Following the success of series one of the cancer research beacon podcast, One in Two, a second series is being released. The podcast highlights the outstanding research and clinical skills of University of Manchester staff working in cancer across the disease spectrum, to ensure treatment and detection strategies are focussed where they are needed most.

Series two is focussed on lung cancer, the leading cause of cancer death globally, with experts taking listeners from the basic biology of the disease through to transformative therapies that are being pioneered in Manchester and which are changing patient outcomes.

A Manchester disease

This series has been specifically created to show a distinctly Manchester response to what is huge healthcare problem for the city region, with the city and surrounding areas having one of the worst mortality rates in England for the disease, at double the national average.

The legacy of decades of smoking and socio-economic deprivation has resulted in Manchester having the highest rate of lung cancer death in the country. The health inequalities that run through this disease are multiple, with the most economically challenged communities feeling the disease burden the most.

Lung cancer kills more people under 75 than any other disease in the city and mortality rates are so high because the disease is notoriously difficult to detect in its early stages, causing no to very mild symptoms to be presented by patients. As a result, most people are not diagnosed until the lung cancer is advanced, leaving survival rates measured by a few months.

The challenge is to detect the disease as early as possible to help increase survival rates.

Global benefits

Manchester has a reputation for excellence in lung cancer diagnostics, treatment and research – we are home to Cancer Research UK’s Lung Cancer Centre of Excellence and this series of podcasts shows how our cancer researchers are pioneering the innovations, discoveries and projects that are changing the landscape of lung cancer, nationally and globally.

Cancer is one of The University of Manchester’s research beacons, examples of pioneering discoveries, interdisciplinary collaboration and cross-sector partnerships that are tackling some of the biggest questions facing the planet.

One in Two is one of the top performing podcasts from The University of Manchester.

• You can listen to, or watch, the episodes here One in Two: a cancer research podcast | The University of Manchester.
• Find out more about our cancer research beacon.