Project: Expansion of the infrastructure of collection of biological samples for translational and clinical research in oncology

• Grant number: 18/24321-4
• Support Opportunities: Research Grants - Technical Reserve for Institutional Research Infrastructure
• Start date: February 01, 2019
• End date: January 31, 2020
• Field of knowledge: Biological Sciences - Biology
• Principal Investigator: Luiz Fernando Lima Reis
• Grantee: Luiz Fernando Lima Reis
• Host Institution: Hospital Sírio-Libanês. Sociedade Beneficente de Senhoras (SBSHSL). São Paulo , SP, Brazil

Abstract

The Sírio Libanês Hospital understands that teaching and research activities are vital for maintaining excellence, pioneering, quality and safety in health care. For more than a decade, the hospital has been investing heavily in oncology research, both in the clinical and in the translational area. We have set up clinical research facilities that, in addition to industry-sponsored studies, conduct clinical studies designed by members of our clinical staff and conducted entirely in HSL. In the translational area, as a result of our partnership with the Ludwig Institute for Cancer Research, we created in 2011 the Molecular Oncology Center. A significant part of our research activities in oncology is focused in identifying biomarkers for personalized medicine in oncology. Most of the biomarkers used nowadays in oncology were identified through retrospective analysis of biological material and clinical information collected systematically during the execution of clinical trials. Unfortunately, the number of innovative biomarker projects that have gone through all stages of development to market implementation is very small. The main barrier observed for such projects seems to lie in the access to biological samples adequately preserved and associated with quality clinical information. With this in mind, in 2012 the hospital created a HSB-Biobank that now has more than 5,000 biological samples of approximately 1,300 patients seen at the HSL unit located in the neighborhood of Bela Vista. In April 2015, the hospital underwent an expansion program that included the inauguration of new units - two in São Paulo, in the Itaim and Jardins neighborhoods, and two in Brasília, dedicated to clinical oncology and radiotherapy. The inauguration of these new units has significantly expanded our capacity for assistance and research in oncology. Aware that the resources of the Reserva Técnica Institucional are intended to support the collective research infrastructure that benefits Research Projects supported by FAPESP, HSL intends to invest the resources granted by FAPESP in the expansion of the infrastructure for sample collection for translational and clinical research in oncology in our new units. (AU)