Cancer

Cancer research at RCSI focuses on a wide variety of strategies to identify new ways to improve outcomes for cancer patients, by optimising cancer prevention, diagnosis and therapy.

Our researchers study a wide variety of cancer types, with a particular focus on breast, neuroblastoma, brain, ovarian and colorectal cancer.

We aim to determine the causes of cancer at the molecular level in order to identify novel biomarkers for diagnosis and predicting response to current therapies; in addition to identifying new drug targets for the development of novel therapies. This is an interdisciplinary research field bringing together clinicians, biologists, epidemiologists, statisticians and chemists to improve patient outcomes in all cancer types.

Of particular interest is how tumours develop resistance to existing therapies. We use genomic and proteomic analysis to classify cancer subtypes and thereby deliver new personalised treatments with improved patient outcomes for this patient sub-group.

RCSI plays a leading role in a number of large collaborative cancer research programmes and clinical trials, involving partners from industry, academia and clinical organisations. These networks, funded by charities, Government funding agencies and the EU, allow us to use cutting-edge technologies and international expertise to better understand cancer biology and find new ways to treat it.