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New EU Funding Award for Glycomics and Cancer Diagnosis Project

The GlycoHIT consortium, led by NUI Galway has been awarded an European Union Framework Programme 7 (EU-FP7) grant worth €3 million over three years for a large collaborative research project. Conway Fellow, Professor Pauline Rudd is involved in the collaboration in her capacity as principal investigator in the National Institute of Bioprocessing Research & Training (NIBRT).

GlycoHIT (Glycomics by High throughput Integrated Technologies) is aimed at developing future technologies that will enable fast and accurate analysis of glycosylation in blood samples from cancer patients. 

All cells and most proteins in blood are glycosylated or coated with sugars, and these sugars are known to be altered in many diseases, including cancer. High throughput technologies to analyse these altered sugars, or glycobiomarkers, will allow scientists to diagnose different forms of cancer from a simple blood test without the need for a biopsy. GlycoHIT will also further develop sugar testing technologies to allow this rapid form of diagnosis to be used in a clinical setting.

Professor Lokesh Joshi of NUI Galway, coordinator of GlycoHIT, explains, “The development of reliable and fast diagnostic tests for the early detection of cancer is central to the project and of great importance. Early initiation of treatment can result in increased survival rates and improved quality of life for the patient. This research is an important step toward making that happen.”

The project has been recognised for its excellence at the highest level. European Commissioner for Research, Innovation and Science, Máire Geoghegan-Quinn stated:"In working towards faster and non-invasive testing for cancers, the GlycoHIT consortium is a perfect example of how collaborative work between EU researchers and international partners, with European Commission support, can potentially save and improve huge numbers of lives worldwide. The mutual interest in global cooperation and pooling expertise in areas like medicine is crystal clear. I would like to wish every success to Professor Joshi and to everybody involved in this excellent project."

A number of specific sugar biomarkers associated with certain forms of cancer have already been identified, but more are needed to improve the accuracy with which they can be used for cancer diagnosis. GlycoHIT will also assist the identification of improved glycobiomarkers for cancer. By discovering new biomarkers, as well as modifying existing laboratory technologies to decrease the amount of time required for testing, GlycoHIT has the potential to deliver a diagnosis in minutes rather than days.

GlycoHIT brings together teams from NUI Galway; Agilent Technologies, Israel; Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität Munich, Germany; National Institute for Bioprocessing Research and Training (NIBRT), Ireland; Karolinska Institute, Sweden; Institute Pasteur, France; Oslo University Hospital, Norway; University Hospital Heidelberg, Germany; University of Mons-Hainaut, Belgium; Council for Scientific Research, Spain; Tsinghua University, China; Hunan University, China; Bristol-Myers-Squibb, USA; Pintail Ltd, Ireland; and Hokkaido University, Japan.

GlycoHIT is funded under the EU-FP7 SICA (Specific International Cooperation Action) programme, the goal of which is to encourage much closer research cooperation between EU Member States and non-EU countries, in this case China. A Chinese ‘sister’ project for GlycoHIT funded by the Chinese Ministry of Science and Technology (MoST) has also been identified by MoST. The two projects will hold a number of joint events during the project term to share expertise and knowledge.

Professor Rudd and her NIBRT research team have been located in UCD Conway Institute while construction progressed on the new national facility. Their relocation to the NIBRT facility on the Belfield campus will now take place in May 2011.

 Caption: (from L to R): Participating GlycoHIT investigators; Benno Schwikowski, Janne Lehtio, Ciaran Clissmann, Dolores Solis, Marian Kane, Lokesh Joshi, Michelle Kilcoyne, Pauline Rudd, María Asunción Campanero-Rhodes, Kirk J Leister, Zohar Yakhini, Radka Saldova and Sheetal Kalme