The International Alliance for Cancer Early Detection (ACED) is an international partnership established in 2019. The partnership is worth approximately £50m with members including Cancer Research UK, Dana Farber Cancer Institute, The University of Manchester, the German Cancer Research Center (DKFZ), University College London, Knight Cancer Institute at OHSU and The University of Cambridge.
ACED exists as a multinational collaborative to unite world-leading researchers across disciplines, centres and countries to tackle the biggest challenges in cancer early detection.
As ACED continues to grow and accelerate translation of research to patient benefit, we're seeking new members to further partnership and collaboration.
Contact us to discuss partnering and collaborationView our transformative research portfolio
Our research activity is focussed around four strategic research themes that capitalise on members’ unique strengths and expertise:
immunology
inequalities
inherited cancers
interception
Our research-supporting infrastructural initiatives are designed to enable, optimise and catalyse research and collaborations within the Alliance, including:
patient cohorts and bioresource
research design unit
biomarker validation platform
Training and development are also critical focus areas, with significant investment in developing the next generation of early detection researchers. We offer a range of opportunities for the early detection community, such as:
PhD studentships
Pathway Awards (early career fellowships)
Skills Exchange (travel awards)
Early Detection Training Programme
Educational resources
Patient and public involvement and engagement (PPIE) is a core part of all ACED activity – from research design to translation and clinical application, with key activity including:
PPIE champions for all research themes
PPIE representation on the ACED executive board
These partnerships allow us to accelerate research by uniting world leading centres of excellence in early detection and bringing together cutting-edge research, expertise and resources to tackle the biggest challenges at scale.
Cancer Research UK funds research seeking insights across all types of cancer and encourages multidisciplinary collaboration throughout the research community. Early detection is a core objective of Cancer Research UK’s research strategy with the ambition to accelerate progress so that 3 in 4 patients survive cancer by 2034.
Member Centre Director: Catherine Elliott
For over 75 years, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute has supported a range of cancer research, including basic science, clinical trials, population health studies, and community engagement. It is the largest National Cancer Institute-designated Comprehensive Cancer Center, working alongside six other Harvard-affiliated institutions to train the next generation of doctors and scientists.
Member Centre Director: Tim Rebbeck
Manchester's expertise spans risk prediction, hereditary cancers and tissue models, population health, and molecular biology. Research focusses include cancer development from pre-cancerous cells to early stages and approaches to tackling inequalities via novel approaches in community and primary care settings.
Member Centre Director: Robert Bristow
The German Cancer Research Center (Deutsches Krebsforschungszentrum, DKFZ) is the largest biomedical research institute in Germany with research spanning the entire translational continuum. Prevention is a major strategic focus of DKFZ, with the National Cancer Prevention Center combining high-level prevention research, education and training, and outreach and policy advice.
Member Centre Director: Michael Baumann
UCL combines expertise on computational and data infrastructure, deeply phenotyped cancer cohorts and world-class imaging science to integrate imaging and non-imaging early detection approaches.
Member Centre Director: Mark Emberton
The Knight Cancer Institute at OHSU and The Cancer Early Detection Advanced Research Center's (CEDAR) mission is to detect and stop lethal cancers at the earliest stage. The team of over 180 researchers places an emphasis on collaboration, helping gain international recognition for work in single-cell analysis, biofabrication, and proteomics.
Member Centre Director: Sadik Esener
Cambridge's multidisciplinary experts innovate in earlier cancer detection and intervention using deeply phenotyped clinical cohorts built up over many years. The Cambridge Centre has created a longitudinal bioresource of data and samples from pre-symptomatic individuals, and accelerated the translation of prediction and detection algorithms, assays and devices.
Member Centre Director: Rebecca Fitzgerald
The new partnerships with the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and the German Cancer Research Centre bring vital expertise and resources to accelerate research, as well as helping the Alliance to broaden its research community and raise its international profile.
The emergence of liquid biopsies is a step forward for the future of cancer early detection, but what biomarkers should we be looking for? Evie Fitzsimons, a PhD student at the UCL Cancer Institute, says that part of the answer to this huge question could be in our immune system.
Meet four inspiring ACED PhD students carrying out research that could transform how we diagnose cancer in the future.
If you're interested in hearing more about ACED, have a question about funding opportunities or would like to discuss partnerships, we'd love to hear from you.
Contact us to discuss partnering and collaboration