Last month, the Croatian translational medicine community took a significant step with the opening of the Institute for Personalized Medicine at University Hospital Centre Zagreb (UHCZ).
Prof Dr Fran Borovecki, National Director for EATRIS Croatia, became the Head of the newly opened Institute for Personalized Medicine at University Hospital Centre Zagreb, within which the National Laboratory for Tumour Gene Profiling will operate. UHCZ now becomes the third medical centre in Europe with such a laboratory, together with Germany and Switzerland. Alongside covering all the needs of Croatian patients, the new facility will also provide services to other countries in the surrounding area. The investment so far amounted to 7.7 million euros, while in the end the total investment, fully financed by Roche, should reach 9.1 million euros. It is important to note that in addition to arranging and equipping the laboratory, the project includes the education and training of the staff of the institute and the development of the Croatian Oncology Database.
Prof Dr Fran Borovecki says this: “The opening of the new Institute for Personalized Medicine at the University Hospital Center Zagreb will usher a new era in the diagnostics and treatment of oncology patients, but also other patients as well. The paradigm shift it brings will mean that we will no longer treat patients according to their clinical diagnosis, but instead, we will treat them according to their molecular profile.”
The National Laboratory for Tumour Gene Profiling will conduct comprehensive tumour genomic profiling based on the next or new-generation tumour sequencing method. This implies the analysis of thousands of genes at once, and therefore the processing of the obtained data is extremely important. Along with the analysis of the tumour tissue, a liquid biopsy will be performed (analysis of circulating tumour DNA, genetic material in the peripheral blood) and analysis of the entire cellular genome, i.e. the comprehensive genetic material found in the cell. In other words, along with a detailed analysis of the tumour and its predictable mutations, on the basis of which the optimal therapy for the oncological patient will be selected, the mentioned methods will be used for the treatment of other diseases as well. The capacity of the laboratory is 5,000 tests per year with the possibility of increasing it to 10,000 test.
