Cancer Research UK's mass spectrometer analyses patients samples helping doctors understand how their patients' cancer is responding to treatment

A new machine to help identify what sort of treatment would best suit cancer patients has been unveiled at the Cancer Research UK (CRUK) Edinburgh Centre.

The mass spectrometer can help doctors track a patient over time by analysing samples to understand how their cancer is responding, as well as helping researchers spot potential new therapeutic approaches.

Professor Margaret Frame, director at the CRUK Edinburgh Centre, said: “We have over 500 researchers at the centre, which means the demand for using our machinery is huge.

“This new, highly-efficient device will therefore make a big difference to helping us make advances in research so that more women, men and children in Scotland can survive cancer.”

Funding for the machine was partly funded by a Medical Research Council grant and a £150,000 donation from Scottish Power.

The energy company has now raised over £8 million for CRUK in the past three years. It has also donated £400,000 to fund three scientists undertaking PhDs in cancer related treatment research and one scientist researching treatments for lung cancer in Edinburgh.

ScottishPower’s head of customer communications, Julie Keough, said: “The work being undertaken at the Cancer Research UK Edinburgh Centre is incredible and we are thrilled that we can support it with our donations.

"It’s been hugely encouraging to see how this funding has helped the centre and to meet with the PhD students, who are central to the continued progress of life-saving cancer research.”