by Dr. Vincent Picco, will use the funding to study paediatric brain cancers with a focus on the formation of tumours in children, some of whom are only a few months old. This line of research could help create a new approach and increased understanding of the disease in young people, and ultimately save lives.  

“The causes of the onset of adult cancers and paediatric cancers are radically different,” says Dr Picco. “However, children are systematically treated with techniques developed for adults, notably causing often catastrophic long-term side effects. Our team develops study models that make it possible to simulate paediatric brain cancers more faithfully in order to better understand them and develop treatments specifically adapted to the particular characteristics of these diseases.” 

In the decade since the CAC began, it has helped raise over a half million pounds for research programmes in 14 countries around the world.

The presentation of the funds took place on 19th June at the CSM in the presence of the president of the Monaco Alpine Club, Johnathan Rieth.  

Sign up for the Monaco Life newsletter. For the latest news, follow us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. 

Photo credit: Climbers Against Cancer / Centre Scientifique de Monaco