COLO-SPEED was devised by a group of keen bowel cancer researchers and funded with a grant of £985,000 from NHS cancer charity, the Sir Bobby Robson Foundation. COLO-SPEED aims to be the world largest research platform developing and delivering bowel cancer research, within bowel cancer screening, prevention, and early diagnosis.

COLO-SPEED will transform endoscopy units into colorectal cancer research recruitment centres, building the world’s largest ‘experimental platform’ for colorectal cancer prevention and research. Patients attending endoscopy will be invited to participate in colorectal research, either by directly entering a specific research study and/or consenting to be contacted in the future about suitable research studies. This unique resource will enable efficient delivery of cutting-edge research.

This experimental platform will provide a resource for clinicians (doctors and nurses), researchers, industry and (we hope, in due course) patients, to propose research studies and for these to be conducted rapidly. We are working with North Lab, a world-leading group with a strong track record in developing user-friendly applications of new technology, to design an IT platform to host the information from patients who agree to take part in COLO-SPEED.

Bowel cancer, also called Colorectal Cancer (CRC), is the fourth most common cancer and the second most common cancer death in the UK. It is more common in older individuals, those with a family history of bowel cancer, or those with inflammatory bowel disease. In some individuals it may cause no symptoms, or may cause bleeding from the back passage, abdominal pain, change in bowel habit or weight loss. This is usually investigated with a camera which is inserted into the bowel through the back passage to examine the large bowel, otherwise known as a colonoscopy.

• More information on colonoscopy
• More information on bowel cancer