The ProstOmics research project aims to solve this issue by developing a method that can efficiently analyze prostate sample tissue and identify how prostate cancer becomes aggressive and life threatening.
The ProstOmics project uses multi-omics technology, which means it applies various disciplines in biology to study tissue samples and biofluids (urine, blood) from large-scale biobanks of prostate cancer patients.
The research group is lead by Associate Professor/Researcher May-Britt Tessem at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU) in Trondheim, Norway, and is funded by the European Research Council’s (ERC) prestigious starting grant.
“ProstOmics is based on analysis of larger patient cohorts of high-quality frozen prostate tissue that is donated from the surgery of patients with consent. We drill frozen and targeted tissue samples from several places within the prostate to study heterogeneity within the tumor around the tumor, as well as in normal appearing cells,” says May-Britt Tessem.
Now the Prostomics research group has developed a new method to store and study sub-samples in of selected tissue that researchers are specifically interested in. The solution enabled the research group to perform targeted and computer assisted subsampling from fresh-frozen prostate slices based on the study analysis of the tissue.
The method is called “ARTS - Precision tissue biobanking made easy” and won the prestigious Proof of Concept Grant from the ERC. The project will receive funding worth EUR 150 000 to develop the method and technology further.
“We have built up this activity or years here in Trondheim, and we also have excellent collaboration with the St. Olavs hospital and the Biobank1 where we have all the high-quality tissue,” Tessem says.
“I hope that the patient first will benefit from this, and that also good biomarkers will benefit the clinicians that will have better tools to give the right treatment at the right time. I also hope that the society overall can benefit from this by reducing overtreatment and reduce the cost and the resources needed for treating patients”
About Centre for Digital Life Norway
The Centre for Digital Life Norway (DLN) is a national centre for biotechnology research, education and innovation. The centre facilitates transdisciplinary collaboration across institutions, fields of research and the research projects in the centre. The centre is a collaborative project between the Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU), the University of Oslo (UiO), the University of Bergen (UiB), the Norwegian University of Life Sciences (NMBU), Oslo University Hospital (OUS), SINTEF and UiT The Arctic University of Norway. The centre is run by a competence hub and includes a research school and more than 40 research projects. The competence hub is funded by the Research Council of Norway.