Cancer Research - Europa

DASIM
Diagnostic Applications of Synchrotron
Infrared Microspectroscopy
Summary
DASIM is a Specifi c Support Action to coordinate research
eff ort of all Europe’s synchrotron light sources in the fi eld of
infrared microspectroscopy of pathological samples as an
aid to clinical diagnosis.
Problem
Diagnosis of disease is the basis for all clinical medicine. The
primary requirement is reliability of diagnosis in order to
ensure that therapies are appropriate and successful. However,
the modern requirements of clinicians from diagnostic
services go beyond a simple ‘yes’ or ‘no’ to the presence of
a particular indication. Successful therapy requires information
on disease subtype classifi cation, assessment of the
disease stage and extent such as the grading of tumours, as
well as the monitoring of disease progress and therapeutic
success. The speed of pathological analysis can also be
amongst the requirements arising as a result of a time-limited
therapeutic window beyond which therapy may be less or
no longer eff ective. Such constraints are particularly apparent
in the treatment of cancer and infectious diseases.
Post-mortem diagnosis is also an aspect to be included,
since there remain some diseases that can only be unequivocally
diagnosed post mortem, and in these cases the
retrospective diagnosis plays a central role in improving
therapies through the accumulation of clinical experience.
Aim
In the last ten years there has been considerable progress in
the application of infrared microspectroscopy to the analysis
of human tissues in the context of disease diagnosis, and
it has been convincingly demonstrated in many studies that
infrared spectroscopy has the potential to contribute signifi -
cantly to this fi eld. The aim of DASIM is to coordinate this
research eff ort by networking the existing centres of excellence
across Europe, by providing a forum for the necessary
multidisciplinary exchange of expertise between clinicians,
spectroscopists, biologists and physicists on the European
scale, and by facilitating access to synchrotron facilities for
scientists and clinicians in countries that do not have their
own synchrotron facility.
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Keywords | Clinical diagnosis | cancer | infrared spectroscopy | infrared microscopy |
infrared imaging | synchrotron radiation |
Expected results
• Signifi cant acceleration of the rate of progress in the
fi eld by coordinating the research eff ort.
• Dissemination of knowledge through meetings, courses,
website and publications, informing clinicians in particular.
• Reliable assessment of the potential of this technique as
a guide for future EU science funding policy.
Potential applications
Clinical diagnosis, particularly typing, staging and grading
of tumours.
Coordinator
David Moss
Forschungszentrum Karlsruhe
Karlsruhe, Germany
david.moss@anka.fzk.de
Partners
Representing a consortium of more than
70 scientists and clinicians from 10 European
countries (Italy, France, Germany, Sweden, UK,
Ireland, Greece, Poland, Switzerland, Norway).
Augusto Marcelli
INFN – LNF
Frascati, Italy
Project number
LSSB-CT-2005-005326
EC contribution
€ 280 000
Duration
36 months
Starting date
01/07/2005
Instrument
SSA
Project website
www.dasim.com
Ganesh Sockalingum
Université de Reims
Reims, France
Marco Colombatti
Università di Verona
Verona, Italy
Fiona Lyng
Dublin Institute of Technology
Dublin, Ireland
Sheila Fisher
University of Leeds
Leeds, United Kingdom
CANCER RESEARCH PROJECTS FUNDED UNDER THE SIXTH FRAMEWORK PROGRAMME