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Research Possibly Lost in Manchester Fire

A fire at a cancer hospital in Manchester may have destroyed equipment, research, and data, the Guardian reports.

"We've lost hundreds of thousands of pounds of vital reagents. We've probably lost a lot of small lab equipment, the small pieces where the ceiling collapsed at landed on them," Richard Marais, the head of the Cancer Research UK Manchester Institute, tells the Guardian.

The blaze appears to have started at the roof of the building Wednesday morning and was fought by more than a hundred firefighters and 16 fire engines, the Guardian adds. While it notes that researchers would be allowed in the building Friday to assess the damage, there are worries that equipment like the center's supercomputer and two DNA sequencers might also have been destroyed.

Cancer Research UK spent £22 million last year on scientific research at the Manchester center last year, it says.

"People are upset, but they've also frustrated because they want to get going again. They need to know the answers to these questions about how much has been lost in the fire," Marais adds.

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