Minister Harris announces SFI Frontiers for the Future Programme for TU Dublin Projects
On Tuesday, 30 May, Minister for Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science, Simon Harris, TD, announced Science Foundation Ireland’s Frontiers for the Future Programme funding for two TU Dublin projects.
One of the TU Dublin projects that received funding involves "Raman spectroscopy for monitoring of oral pre-malignant lesions for improved prognosis and management"
This project is a collaboration between Prof. Fiona Lyng and Dr Isha Behl of the RESC laboratory in the FOCAS Research Institute, with the Dublin Dental University Hospital (Dr Claire Healy, Dr Sheila Galvin), University Hospital Antwerp (Prof Senada Koljenović) and D Y Patil University (Dr Atul Deshmukh).
Oral cancer mostly develops from pre-malignant lesions (white and red patches). Early detection and treatment can provide a better prognosis for the patient. Currently, diagnosis and monitoring of lesions are based on invasive tissue biopsies, and there is no test currently available which can predict treatment outcomes. In this study, biochemical fingerprinting using Raman spectroscopy will be carried out on minimally invasive brush biopsy and saliva samples. This data, together with clinical data, will be used to predict progression and/or treatment response. Overall, this study will deliver a new minimally invasive test to aid in the management of oral pre-malignant lesions.