oncology – Progress in Research

iBeChange project kicks off

Posted on 01/02/202406/08/2024 by Erik Franco

iBeChange (Addressing Psychosocial and Lifestyle Risk Factors to Promote Primary Cancer Prevention: An Integrated Platform to Promote Behavioural Change) kicks off: the project funded by the European Union under the Horizon Europe programme aims to design, develop and test an innovative platform, a user-oriented management system that enables people to behave in healthy and sustainable ways.

A working team from the Department of Electronics, Information and Bioengineering of the Politecnico di Milano, coordinated by Prof. Francesco Trovò and Prof. Emilia Ambrosini, will participate in the project together with experts in clinical and health psychology, oncology, epidemiology, ICT, data science and health policy.

The project will combine practice-based and evidence-based knowledge from clinical psychology and behavioural change theories with the potential of adaptive digital technologies and artificial intelligence. Therefore, the iBeChange system will be able to dynamically observe, learn from user behaviour and provide personalised and effective healthcare interventions. The iBeChange project aims to help achieve the objectives of the European Plan Against Cancer and the European Code Against Cancer by improving long-term primary cancer prevention through information, support and empowerment of EU citizens.

The project consortium includes universities (University of Palermo, TU Eindhoven), medical institutes (European Institute of Oncology, Institut Catala d’Oncologia) and industries (Eurecat, Sporedata).

New cancer therapy using neutrons

Posted on 04/07/202206/08/2024 by Erik Franco

A new experimental cancer treatment will be developed in Italy by virtue of the partnership between the National Center for Oncological Hadrontherapy (CNAO), the National Institute for Nuclear Physics (INFN), the Politecnico di Milano and the University of Pavia. In 2024, an accelerator for the production of neutron beams will be installed at CNAO in Pavia. It has been designed for the purposes of clinical research activity: it will be used to develop Boron Neutron Capture Therapy (BNCT) which consists of irradiating tumour cells with neutron beams after having treated the patient with a medication containing an atom of a particular chemical element: Boron-10.

Boro-10 accumulates in tumour cells to a significantly greater extent than in normal cells due to the greater metabolic demand of the former. Irradiation of the area containing the neoplasm with neutrons leads to an interaction between the neutrons and the Boro-10: the nuclear reaction is selective since it only impacts the nucleus of Boron-10, giving off energy that is capable of destroying tumour cells. The process is expected to be very effective in treating particularly complex tumours. This technology is made available by Tae Life Sciences, a US company that has chosen to invest in Italian research.

Doctors, physicists, radiobiologists and engineers from CNAO, INFN, the Politecnico di Milano and the University of Pavia will contribute in their respective fields of expertise in order to begin pre-clinical and clinical trials of BNCT and to obtain the CE marking that certifies that the medical device complies with essential patient safety requirements.

The fight against cancer represents one of the greatest challenges of our time. The expertise deployed by the Politecnico di Milano will prove to be an important ally. Increasingly advanced technology will play a central role: from robotics to data analysis, from image processing systems to mathematical models, from predictive systems to machine learning,
Ferruccio Resta, the Politecnico’s Rector

ERC Advanced Grant to Manuela Raimondi with Beaconsandegg

Posted on 27/04/202206/08/2024 by Erik Franco

Manuela Raimondi, professor at the Department of Chemistry, Materials and Chemical Engineering “Giulio Natta”, will work on BEACONSANDEGG (Mechanobiology of cancer progression), a project that combines mechanobiology with bioengineering, oncology, genetics, microtechnology, biophysics and pharmacology in order to develop an innovative platform capable of recapitulating tumour fibrosis by exploiting the vascularisation of a living organism.

In breast cancer, aggressiveness is related to fibrotic stiffening of the tumour tissue. Fibrosis progressively prevents drugs from reaching the tumour cells, due to the formation of a matrix with mechanical properties that stabilise the tumour’s vascular network. However, the hierarchy and stability of the tumour vascular network are not reproducible in vitro.

The BEACONSANDEGG research will model microtumours at various levels of fibrosis. Human breast cancer cells adhered to 3D polymeric microplates will be used. The microtumours will be implanted in vivo in the respiratory membrane of embryonated avian eggs in order to elicit a fibrotic foreign body reaction in the microtumours. The geometry of the 3D microsupports will be manipulated to condition the infiltration of the microtumours by the vessels and cells of the embryo.

This study model will be validated with anticancer drugs whose clinical outcome is known to depend on the level of tumour fibrosis.

This project will also provide a standardised and ethical platform to promote the clinical translation of new therapeutic products in oncology.

Our university once again proves to be at the forefront, having outperformed its scholarly competitors in a very competitive selection process, with only 14.6% of the 1735 projects submitted receiving funding. With this project, the Politecnico di Milano has been awarded a total of 86 European Individual Grants (including ERC and Marie Curie).

New ONCO-TECH-LAB

Posted on 19/04/202206/08/2024 by Erik Franco

The Politecnico di Milano and the European Institute of Oncology (IEO) have today launched a framework agreement for scientific research, through the establishment of the joint research centre ONCO-TECH-LAB – Modeling and Applications for Human Health, which will combine the Politecnico di Milano’s know-how in artificial intelligence, robotics and cutting-edge tissue engineering technologies with IEO’s extensive knowledge in life sciences.

ONCO-TECH-LAB is a platform that integrates the two partners’ human, instrumental and logistical resources in order to increase the critical mass and quality of research, thus opening up access to national and international calls, funding and programmes for both institutions. The main area covered by the agreement is oncology, plus other disciplines: haematology, immunology, endocrinology, gastroenterology, transplantology and diagnostic imaging.

The initiative stems from the awareness that synergy between biomedical research and technology is the winning strategy for bringing together different skills and developing a common language to support research and education. This is the model implemented at ONCO-TECH-LAB, a multidisciplinary driving force for bringing scientific discoveries more efficiently into the reality of patient care.
Guido Baroni, Professor of Biomedical Engineering at the Politecnico di Milano and coordinator of the Joint Research Centre.