New research centre for cancer
April 11, 2011 at 1:20 PM
BSMS has redeveloped its research centre for experimental and cancer medicine based at the Trafford Centre on the University of Sussex campus.
The newly refurbished laboratories will be the home to the research teams of Professor Pietro Ghezzi, RM Phillips Chair of Experimental Medicine, and Professor Peter Schmid, Foundation Professor in Cancer Medicine.
The laboratories have been refurbished to meet the needs of the research teams. Professor Ghezzi’s laboratory contains the standard equipment for general molecular biology and tissue culture analysis, including safety cabinets for sterile tissue culture work. Professor Schmid’s team works with human tissue in a tissue culture laboratory which has been fitted with specialised ventilation and safety cabinets. They also perform large scale genomic analysis (the sequencing of the human genome) requiring polymerase chain reaction and pyrosequencing (scientific techniques used to analyse the DNA sequences), so a separate laboratory has been designed for this purpose.
Professor Ghezzi’s team will focus primarily on cytokines – proteins that signal the presence of infection to the various cells of the immune system. These are responsible for several inflammatory diseases, but the discovery of new cytokines and further knowledge of new activities of known cytokines and their inhibitors have led to new drugs. These signals are not only important in infection and immunity; they play a role in response to injury and can promote repair. This could lead to therapeutic strategies for clinicians targeting illnesses such as brain inflammation, which could lead to the cure of diseases such as stroke and multiple sclerosis.
Professor Schmid’s research team are developing strategies that allow further individualisation of treatment for patients with early and advanced breast cancer and non-small cell lung cancer. The aim is to design an optimal management strategy for each individual patient, by defining objective indicators. Those patients with the highest probability of response are then selected, and spare others from ineffective therapies and unnecessary toxicity. In addition, the team aims to develop new therapeutic strategies that modulate or overcome resistance to current treatment.