Cancer

Despite being a preventable disease, cervical cancer remains the leading cause of disabled life years in 49 countries and a leading cause of premature death in 23 countries, mainly in sub-Saharan Africa. Where a woman lives, how she lives (poor or socially disenfranchised), how early she presents to health care services, and her access to affordable, good-quality diagnostic and treatment services all contribute to her likelihood of developing cancer. Current solutions/systems that exist are either not wide-spread enough or unaffordable in countries like Tanzania and Kenya.

The project proposes use of metabolomics including High throughput Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR) spectroscopy and Liquid-chromatography mass spectrometry (LC-MS) as a powerful tool for the discovery of biomarkers for differentiating bacteremic cases and non-bacteremic cases among febrile neutropenic Cancer patients to decrease antibiotic consumption, differentiating antimicrobial resistance extended spectrum beta-lactamase (ESBL) present or not based on metabolites and differentiating community acquired blood stream infections and hospital acquired blood stream infections including Centr

The team aims to develop a non-invasive, molecular diagnostic tool for oral cancer. This novel diagnostic platform, PARPCytometry, aims to provide a cost-effective solution for diagnosing oral and oropharyngeal cancer. Another key innovation of the technology is that it can overcome the time delay that is typically associated with pathological evaluations. With this platform the team would be able to provide patients with a definitive, diagnostically accurate diagnosis at the point-of-care.

The scope of the project proposed by Prof Bikramjit Basu, Professor, Laboratory for Biomaterials, Material Research Centre, Indian Institute of Science, is to develop "Novel alloplastic neo-bladder for bladder replacement in patients with bladder cancer". The team aims to design and develop a non-degradable, non-absorptive, inert and cost-effective synthetic biomaterial, which can replace the use of the intestine as an alternative for urinary diversions, applicable in case of bladder cancer. This work will be done in collaboration with Dr. Anil Mandhanj frpm Medanta.

Daniel Kamei of the University of California Los Angeles in the U.S. will develop a paper-based diagnostic that can rapidly concentrate and detect low concentrations of cervical cancer-specific biomarkers in self-collected vaginal swabs. Cervical cancer is a major health problem, particularly in regions with limited health care where there are no effective screening programs. The test will be evaluated on existing cervical samples that have already been analyzed for HPV and cancer using conventional methods.

Laura Musselwhite of the Hospital de Câncer de Barretos in Brazil will develop a low-cost test for cervical cancer that women can easily perform at home even in low-resource settings. The test is based on a nitrocellulose strip coated in antibodies to detect the cancer-causing E6 protein produced by the human papillomavirus, which causes cervical cancer. They will enroll 50 women attending their clinic including cervical cancer patients to provide samples for adapting the assay for optimal detection in urine and simplifying it for use in non-clinical settings.