IIT-M ties up with govt for cutting-edge cancer research centre

The Indian Institute of Technology-Madras has taken a huge stride towards the production of anti-cancer drugs by setting up a National Cancer Tissue Biobank, which will store cancer tissues for research purposes in a move that could put India at the cutting edge of cancer research.

Addressing newspersons in Chennai on Tuesday, IIT-M director Bhaskar Ramamurthy said the biobank would also help in carrying out diagnostic tests, creating genetic markers, and early detection and prevention of cancer.

Oncologist C S Mani said after the discovery of the cancer genome atlas, which identifies mutated genes, there was a need to look at other modifying agents. ''It is necessary to create community data,'' he said.

Oncologist S G Ramanan said the tissues were being collected after due consent from the patients. However, many patients were apprehensive about research being conducted on their tissues.

''We have also obtained the clearance of the ethics committee and confidentiality of patients will be maintained,'' he said.

S Mahalingam of the department of biotechnology said the biobank was already functioning. ''The institute will be involved in training, education and research of next-generation biobanking process and once the system and process are standardised, they will be duplicated at nodal stations in peripheral areas,'' he said.

The biobank will soon be housed in a new building. The union government's department of science and technology has provided Rs27.81 crore towards the biobank and IIT-M Rs3.9 crore as complementary funding.

The biobank will have infrastructure to accommodate 25,000 cancer tissue samples. A super-resolution imaging system, cell sorting facility and sequencing facilities will also be housed in the biobank.

The tissues are stored in liquid nitrogen that is maintained at minus 190 degrees centigrade. For this, IIT-M has its own liquid nitrogen plant.

'Better than biopsy'
"As soon as the tumour is removed, a portion of it will be transported to our facility and stored in liquid nitrogen at -190 degrees Celsius," said Mahalingam, who is spearheading the project.

Genome sequencing will be done to determine the DNA structure of the tissues. "This will be different from a biopsy done in a hospital. While a biopsy can only give skeletal details like what stage the cancer is at, genome sequencing can tell what changes have happened at the cellular level," he said.

While some hospitals have banking facilities on a smaller scale, doctors say this will be the first such initiative at the national level. The new centre will help record cancer incidence, and improve diagnosis and treatment.

"Why do some patients respond to a particular mode of treatment, while others don't? How are cancer cells in India different from those in the West? What caused the tumour? All the answers to these questions can be found at the molecular level," said Dr C S Mani of Cancer Research and Relief Trust, which will work with IIT.

Research organisations can access the stored tissue samples. "The centre will target application oriented research and provide a crucial link between scientific data collated and how clinicians could use the inferences in their treatment of cancer," said Dr Mani.