In 1996 Dyson supported Sir Ranulph Fiennes on his solo expedition to the Antarctic in aid of Breakthrough Breastcancer. A special edition vacuum cleaner sold in aid of the charity, helped raise £1.7 million, which is now being used to fund the Dyson Microarray Laboratory at the Royal Marsden in London. The state-of-the-art microarray facility enables scientists to study thousands of genes at a time, helping identify gene patterns relevant in breast cancer and its treatment.

For further information on Breakthrough and breast cancer research, visit: www.breakthrough.org.uk