The mission of the Josep Carreras Leukaemia Research Institute to eradicate blood cancers relies on close collaboration with world-class leaders in the field. As part of its internationalisation strategy, the Institute has welcomed a delegation of the Institute of Hematology and Blood Diseases Hospital (IHCAMS), China’s leading institution in haematology. IJC and IHCAMS have signed a Memorandum of Understanding, reaffirming their shared commitment to work together for blood cancer patients.

Researchers from Trinity College Dublin, Dublin City University and University College Dublin will use newly awarded funding of €670,000 from Enterprise Ireland’s Commercialisation Fund to develop a breakthrough blood-based screening test for bowel cancer (colorectal cancer, CRC).

The team, working with clinicians at St. Vincent’s University Hospital, seeks to transform cancer outcomes by moving screening away from invasive or unpleasant methods to their simple, high-accuracy blood test, named “CASPDx CRC”.

The CASPDx team is now initiating the formal validation of their product. Patients are being recruited in all Bowel Screen Centres in the HSE Dublin & South East region as part of clinical validation studies, with assistance of the UCD Clinical Research Centre. While the CASPDx CRC test is still at clinical validation and immunoassay development phases, the team aim to launch the test and spin-out as a company by the end of 2027.

A research team led by Purdue University’s W. Andy Tao has discovered of a new type of protein modification related to cellular mutation that impairs a crucial enzyme’s ability to help drive energy processes. Their discovery, reported in Nature Chemistry, opens a new route to therapeutic cancer intervention.