A regional daily has launched an ambitious £1m fundraising campaign to help boost ground-breaking research into cancer.

The Telegraph & Argus launched its Bradford Crocus Cancer Appeal this month in a bid to pay for a cutting-edge machine to speed up research into the disease, along with continued research.

The campaign is the biggest launched by the paper for more than a decade and follows on from a bid to raise £1m 12-years-ago towards building the new Institute of Cancer Therapeutics at the University of Bradford.

It hit the previous target in just 16 months with its Bradford Can… appeal and the research carried out at the ICT led to the creation of a pioneering “smart bomb” tumour-blasting treatment in 2011, which is due to begin clinical trials later this year.

Its latest £1m campaign has seen the logo added to the title’s masthead for the duration of the appeal and a dedicated section set up on its website.In a story to launch the campaign, editor Perry Austin-Clarke said: “As editor, I am enormously proud of what the readers of the Telegraph & Argus did with the Bradford Can… appeal and it has been thrilling to see just how much has been achieved since through the ICT that arose from it.

“The commitment, determination and generosity of readers in raising that first £1m has helped prove that with your support we can, right here in Bradford, make a real difference in the fight against cancer.

“The work being done by Prof Patterson and his team is truly exciting and ground-breaking on a world scale and it’s vital that we do all we can to help them continue their efforts to develop new cancer treatments here in our city.

“We will all, at some stage in our life, be touched – directly or indirectly – by the destructive power of cancer and that’s why we are asking every reader to join us in helping to take Bradford’s pioneering efforts to beat it to the next level.

“It doesn’t matter what you do or how you do it – be it saving a few pence in a piggy bank, holding a jumble sale or running a marathon – your contribution is vital and will be gratefully received.”

The appeal aims to raise money to buy a mass spectrometer to replace a slower machine and help the university’s scientists to carry out their work ten times quicker.

Along with the university, the paper has joined forces with charity Yorkshire Cancer Research and the Sovereign Health Care Charitable Trust – which has pledged to donate £50,000 for every £200,000 raised.

The paper’s campaign has been named the Crocus Cancer Appeal because the flower has become a symbol of the ICT’s success after its “smart bomb” treatment was derived from colchicine, a natural compound found in the plant.