IARC receives EU funding from the ColoMARK project to identify new biomarkers for risk prediction and early detection of colorectal cancer

The International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) is participating in a new project called Identification and Development of Novel Colorectal Cancer Biomarkers via State-of-the-Art Liquid Biopsy Approaches (ColoMARK). The project, which is funded by the European Union (EU) Horizon Europe programme, started in November 2022.

Colorectal cancer is a major global health problem, and the number of cases is expected to rise in line with increasing life expectancy. In recent years, the field of liquid biopsy has reinvigorated tumour biomarker research, enabling less-invasive screening and more-accurate monitoring of colorectal cancer. A liquid biopsy is the analysis of a sample of blood, urine, or other body fluid.

The goal of the ColoMARK project is to improve the development of biomarkers of colorectal cancer, starting with candidate biomarkers that can be progressed to the next phase of clinical implementation. The project will provide interdisciplinary training to 10 predoctoral researchers from different countries and aims to develop comprehensive know-how in fields including assay development, bioinformatics, cell biology, epidemiology, and –omics.

As part of its role in the project, IARC will host a PhD candidate from the ColoMARK network and will provide training in statistics and machine learning to the project’s researchers.

The goal is to create a network of multidisciplinary researchers in the growing research field of liquid biology and biomarkers of colorectal cancer, empowering them to lead future research in this field, and to bridge the translational gap between biomarker identification through research and biomarker implementation in clinical settings.