How can we slow down bone marrow cancer in its early stages?
We do not currently have a treatment for people with the precursor conditions for the bone marrow cancer myeloma. With a grant of just over DKK 1 million from the NEYE Foundation, postdoc Marta Diaz del Castillo of Aarhus University aims to discover how we can curb the development of this cancer type.
Myeloma is an incurable form of bone marrow cancer that affects approximately 330 people in Denmark every year. Currently, there is no treatment for patients with the precursors for this type of cancer – their condition can only be kept under observation. Postdoc Marta Diaz del Castillo of the Department of Forensic Medicine has received just over DKK 1 million from the NEYE Foundation to study how we can prevent the development of myeloma right from the early stages.
Marta Diaz del Castillo will examine the changes that take place in the composition of the cells in the bone marrow when myeloma develops. Bone biopsies taken from patients at various stages of the disease will be analysed with the help of supercomputers and machine learning, which will provide new knowledge about therapeutic goals. The hope is that, on this basis, researchers will be able to develop a new treatment that will slow the development of the cancer in patients with the precursor conditions for myeloma.
Contact
Postdoc Marta Diaz del Castillo
Aarhus University, Department of Forensic Medicine
Mobile: 71832607
E-mail: marta@forens.au.dk