Exciting New Development- Acorns to Oaks Project

As knowledge grows, so further opportunities arise and new fields of research are opened. This is so in haematology and great hopes now exist in the field of cell therapy. Sufficiently encouraged by their progress that King’s College Hospital has launched an exciting new project Acorns to Oaks. Here are the details.

THE PRESENTAcorns to Oaks
King’s College Hospital haematological department, the largest department of its size in the country has outgrown its existing facilities. Planning has now been granted for the development of a single, purpose built facility in a state of the art environment to allow the expansion and development of cell therapies for current patients and to develop the cell therapies of the future.

CELL THERAPY AND THE FUTURE
Body tissues and systems are made up of cells each programmed to perform particular functions. Unfortunately, some cells do not always function correctly, correction can be made by the cells reproducing themselves, but when this goes wrong, cancers, and degenerative diseases results.

Cell therapy is the treatment by transplantation of healthy functioning cells into patients in order to treat or replace defective cells that are causing the disease. Current targets for cell therapy are haematological malignancies including leukaemia where some transplanted cells can remove malignant cells, while simultaneously others can replace the function of missing healthy cells. In the foreseeable future other diseases amenable to cell therapy include heart failure.

Current treatments for cell failure disease which range from attempts to replace lost cell functions with drugs, medicines and in extreme situations transplantation, are far from perfect.

CELL THERAPY IN HAEMATOLOGICAL MALIGNANCIES
Cell TherapyKing’s College Hospital is home of the largest bone marrow transplant centre in the UK with over 100 transplants every year. Bone marrow is the source of all circulating blood cells, which act to convey oxygen to the tissues, fight infection, cancer and control inflammation and bleeding. Conventional bone marrow transplantation is used to replace damaged cells after therapy for blood malignancies such a leukaemia. A research programme is being implemented, based on expertise in transplants, in which peripheral blood and bone marrow can be altered to target malignant cells in the circulation, so as to fight diseased cells in leukaemia while leaving healthy cells untouched.

THE NEW CELL THERAPY SUITE
King’s will develop a Cellular Therapy Unit to integrate all its existing programmes and create a scientific and research facility appropriate to the delivery of cutting edge clinical care.

A site has been identified within the hospital for the development of this cell therapy unit. Architect’s plans have been commissioned for building with appropriate airflows and quality controls, centralised storage, washing and changing areas and a unified management.

WHO WILL BENEFIT?Patient Care
King’s College Hospital is already a major centre and the unit serves a large population at high risk of haematological diseases, with well-established clinical, scientific research programmes and academic excellence, offering specialist service to a wide population base in South East England. King’s global reputation is also ever increasing

BUILDING WORK
Work on the building is expected to commence early in 2007 with completion at the end of the same year.

THE COST
The cost of building work for the haematological suite is £1,950,000, this is being funded separately by the Hospital from grants and appeals.

Staff will mainly be existing staff in the haematological unit. The running costs will be met from the Research and Development budget of the King’s NHS Trust.

LIBRA has agreed to fund the equipping of the haematological stem cell laboratory at a cost of £249,000.

HOW YOU CAN HELP US
Anyone wishing to make a donation in support LIBRA’s funding of the Acorn to Oaks Project at the Haematology Department of King’s College Hospital may do so.

LIBRA is able to receive donations directly from members of the public, organisations or businesses:

Donations can be sent directly to our Treasurer David Richards at -

2 Grace Avenue
Maidstone
Kent
ME16 0BU

Members of the general public, who are also taxpayers, are able to take advantage of the UK Government’s decision to make payments to charity tax recoverable.

The only requirement is that you pay sufficient tax to cover the amount of tax you would have paid on the gross amount of your donation to LIBRA.

LIBRA handles the recovery of tax paid by you and does so by submitting a Gift Aid Declaration to the Inland Revenue.

Just print the certificate below, fill it in and send it with your donation. Thank you for your generosity.

GIFT AID DECLARATION

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