Monmouth Rotary’s ‘Walk the Wye’ event to be held in May should enable the total raised for specialist breast cancer research at Velindre to top £100,000 in the ten years the event has been running.

Professor Barret-Lee, Director of Research, attended last week’s rotary meeting to update the members on the difference the money was making. The money has helped to fund Clinical Fellowships for young surgeons or oncologists who are looking for new ways to identify the type of breast cancer and treatment for it. There are five main types of breast cancer but each of these may have many subsets so it is important to recognise these and seek tailored treatment.

One of the main advances has enabled cancer cells to be cultured in 3D structures instead of using a single flat layer such a dish. Testing for new drugs is much improved as one which may be effective in killing the single layer may not work on a 3D structure which is more like the human body.

The department is also working on a new programme with Dr Rachel Butler who has been awarded an MBE for services to the development of Genomics in Wales and across the UK to identify which genes have mutated to cause a cancer in old tumours and why a patient has had the cancer return. They are looking at the gene mutation and does this relate to the returned cancer?

Professor Barret-Lee’s vision for the future is there will be a reduced need for surgery with more effective targeted treatment with drugs and microwaves.

After his talk, Monmouth Rotary President Sandra Davey presented a cheque for £10,960, the money raised from this year’s walk. Professor Barret-Lee thanked rotary for their continued support and especially all those walkers who take part and help to fund this ground-breaking research.

The 2018 walk event will be run on Sunday 13th May 2018. For further information please visit www.walkthewye.com