Planning is underway to establish a dedicated Photodynamic Therapy Brain Cancer Centre in Scotland aimed at advancing translational neuro-oncology and preclinical glioblastoma research.
The centre would be a collaboration between The Global Alliance for Neurosurgical & Brain Cancer Research Innovations and a leading academic partner in Scotland.
Mr Nazar Vasyliv (pictured), a neurosurgeon and CEO of The Global Alliance for Neurosurgical & Brain Cancer Research Innovations, has been invited to share its research at the next meeting of the Global Alliance at Scottish Parliament for Brain Tumour Party this summer.
Mr Vasyliv, who is a dedicated PhD candidate at the University of Edinburgh and neurosurgeon, said: “Our research holds the potential for providing a more targeted, effective means of eradicating glioblastoma cells while preserving surrounding healthy tissue and this development is a hugely important step forward for us.
“We’re very excited to be working on plans for the centre with a leading academic partner. At the moment we have to keep its location confidential but we can confirm it’s widely recognised for its cancer research.
“We’re also delighted to have entered into constructive dialogue with officials from the Government’s Chief Scientist Office, following formal correspondence with Jenni Minto MSP, Minister for Public Health and Women’s Health, who has expressed interest in the scientific direction of our work.”
International collaboration
At the same time The Global Alliance for Neurosurgical & Brain Cancer Research Innovations has also entered into an international partnership with Global Surgical Innovations (GSI) in Australia. GSI is coordinated by the Sydney Spine Institute in Australia and is led by CEO Dr Philip Boughton.
Dr Boughton said: “Our team has developed proprietary technology – actv-graft® and bioluminos® – that could potentially enable photodynamic therapy to be administered in a practical way as part of existing surgical workflow and with minimal additional risk to the patient.
“It’s exciting to discuss ways that photodynamic therapy could be administered after surgery and non-invasively to provide an optimal therapeutic outcome with minimised risks for the patient.
“The establishment of The Global Alliance for Neurosurgical & Brain Cancer Research Innovations helps us to team up and gear up to innovate and means we are stepping closer to making glioblastoma a treatable predicament for our youngest, most vulnerable patients.”
Educational webinar
Mr Vasyliv will also present the preclinical framework and translational outlook of his photodynamic therapy-necroptosis model to an international audience of clinicians and researchers at a webinar in July.
The webinar will be hosted by internationally renowned neurosurgeon-scientist, Professor James Rutka, Director of the Arthur and Sonia Labatt Brain Tumour Research Centre and Chair of Neurosurgery at the University of Toronto.
The webinar – Photodynamic Therapy in Glioblastoma: From Molecular Oncology to Translational Clinical Outcomes – will take place at 2pm on Thursday, July 9, and will be run by the Walter E. Dandy Neurosurgical Club. For further information email dandyclubyemen@gmail.com
