Reducing morbidity and mortality from myeloma by earlier diagnosis using a rapid and simple blood test

骨髓瘤是一种骨髓浆细胞癌症，可导致贫血、肾和骨骼损伤以及严重免疫缺陷。在主要癌症中，骨髓瘤是诊断延迟最严重的，这导致了大量的发病率和早期死亡率。在英国，在医院转诊之前，初级保健的平均咨询次数为3次。在资源有限的中低收入国家，诊断是一个更大的问题。该项目的目的是开发一种简单，快速的血液测试，可以加速骨髓瘤的诊断。该项目将包括测试开发，优化和评估，这将通过与行业合作伙伴谁是分析开发专家的位置支持。它还将涉及临床样本的实验室分析，然后进入临床实践初步研究（在英国和非洲）中测试设备的最终项目阶段。在临床实验室工作，与行业一起并与临床医生合作，目标是为新测试产生证据基础，以便在更大的试验中采用，并走向商业化，以在不同的环境中实现患者利益。研究生研究员将学习适用于广泛的科学领域和职业道路的跨学科技能。

Myeloma is a cancer of bone marrow plasma cells that causes anaemia, kidney and skeletal damage and severe immunodeficiency. Of the major cancers, myeloma ranks worst for diagnostic delays and this causes substantial morbidity and early mortality. In the UK there are a median three consultations in primary care before hospital referral. Diagnosis is an even greater problem in low-middle income countries with limited resources. The aim of this project is to develop a simple, rapid blood test that can accelerate myeloma diagnosis. The project will include test development, optimisation and evaluation, which will be supported through placements with an industry partner who are experts in assay development. It will also involve laboratory analysis of clinical samples before moving onto the final project phase of testing the device in preliminary studies in clinical practice (in the UK and Africa). Working in a clinical laboratory, alongside industry and collaborating with clinicians, the goal is to generate an evidence-base for the new test for uptake in larger trials and towards commercialisation to achieve patient benefits in different settings. The post-graduate researcher will learn interdisciplinary skills that are applicable to a broad range of scientific fields and career pathways.