Aims, Objectives and Outcomes
Aims
To develop a clinically annotated bio-sample repository from patients with distinct types of cancer.
Thus, this research tissue bank will be critical to develop and validate novel cancer metastases biomarkers.
These biomarkers will help to reduce the overall health burden by early diagnosis, thus prolonging life through more timely interventions to control disease progression. This proposal will enable the design of predictive biomarker stratified clinical trials to target prevention, surveillance and treatment of metastatic disease; thus directly benefit to future patients.
Objectives
- Focus on a major health burden (cancer) for Barts Health NHS Trust across all its sites, by inviting direct patient participation and involvement.
- Build an 'incubator' for further research, attracting international funding, increasing reputational value as well as interest from pharmaceutical companies, towards AHSC.
- Focus on translational aspects of Cancer Metastasis, a major research theme for Barts Cancer Institute: we aim to develop biomarkers for early diagnosis of cancer metastasis.
- Bring together Clinicians (Surgeons, Oncologists, Gastroenterologists, Nurses) and Scientists from different disciplines across Barts Health NHS Trust and Queen Mary University of London.
Outcomes
- Improve the quality of translational research.
- Allow scientific groups with limited access to material to validate their findings in appropriate clinical samples.
- Support sophisticated analyses on isolated cell populations e.g., for localisation of novel genes, and allow determination of the interplay of different cell types.
- Make valuable new tools available through R&D.
