Home | News | CNIO research, a key source for the development of genomic medicine in Romania

Romanian delegation with representatives from the CNIO. / CNIO

The Spanish National Cancer Research Centre (CNIO) leads or participates in national and international programmes that aim to transfer advances in genomics to patients, improving the prevention, diagnosis and treatment of cancer. That is why CNIO has been chosen to host the Romanian delegation as it searches for advice on how to develop genomic medicine in their country.

Led by Octavian Bucur, Director General of Genomics Research and Development (Bucharest), the Romanian delegation was received by senior figures from CNIO and attended several presentations about the centre’s activity in genomics.

Genomics, which also incorporates radiological and pathological imaging data, is a growing area of research, since genomic biomarkers, modelling of tumour evolution and integration of new –omics data is indispensable to improve clinical actions.

The presentations given by CNIO focused on projects by Núria Malats, director of the CNIO Population and Precision Genomics Programme; Anna González Neira, head of the Human and Population Genomics Group; Lucas Tafur, head of the Structural Mechanisms of Cell Growth Group; and Solip Park, head of the Computational Cancer Genomics Group.

CNIO is one of the ‘hubs’ for Spain’s participation in the European 1+Million Genomes (1+MG) initiative, which aims to extend the benefits of genomics to national healthcare systems. It also heads up the MamoRisk programme, the first Spanish study to predict personalised breast cancer risk based on genetics and lifestyle.

CNIO also coordinates IMPaCT_VUSCan, the largest Spanish project to identify genes that increase the risk of developing cancer. It analyses millions of genetic variants to identify those that most influence predisposition to cancer and, ultimately, to expand early detection programmes.

The conference also included several presentations on the European project PANCAID, an acronym for Pancreatic Cancer Initial Detection by Liquid Biopsy, a consortium of centres from eight countries, including CNIO.

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