How CancerTools.org is making cancer research faster, more accessible and collaborative

Cancer research moves fast, but sharing the materials behind new discoveries often does not. Scientists developing unique cell lines, antibodies, or animal models can spend months traversing legal agreements, preparing shipments, and handling requests one by one. In that time, other researchers may be forced to recreate similar tools from scratch, wasting resources and delaying progress. CancerTools.org, part of Cancer Research UK (CRUK), exists to break that bottleneck. By curating and distributing these tools worldwide, it turns individual lab innovations into a centralized resource that accelerates the global fight against cancer.

Backed by Cancer Research UK (CRUK), Cancer Tools operates with a clear mission: to accelerate the fight against cancer by making unique lab-developed tools accessible to researchers worldwide, whether in academia, biotech, or pharma. Their model is straightforward yet powerful; identify high-quality tools developed in CRUK-funded institutes and other academic labs, ensure they are production-ready, and make them available globally. Income that remains after revenue sharing with tool creators go back to CRUK, fueling the very research that drives the next generation of innovation.

In a recent SelectScience^® interview at the Association for Diagnostics & Laboratory Medicine (ADLM) 2025 expo in Chicago, we spoke with James Ritchie, Head of External Innovation, and Natalie Harker, Senior Business Development Executive for Licensing at Cancer Tools. Both shared what motivates CancerTools.org, how the company works, and why its model matters to scientists, biotech and patients alike.

What is CancerTools.org and what is its mission?

At the heart of CancerTools.org is a strong sense of purpose. “We’re not driven by profit, we’re driven by purpose,” says James Ritchie, Head of External Innovation. “Remaining income after we provide royalties to tool creators and cover operational costs go to Cancer Research UK. That means every time someone purchases or licenses a tool from us, they’re helping fund cancer research.”

The focus is sourcing novel reagents, such as cell lines, organoids, mouse models and antibodies, from CRUK researchers and an international network of around 180 academic partners. These tools are curated for their relevance in preclinical cancer research, scientific impact and academic integrity.

This service is especially valuable in a field where time is critical, and administrative barriers can slow collaboration. Researchers can deposit their materials with CancerTools.org, knowing they will be preserved, distributed responsibly and, in the event of lab disruptions, even returned. Ritchie recalls incidents where entire collections were lost due to equipment failure or even fire: “If we had those tools stored, we could have restored them. That’s part of protecting scientific legacy.”

What role does licensing play?

Alongside its research distribution services, CancerTools.org is actively licensing tools for commercial use. Natalie Harker, Senior Business Development Executive for Licensing and Royalties, works with a broad range of partners, from diagnostic developers to pharmaceutical companies, who want to license research-ready reagents with a fast track to application.

“Speed and reliability are critical in today’s R&D landscape,” she says. “We work directly with academic researchers and CRUK-funded institutes, which means we can remove the typical delays in IP clearance and validation.”

Companies approach CancerTools.org to access licenses for everything from antibodies and tumor models to cell lines. Harker says the appeal lies not only in the quality of the materials but also in the flexibility of the licensing model, “We offer customizable terms that work for different stages of development. Whether a partner needs early access for R&D or is ready to take a product into commercial use, we can adapt.”

The nonprofit model also helps build trust and minimize friction in negotiations. “We’re not here to maximize profit. We’re here to enable innovation,” Harker adds. “That mindset makes it easier for us to work closely with partners and get tools to the people who need them.”

How does CancerTools.org make life easier for scientists?

“It’s all about freeing up their time and peace of mind,” says Ritchie. “They can focus more time on their important research.”

When researchers develop new materials or models, such as new cell lines or mouse models, they publish it and inevitably attract interest from other researchers all over the world. These transfers are not straightforward, as there are long and complex processes that go into it, including material transfer agreements that can take several months to negotiate between universities or labs. This is in addition to the time it takes for scientists to create the materials, grow the cells, and to ship them to the purchasers.

“However, if they work with us, they deposit materials with us and we take all the burden off them,” says Ritchie. This includes manufacturing, logistics, storing and supplying – CancerTools.org takes care of everything. This is especially important in times of disasters, as Ritchie points out that disasters, such as fires, can happen in labs – and along with it the destruction of research materials. “If you remember a few years back, the Manchester Institute caught fire and destroyed so many materials. If we had them, those materials would have been safe and we would have returned them, free of charge.”

They also reward the creators. The organization’s licensing and distribution income supports a revenue-sharing model that benefits both individual researchers and their institutions. While not massive sums, the returns acknowledge the time, expertise and effort required to develop and validate research tools, helping to incentivize sharing rather than siloing. More importantly, every additional pound that is not used for operations goes back into CRUK’s research grant funding programs.

Arguably, the biggest impact these services have is the ease of access to research materials for scientists all around the world. “The biggest part of our mission was to make it as simple as possible and allow scientists to access high-quality materials more readily.” Ritchie continues, “you could spend several months going through the legal processes with transfer agreements, or you can go to our website and in a few clicks, you have it in your basket.”

“Our mission is very much aligned with our parent charity at Cancer Research UK,” Ritchie says. “We want to accelerate patient benefit by funding research and helping scientists get their discoveries out of their labs and into the global community.”

How does CancerTools.org reach beyond the UK?

Since its founding over four decades ago, CancerTools.org has grown steadily from a UK-focused operation to a global platform, supporting cancer researchers from academic spinouts to multinational pharmaceutical firms. Its online catalog includes thousands of research tools, and its infrastructure offers inbound shipping, authentication, storage and distribution across borders.

This scale is built on a foundation of collaboration. The organization works closely with researchers not only in the UK, but around the world. “We are keen to work with other global partners,” Ritchie says. “We just want to bring in scientifically high-quality materials and make it easy for researchers to access them.”

That simplicity is evident on the CancerTools.org website, where researchers can browse, license or request tools in just a few clicks. It is this ease of access, combined with mission-driven clarity, that has helped the organization stand apart in a fragmented life sciences marketplace.

The broader impact

CancerTools.org represents a rare blend of nonprofit ethics, academic rigor and commercial capability. It enables researchers to extend the reach of their work, preserve their legacy of scientifically important research tools and helps companies access innovative tools faster, while ensuring that revenue goes where it is needed most: back into the lab, and ultimately, to the clinic.

Whether it is by preserving research, accelerating a preclinical program, or simply making the act of accessing research tools less complicated, the organization brings a level of intentionality that feels increasingly vital in biomedical research. “Our mission is to make it as easy as possible to access the reagents that can drive cancer research forward towards patient benefit,” Ritchie says.

By focusing on impact over income, Cancer Tools offers a system where everyone, from individual scientists to the global research community, stands to benefit.