The Experimental Cancer Medicine Centre (ECMC) network is jointly supported by Cancer Research UK and the health departments for England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. The goalof the network is to drive the development of new therapies to bring benefits to patients faster. Each ECMC brings together experts in cancer biology (lab scientists) with clinical researchers (cancer doctors) to speed up the flow of ideas from the lab bench to the patient's bedside. In this way, scientists can work with the clinic, to identify the needs of doctors and their patients, and come up with new ways to tackle cancer. And doctors have access to the very latest new drugs to test in clinical trials, finding out if potential treatments are safe and effective.