€2m boost for Ghent’s cancer research institute
The money has been spent on new infrastructure that will allow researchers to study tumours in much more detail
Complex processes
The CRIG assembles more than 300 researchers from Ghent University, Flemish life sciences research institute VIB, and the University Hospital of Ghent. The researchers now have a series of new technological platforms at their disposal, allowing them to study tumours in more detail, which is necessary as individual cancers are very heterogeneous and have a complex composition.
The platforms enable research into malfunctioning genes and proteins in cancer cells on the level of single cells, which was impossible until recently. Individual cancer cells can also be isolated from patients’ blood for further analysis. The technology should help researchers evaluate existing cancer therapies and start the development of new medicine.
“We will now be able to gather fundamental insights into how cancer cells originate, evolve and spread but also into how these cells react to therapies,” said professor Frank Speleman, cancer researcher at the CRIG. “It means we can contribute to the development of new and better medicine to battle cancer.”
The infrastructure was financed with support from the Foundation against Cancer. The rest of the investment was carried by Ghent University and VIB.
Photo: Hilde Christiaens/UGent
