Dr. Noémie Lang, a researcher from the University of Geneva and the Geneva University Hospital, has won the Swiss Group for Clinical Cancer Research Trial Network Award.
Dr. Noémie Lang, a researcher from the University of Geneva and the Geneva University Hospital, has won the Swiss Group for Clinical Cancer Research (SAKK) Trial Network Award.
She plans to use the money to conduct a study examining the early recognition of lymphoma involvement in the central nervous system. This diagnostic strategy may lead to higher standards of quality and precision compared to currently used analytical assays. This innovation is expected to improve the prognosis in these particularly aggressive types of lymphoma.
Lymphomas are white blood cell-related cancers that attack the lymphatic system, causing 5% of all cancers. Two thirds of lymphomas are treatable, but some have poor prognosis.
The disease spreads to the central nervous system in 2 to 5% of cases, shortening life expectancy to a few months.
“Preventive therapeutic approaches exist, but they need to be administered in a more targeted manner by an early accurate detection of central nervous system involvement in high-risk individuals, treating patients who have been positively detected, and sparing toxicities from patients who have been negatively detected,” the SAKK Trial Network Award laureate says.
The translational research team led by Professor Jérôme Tamburini at the Department of Medicine and the Center for Translational Research in Onco-Hematology (CRTOH) of the Faculty of Medicine at UNIGE includes Dr. Noémie Lang, an oncologist at the HUG’s Oncology Department.
Through a prospective clinical study, Dr. Noémie Lang and the SAKK lymphoma group hope to show that it is simple to detect circulating tumour DNA in blood and CSF samples.
Over sixty participants with recently diagnosed aggressive lymphoma will have blood and CSF samples taken, and circulating DNA will be extracted and sequenced to identify its source and establish a diagnosis. To extract and sequence the DNA, high-throughput sequencing technologies will be employed.
Dr. Noémie Lang proposes that the measurement of circulating tumour DNA in the CSF will outperform existing assays for identifying lymphoma involvement of the central nervous system.
The study, which will take place in twelve Swiss locations, aims to provide an answer to a pressing question that has persisted for many years. The fact that Dr. Noémie Lang was given the prize by SAKK is compelling evidence in favour of the award.
Switzerland’s SAKK is a free-standing, nonprofit organisation that specialises in cancer research. To aid young clinical researchers in the advancement of their careers, it established the Network Trial Award, which is funded with one million Swiss francs ($1.12 million).
The first recipient of the prize, Dr. Noémie Lang, thanks SAKK, HUG, and UNIGE for giving her the chance to secure the funding necessary to finish the study. This was made possible by SAKK’s dedication to assisting young researchers and the chance offered by HUG and UNIGE to devote 50% of one’s time to research while also working in the field of medicine.