Lecture to explore the emerging blood test helping to spot cancer earlier
Research into a blood test that may spot cancers sooner and allow more targeted treatment is to be presented by researcher at our University.
Professor Jacqui Shaw (pictured) from our Department of Cancer Studies will give the Frank May Prize Lecture 2017 on 26 June at 5.30pm entitled ‘The liquid biopsy, an emerging blood test for cancer’. It takes place in the Frank and Katherine May Lecture Theatre, Henry Wellcome Building and is free and open to the public. To book a place please click here.
The lecture will explain how the liquid biopsy could offer an effective alternative to detect and monitor cancer through blood based tests, rather than through a tissue biopsy. It will summarise key highlights of Professor Shaw’s liquid biopsy research at Leicester focusing on clinical studies and trials in breast and lung cancers. This liquid biopsy allows us to ‘see’ genetic changes that are happening in a cancer in real time through tiny fragments of DNA, termed circulating tumour DNA (ctDNA), that are released into the blood stream from dying cancer cells.
The Frank May Prize Lecture was established in the early nineties, endowed by the generosity of Dr Frank May and is delivered annually by a member of the College of Medicine, Biological Sciences and Psychology.