RTD & PAC Inaugural Award
- davegush
- 18 hours ago
- 2 min read
Penguins Against Cancer and Red Trouser Day are delighted to announce the successful inaugural applicant for the joint “Simon Bunting Colorectal Cancer Research Award” is Dr Constantinos Simillis.
The award of £10,000 is equally funded by the charities and the selection process was a combined effort involving members of both research committees.
The title of the project, due to start in June 2025, is, “Pilot study to assess the diagnostic accuracy of a microchip-based Lab-on-Chip system for detection of genetic biomarkers of colorectal cancer at the point-of-care.”
The joint venture nature of the funding also extends to the project, as Cambridge University Hospital and Imperial College London are both involved in this research.
Charlie Beardmore President of Penguins Against Cancer said “We are delighted to be collaborating with our Friends at the Red Trouser Day charity to jointly fund the RTD - PAC Simon Bunting Colorectal Cancer Research Award. It is vital that such research is appropriately resourced, noting that bowel cancer is the 2nd most common cause of cancer death in the UK (CR UK website).”
Paul Finch, Founder and Chair of Red Trouser Day, commented; “This is exactly the sort of innovative project we wish to support in the pursuit of earlier diagnosis of this dreadful disease.”
Overall research objective
The research objective is to develop an innovative, non-invasive, scalable, easy-to-use, lab-free, sample-to-result, point-of-care microchip-based colorectal cancer specific test that is feasible, clinically adaptable, and cost-effective to use on an ex-vivo basis, which will enable the simultaneous detection of multiple tumour genetic markers specific to colorectal cancer in blood and stools, with the potential to promote personalised patient care and serve as a diagnostic, prognostic, and monitoring tool.
This work is proposing the development of a rapid, lab-free test for colorectal cancer, integrating sample extraction, novel DNA amplification assays and microchip-based electrochemical detection methods in one device. Nucleic acids found in blood and stool will be analysed with a fast, low-cost and scalable solution, identifying colorectal cancer genetic markers. The proposed system will integrate genomic cancer analysis seamlessly into the clinical pathway because of the ease-of-use, shortening of logistic chains and quicker turnaround times than current methods provide, giving results in under 30mins as opposed to days or weeks.
Both charities look forward to progress reports on this research and wish Dr Simillis and team every success.
