The use of High Content Phenotypic screening to guide the clinical management of cancer treatment.

Beating cancer requires a treatment that kills cancer cells but leaves normal tissue unharmed. While this seems simple enough it is actually very difficult because cancer cells look so much like normal cells when it comes to treating with anti-cancer drugs. The drugs that are available to treat cancer all aim to target cancer cells in preference to normal cells but how good they are at doing this will depend on how toxic they are to the cancer of that particular patient. If a particular cancer is very sensitive to a drug then it can be used at lower doses thus minimizing nasty side effects. Similarly if the cancer is very resistant to a drug then using it will only damage normal tissue and make the situation worse. The currently funded project aims to develop a clever diagnostic assay that will tell the clincians which of the available drugs will be most effective for each patient thus personalising the treatment of cancer and so helping those who are afflicted with this terrible condition.