LAHORE:The Higher Education Commission (HEC) has approved a grant of Rs21.5 million for a research project of the University of Health Sciences (UHS) on early-stage screening of patients with colorectal cancer.
Immunology Department’s Head Dr Shah Jahan will conduct the research with the approved grant. This is the sixth research funding won by the stalwart researcher. The title of the research project is “Fecal microbiota profiling and molecular biomarkers for colorectal cancer screening at an early stage: A way towards the non-invasive, cost-effective, and accurate CRC screening assay for local patients”.
The funding has been approved under the Local Challenge Fund Initiative of the HEC with the support of the World Bank. Colorectal Cancer (CRC) is a common gastrointestinal tumor, affecting 1.36 million people with about 65000 deaths per year worldwide and ranked as the fourth leading cause of death in Pakistan. From benign to malignant, it follows a long stepwise progression. CRC remains asymptomatic in the early stage and spreads sporadically in most cases.
Dr Shah Jahan, in this regard, said the project would also help in building the research capacity of the department by adding new diagnostic, molecular, and computational facilities. UHS Vice-Chancellor Prof Javed Akram has commended the efforts of Dr Shah Jahan while wishing him success in the project.
