Published: 20th October, 2020
Watch Professor Rebecca Fitzgerald's webinar, part of the Cambridge Biomedical Campus on Virtual Tour series. In the talk, "Catching cancer early - how long is a piece of string?", Rebecca explains her practice-changing work on the early detection of cancer. The Cytosponge or ‘sponge on a string’ pill test has been developed as a screening tool to identify people at greatest risk of cancer of the food pipe (oesophagus) – from the initial idea through to the latest clinical trial results.
Published: 12th October, 2020
The 2020 Early Detection Conference, jointly hosted by CRUK, The Canary Center at Stanford and OHSU took place from 6-8 October 2020. One of the highlights of the event, which this year was conducted virtually, is the awarding of the Don Listwin Award for Outstanding Contribution to Cancer Early Detection.
Published: 06th October, 2020
Earlier detection of cancer offers arguably the single biggest opportunity to save lives from the disease, but there are many challenges of seeing this a reality for patients in the NHS, according to Cancer Research UK’s Roadmap for the Early Detection and Diagnosis of Cancer report, published today (6th October) and highlighted in a commentary in the Lancet Oncology.
Published: 05th October, 2020
The results from a pilot study of the PAN Study in cirrhotic patients have been published by authors from Owlstone Medical, Cambridge University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust and the University of Cambridge in ‘Clinical and Translational Hepatology’. This research successfully demonstrates the use of exhaled limonene as a breath biomarker to measure liver function and stage liver disease.
Published: 24th September, 2020
Final research proposals in five areas aiming to deliver solutions to major challenges for Europe have been handed over to the European Commission this week. The proposals, known as missions or moonshots, partly inspired by NASA’s Apollo 11 mission to put a man on the moon, have been developed by a board of experts including academics, policymakers, business people and citizen representatives. Cancer is one of the mission areas, with Early Detection Programme Co-Lead Professor Rebecca Fitzgerald a member of the Cancer Mission Assembly Board.
Published: 08th September, 2020
DNA from tissue biopsies taken from patients with Barrett’s oesophagus – a risk factor for oesophageal cancer – could show which patients are most likely to develop the disease eight years before diagnosis, suggests a study led by researchers at the University of Cambridge and EMBL’s European Bioinformatics Institute (EMBL-EBI).
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Published: 10th August, 2020
Congratulations to Professors Antoniou and Brindle and Dr Tischkowitz who have been successful in their recent applications for ACED awards.
Published: 05th August, 2020
The Cytosponge was featured on BBC Look East last night, 4th August, along with a report of the BEST3 trial results.
Published: 31st July, 2020
A ‘sponge on a string’ pill test can identify ten times more people with Barrett’s oesophagus than the usual GP route*, according to a new study funded by Cancer Research UK and published in The Lancet today. The test, which can be carried out by a nurse in the GP surgery, is also better at picking up abnormal cells and potentially early-stage cancer.
Published: 23rd July, 2020
It is with immense sadness we share the news that Sanjiv Sam Gambhir, MD, PhD, has passed away. Sarah Bohndiek, Programme Co-Lead, pays a moving tribute to the scientist in whose lab she spent two years as a postdoctoral researcher.