We are creating some awesome events for you. Kindly bear with us.

Indian scientists develop tech for early cancer detection

A blood sample test based on liquid biopsy technology to detect the early spread of cancer has been developed by a team of Pune-based scientists.

Liquid biopsy is a test done on a sample of blood to look for cancer cells from a tumour that are circulating in the blood or for pieces of DNA from tumour cells that are in the blood. It can be used to help find cancer at an early stage. It can also help plan treatment or to find out how well treatment is working or if cancer has come back.

Mr Jayant Khandare, who led the team, said that the test will be launched in a phased manner all over India from September. The long-term plan is to release the test in key global markets within the next few years.

According to reports, the technology was among the few laboratory-to-clinic translational types of research, a rarity in India.

It is called OncoDiscover and can allow regular monitoring of disease progression. It can also help to provide an early indication of cancer relapse. It is a blood test that detects circulating tumour cells even when their presence is extremely low or minuscule in a patient’s blood.

Mr Khandare said the technology is the second of its kind in the world after the one already available in the United States. The Indian version would be far cheaper and more specific than the technology in the United States, according to him.

The Central Drugs Standard Control Organisation, which the regulatory body for drugs and medical  , has already granted a licence for the manufacture and sale of the test kit in India under the Medical Device Rules, 2017.

Mr Khandare is the Chief Scientific Officer at a Pune-based start-up, which has been funded for high-risk innovations by the Biotechnology Industry Research Assistance Council, an industry support wing of the Department of Biotechnology (DBT).

A team of scientists led by Mr Khandare worked to solve the technological challenges in detecting circulating tumour cells (CTCs) from lung, breast, colorectal, head, and neck cancers.

CTCs are extremely low in numbers, as low as one CTC is accounted for in millions of other blood cells. “Their isolation and enumeration in a patient’s blood is like finding a needle in a haystack,” Mr Khandare said.

Last year, the DBT and the Cancer Research UK inked a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) for an India-UK Cancer Research Initiative.

The initiative is a collaborative five-year bilateral research programme by the DBT under the Indian Ministry of Science & Technology, and the Cancer Research UK (CRUK).

The Chief Information Officer (CIO) of the organisation said that technology is being invested in and prioritised at Cancer Research UK. She said the newly created team are focussed on driving forward the sort of cutting-edge solutions that are vital to its continued growth and development.

The India-UK initiative will focus on developing affordable approaches to cancer treatment. Both Cancer Research UK and the DBT will invest GBP £5 million around (US $6.4 million) each in the 5-year pilot and seek further investment from other potential funding partners.

An official press release said that the India-UK Cancer Research Initiative will identify a core set of research challenges that address issues of affordability, prevention, and care of cancer. It plans to bring together leading Indian and UK experts across clinical research, demographic research, and new technologies and physical sciences.

PARTNER

Qlik’s vision is a data-literate world, where everyone can use data and analytics to improve decision-making and solve their most challenging problems. A private company, Qlik offers real-time data integration and analytics solutions, powered by Qlik Cloud, to close the gaps between data, insights and action. By transforming data into Active Intelligence, businesses can drive better decisions, improve revenue and profitability, and optimize customer relationships. Qlik serves more than 38,000 active customers in over 100 countries.

PARTNER

CTC Global Singapore, a premier end-to-end IT solutions provider, is a fully owned subsidiary of ITOCHU Techno-Solutions Corporation (CTC) and ITOCHU Corporation.

Since 1972, CTC has established itself as one of the country’s top IT solutions providers. With 50 years of experience, headed by an experienced management team and staffed by over 200 qualified IT professionals, we support organizations with integrated IT solutions expertise in Autonomous IT, Cyber Security, Digital Transformation, Enterprise Cloud Infrastructure, Workplace Modernization and Professional Services.

Well-known for our strengths in system integration and consultation, CTC Global proves to be the preferred IT outsourcing destination for organizations all over Singapore today.

PARTNER

Planview has one mission: to build the future of connected work. Our solutions enable organizations to connect the business from ideas to impact, empowering companies to accelerate the achievement of what matters most. Planview’s full spectrum of Portfolio Management and Work Management solutions creates an organizational focus on the strategic outcomes that matter and empowers teams to deliver their best work, no matter how they work. The comprehensive Planview platform and enterprise success model enables customers to deliver innovative, competitive products, services, and customer experiences. Headquartered in Austin, Texas, with locations around the world, Planview has more than 1,300 employees supporting 4,500 customers and 2.6 million users worldwide. For more information, visit www.planview.com.

SUPPORTING ORGANISATION

SIRIM is a premier industrial research and technology organisation in Malaysia, wholly-owned by the Minister​ of Finance Incorporated. With over forty years of experience and expertise, SIRIM is mandated as the machinery for research and technology development, and the national champion of quality. SIRIM has always played a major role in the development of the country’s private sector. By tapping into our expertise and knowledge base, we focus on developing new technologies and improvements in the manufacturing, technology and services sectors. We nurture Small Medium Enterprises (SME) growth with solutions for technology penetration and upgrading, making it an ideal technology partner for SMEs.

PARTNER

HashiCorp provides infrastructure automation software for multi-cloud environments, enabling enterprises to unlock a common cloud operating model to provision, secure, connect, and run any application on any infrastructure. HashiCorp tools allow organizations to deliver applications faster by helping enterprises transition from manual processes and ITIL practices to self-service automation and DevOps practices. 

PARTNER

IBM is a leading global hybrid cloud and AI, and business services provider. We help clients in more than 175 countries capitalize on insights from their data, streamline business processes, reduce costs and gain the competitive edge in their industries. Nearly 3,000 government and corporate entities in critical infrastructure areas such as financial services, telecommunications and healthcare rely on IBM’s hybrid cloud platform and Red Hat OpenShift to affect their digital transformations quickly, efficiently and securely. IBM’s breakthrough innovations in AI, quantum computing, industry-specific cloud solutions and business services deliver open and flexible options to our clients. All of this is backed by IBM’s legendary commitment to trust, transparency, responsibility, inclusivity and service.

Send this to a friend