Exciting breakthroughs that have happened in treatment of some major cancers have not happened in LMS or most other rare cancers, where funding is extremely limited. Approximately 1,000 people are diagnosed with LMS annually in the UK. There are no obvious effective drug choices and 5 year survival rates of 45% have remained unchanged for decades. Lack of funding - and poor understanding of the variability of LMS and its biology - are major obstacles to the development of tests and new drugs.

We know one reason cancer can be so difficult to treat is that it is so complex and genetically diverse, allowing it to adapt and evolve. Our team holds tissue samples and clinical data from years of research, making one of the largest collections of LMS patient tissue and data sets worldwide. With the latest analytical techniques and AI, we have a unique opportunity to use this vast resource to help us better understand the biology of LMS to develop new therapies and combination treatments.