The difference you’re making
Impact Report 2023/24
2023/24 was an extraordinary year for philanthropy. Together, our supporters gave an incredible £10.3 million.
Thanks to you, our researchers are delivering world-class research, and our students have the financial security to focus on their studies and follow their dreams.
This year, the Cylch Caerdydd community has grown to 94 members, with representation on five continents. We were also extremely grateful to receive £2.4 million from gifts in Wills, which made up nearly a quarter of total philanthropic donations.
This remarkable generosity will have a profound impact on our students and research for years to come. Thank you again for your continued support and the difference you help to make at Cardiff University.
Supporting students
Thanks to supporters like you, students across the University can thrive personally and academically. You are at the heart of the transformation that occurs as students develop their minds and horizons.
Cylch Caerdydd donors, brothers Owen and David Miles (BSc 1986), set up the John and Enyd Miles Award in memory of their parents, who both studied Medicine at Cardiff in the sixties.
The bursary supports Cardiff University medical students from low-income families in South Wales. Sirat Gandhi (Medicine 2023- ) describes how her passion and skills have grown thanks to the support she received.
“I’m so thankful for the chance to study at Cardiff. The clinical days are tiring, but those are the days I signed up for when I decided to study Medicine. I’ve already met a variety of patients, applying the theory of the lecture theatre to real-life situations.
“I have now volunteered to be an interviewer for the same Widening Access to Medicine Mentoring Scheme that I benefitted from before applying for my degree. It has felt like a full circle moment.
“I’ve also signed up to be a mentor at a conference for A-level students interested in Medicine, and I’m volunteering at the Cardiff University summer school for teenagers from Grangetown. Having received the John and Enyd Miles Award, I thought it was only right to give back.”
“The support that the Award is providing me and other students to achieve our university dreams has been inspiring.”
Sirat Gandhi (Medicine 2023-)
Cancer research
Gifts to cancer research enable future leaders in this field to follow new avenues for exploration.
Dr Matt McKenna, clinician and researcher, is pursuing new treatments for bowel cancer.
“As a trainee surgeon, I directly see more – and younger – people coming to us for bowel cancer treatment every year. Bowel cancer isn’t screened among people under 50, so diagnosis comes later, which means they often need chemotherapy before surgery, and it can be too late to stop it spreading. Making that first round of treatment more effective is really important.
“But to treat bowel cancer, we have used the same drugs since 1958. Back then, only 10-20% of patients responded. Now we use the drug in combination with surgery, which is more effective, but still only about half of people respond, and almost all of them develop resistance. In other words, the cancer comes back.
“My research focuses on two proteins in our cells – called transporters – which are important gateways for cancer drugs in the body. These gateways allow drugs to enter the body, but we have also found that they encourage drugs to leave the body, too. In fact, it seems that more gateways in the body means your resistance to treatment is higher.
“These transporters are key to predicting whether someone will respond to treatment. In future, we could use this to look at each patient’s biological makeup to work out what they’ll respond to.
“This means treatment will be more effective, fewer people will develop resistance, and patients won’t have to endure side effects of drugs that might not be working.
“Being a surgeon and having patient contact adds context to my research. I’m always thinking, ‘How can this tie into what I do?’ and how I can apply what I’m using to practice.
“I want to say thank you to the donors. Your generosity isn’t just felt by me, but will be felt by other researchers for years to come.
“I’ve now been awarded further funding from the Royal College of Surgeons to extend my work. I couldn’t have done that without this seedcorn funding and the results I’ve been able to get. Thank you.”
“You’re enabling ‘bench-to-bedside’ research – research that will directly translate to better patient outcomes.”
Dr Matt McKenna
Neuroscience and mental health research
Gifts support neuroscience and mental health researchers at the very start of their career, giving them the financial freedom to follow new routes to breakthroughs.
Emma Weir (Biosciences 2021- ) is growing brain cells to model the workings of the brain in the lab.
“My research looks into the mechanisms of neurodevelopmental disorders such as ADHD, autism, and schizophrenia. Specifically, I’m looking at DNA changes that lead to abnormal brain development and increased risk towards neurodevelopmental disorders.
“We occasionally see big genetic changes in the DNA of a patient, where regions of chromosomes have either been deleted or duplicated. These changes are rare, but they can be a marker to show if someone might develop a neurodevelopmental condition and the likelihood of certain symptoms, such as cognitive impairment, being present.
“Someone with a mutation could be asymptomatic, or their condition could manifest at a severe level. They may also be unaware they have a genetic risk of developing a condition until they pass this on to their children. My role is to look at the biology behind these duplications and deletions, and what this means for patients.
“Despite significant advancements, there is still so much we don’t know about the brain, as biopsies on this specific organ are difficult. So, in order to find out more about the link between DNA changes and neurodevelopmental conditions, our team use a special lab technique. By taking blood samples containing patients’ DNA, we can create stem cells. and then grow brain cells and 3D models. These mini brain models – otherwise known as organoids – are, essentially, genetically identical copies of specific patients’ brains.
“These models are game-changers for our research. They allow us to recreate the workings of the brain in lab conditions, so we can test theories and treatments that we wouldn’t be able to otherwise. For example, we can use organoids to investigate which types of drugs might work best to ease specific conditions.”
“Our research is revolutionising our understanding of the brain, meaning we can provide patients with more accurate diagnoses, personalised medical insights, and timely support at an earlier stage.”
Emma Weir (Biosciences 2021- )
Research discoveries
Many gifts in Wills fund gifted PhD students as they undertake exciting research projects across the University. You are at the forefront of discovery as these researchers approach new questions and theories.
The Cardiff University Louise Lambert PhD Scholarship was set up by Cylch Caerdydd donor Corin Frost (BScEcon 1991) in memory of his sister, Louise Lambert née Frost (BSc 1990).
Recipient Oliver Scourfield (BSc 2018, MSc 2020, Medicine 2022- ) is conducting his research into mesothelioma, a cancer of the lining surrounding organs, which typically affects the lungs, and is almost always caused by exposure to asbestos.
“A mesothelioma diagnosis is usually fatal. Tumours are highly aggressive, and all current treatment options are palliative. First-line treatment is chemotherapy, but we can only prolong patients’ survival by months. I am looking for ways to improve the body’s own immune response to this cancer.
“Recently, immunotherapy drugs, which help the immune system to fight cancer, have shown promise in mesothelioma patients. The immune system constantly surveys the body for things that shouldn’t be there, and removes them. But when cancers develop, they learn ways to hide from the immune system. I’m finding ways to boost the immune system’s response to mesothelioma by exploring a vaccination approach. This means that we train the immune system so that when a specific threat arises, the body is ready. But a successful vaccine needs a good target.
“Mesothelioma cells display a molecule called 5T4, which is rare in healthy cells. In fact, the body uses it when we’re an embryo, as it encourages rapid growth, but it then gets switched off as we develop. Using 5T4 as a target could offer a really specific way of targeting mesothelioma, resulting in much fewer side-effects than chemotherapy, and improved patient outcomes.
“For my work, I am trying to find out which specific parts of 5T4 that T-cells (a group of white blood cells in our immune system) recognise, and how they do this. I’m then looking at ways to boost their recognition and response to 5T4, with the hope to test this in mesothelioma patients’ samples.
“I want to thank Corin again for his generous donation, without which I could not carry out this research. Our findings could have huge implications for patients in the UK, as we have one of the highest rates of mesothelioma in the world. And it is vital research for work into many other cancers where 5T4 is instrumental.”
“This cruel disease has directly impacted my family. The research conducted at Cardiff is truly remarkable, both for the potential impact on mesothelioma, but also for a wide range of other cancers both here and abroad.”
Corin Frost (BScEcon 1991)
A gift that lives on
Generous donors support Cardiff University students as they strive and succeed.
Donor Rashid Domingo MBE was aware of the difficulties students can face, as his own academic excellence and passion for chemistry was hindered by the apartheid laws in South Africa, his birthplace.
In 2016, he gave a legacy in his lifetime to create a bursary for undergraduates in hardship at Cardiff University. Following his death, his gift continues to enable students to keep going, reach their potential, and walk on into the world of work.
“The bursary helped me a lot. Due to my financial situation at home, I’d been using my savings from my part-time job as a lifeguard, but my general living expenses were getting harder and harder to fund.
“Thankfully, after applying for the bursary I was able to support myself and my education. I study Financial Mathematics.
“The bursary helped me to keep working hard, and I am so proud of my first-year average, which will definitely aid my CV when applying for work in the future.
“I’m so grateful for the opportunity to live out my first year the best I could.”
“I really appreciate the values of Mr Domingo and his strong beliefs in “giving back”, which is something I will most definitely do during my time at University.”
Anoj Rameshprabahar (Financial Mathematics 2023- )
The impact of gifts in Wills
Gifts in Wills enable world-class research and give our students the financial security to focus on their studies and follow their dreams.
Mrs Anne Meuris Evans (GradDip 1960) left a gift in her Will towards cancer research at Cardiff University.
Marc Hillgaertner (Cancer Immunology 2023- ) is now undertaking a PhD which has the potential to change immunotherapy treatment, thanks entirely to this generous legacy.
“Why is immunotherapy more effective for some people than for others? And how can we boost its efficacy for those who need it?
“I am trying to answer these questions by looking at specialised blood vessels called ‘high endothelial venules’ (HEVs). They are useful because they allow immune cells to cross their lining where regular blood vessels don’t. You see, HEVs can form around solid tumours, and readily send immune cells across their lining to reach and kill cancer cells. So we find that immunotherapy treatment is often more effective when tumour HEVs are present.
“But HEVs don’t always develop around tumours. My research is focussed on improving our understanding of what triggers their formation, and which mechanisms are used to allow immune cells to reach the tumour cells.
“In particular, I’m looking for potential genetic triggers of HEV formation so that we could work on developing a therapy to induce the formation of HEVs in all tumours. In combination with immunotherapies, this could be highly effective in treating solid tumours.
“I'm so grateful for people who choose to support PhD students and their research. The donations supporters give, kickstart research that can do so much for so many diseases. In my case, the generosity of Mrs Evans is allowing me to conduct research that will hopefully result in the future development of novel anti-cancer therapies.”
“Generous donations to PhD research can start a process that will ultimately benefit millions of people around the world – what an incredible legacy to leave.”
Marc Hillgaertner (Cancer Immunology 2023- )
