SCIENTISTS at the University of Bradford made international headlines in 2011 when they used the opportunity of the city hosting the British Science Festival to reveal a pioneering 'smart bomb' tumour-blasting treatment.

It was a therapy which could dramatically reduce the horrendous side effects of chemotherapy suffered by cancer patients across the world.

This was thanks, in part, to generous Telegraph & Argus readers, who in 16 months up to February 2003 helped raise £1 million via the 'Bradford Can...' appeal towards building the University's state-of-the-art Institute of Cancer Therapeutics (ICT), where the breakthrough was made.

READ MORE ABOUT THE BRADFORD CROCUS CANCER APPEAL

The 2011 announcement was the springboard for the Telegraph & Argus Bradford Crocus Cancer Appeal, which started in May 2103, when the newspaper teamed up with the University, Yorkshire Cancer Research and Sovereign Healthcare to again ask Bradfordians to help fund vital research.

It was the paper's biggest campaign for more than a decade, designed to raise enough money for the ICT to purchase a mass spectrometer and allow the ground-breaking work fighting the disease in the city to happen faster than ever before.

The campaign was named Crocus after the British native autumn flower, which had become a symbol of the ICT's success and the potential of what it could achieve. Its 'smart bomb' was derived from colchicine, a natural compound found in the plant.

It was just one example of the type of therapeutic medicine that could be discovered and brought to clinical trials if the pace of discovery could be accelerated through donations to the Crocus Appeal.

In December 2013, alumni at the University pledged a massive £110,000 towards the appeal via a five-week telethon of current students contacting former graduates, smashing their original target of £40,000.

In the same month, the appeal was given a £20,000 boost Stuart and Janet Brown, of the Kirkby Foundation, who visited the University to see how their generous donation would assist research at the ICT.

In May last year, partners in the project held Crocus Week, a seven-day fundraising drive involving local businesses, schools, community groups and individuals.

In one of the more dramatic events, more than 50 brave souls tackled a nervy abseil from the top of the Jurys Inn in Bradford city centre, raising thousands to boost the fund.

The campaign was also made an official charity partner for the 2014 Bradford City Runs in August, with nearly 140 people putting their best foot forward to boost the total, raising more than £10,000.

Other notable events included daredevil 15,000ft parachute jumps, a cycle marathon by 86 year-old East Bowling grandad Thomas Woods, and the Italian rugby league team planting crocus bulbs in the University's Peace Garden while training in the region for the 2013 World Cup.

Some of the wackier fundraising challenges consisted of sponsored head shaves, a 24-hour archery marathon, and a giant naan bread eating challenge.

In February of this year, sports club and societies at the University of Bradford used their annual Raising and Giving week to help support the appeal, having raised almost £7,000 for Crocus the previous year.

MORE T&A CROCUS CANCER APPEAL HEADLINES

The appeal has also recently received a significant donation from the Gannett Foundation, the charitable arm of the US company that owns the Telegraph & Argus.

The appeal has now reached its aim, thanks to a huge £200,000 donation from the Sovereign Health Care Charitable Trust.

The Trust, based in Manningham Lane, Bradford, has donated more than £4 million to community and health-related good causes during the past seven years.

BRADFORD'S CANCER APPEAL FUNDRAISING TIMELINE

September 2001 – The T&A launches the £1million “Bradford Can....” cancer research appeal, which reaches its target in just 16 months in February 2003. The money raised, which includes £250,000 from Sovereign Healthcare, unlocks another £5 million worth of funding from Cancer Research UK. 

January 2005 – Funding is secured to build a new £6 million flagship cancer research centre at the University of Bradford, the state-of-the-art Institute of Cancer Therapeutics (ICT), using money from the appeal, a Science Research Investment Fund grant, and funding from the university. The “concept to clinic” facility puts Bradford at the forefront of the UK’s fight against cancer.

February 2006 – The newly created Proteomics Facility is given £700,000 worth of equipment, including a mass spectrometer, thanks to funding from Yorkshire Cancer Research and the University of Bradford, aiding work on identifying targets for new cancer drugs and clinical trials. 

July 2008 – The ICT officially opens, and director Professor Laurence Patterson states the centre is already “in the business of anti-cancer drug discovery”.

September 2011 – Bradford researchers at the ICT say they have developed a new cancer treatment, likened to a ‘smart bomb’, which has the potential to find and destroy solid tumours, receiving a £300,000 grant from Yorkshire Cancer Research to continue the research. 

January 2013 – The ICT begins a £3 million funding drive to start clinical trials on its revolutionary ‘smart bomb’ – ICT2588 – which is to be developed by the spin-off company Incanthera Ltd. 

July 2015 – The new treatment passes regulatory requirements and is poised to enter phase one trials in early 2016.