3D Mapping for Tumours
By: Rapid Access International, Inc.
December 2018
Cancer Research UK's website touts their Grand Challenge as “the most ambitious cancer research grantin the world - a series of £20m awards seeking international, multidisciplinary teams willing to take on
the toughest challenges in cancer - providing the freedom to try novel approaches, at scale, in thepursuit of life changing discoveries.”1
In the first round thanks the support of donors and the Dutch Cancer Society, four international,
multidisciplinary teams, each received up to £20m over a period of 5 years to take on the toughest
challenges in cancer research2
Creating Virtual Reality Maps of Tumours
As director of Cancer Research UK Cambridge Institute (CRUK), Professor Greg Hannon at the Universityof Cambridge leads one of the first CRUK Grand Challenge Awards. In 2017, his team received a GrandAward of £20m over 6 years to “create the world’s first virtual reality map of cancer tumours to reveal
their cellular and molecular make up, in order to improve diagnosis and treatment.”3 The team consistsof 15 investigators located in the UK, Switzerland, USA, Canada and the Republic of Ireland.
In a summary of the project posted on the CRUK website, a simple graphic illustrates the process ofCreating a Cirtual Reality Tumor4:1)
2)
3)
4)
5)

A detailed reverence picture of a tumor is taken
Wafer thin slices are cut from the tumour
The slices are deeply analysed right down to their genetic information
The information is processed and the tumour is rebuilt in virtual reality
Multiple users earing 3D virtual reality headsets can step into the tumour, view and analyse it
simultaneously.

The Promise of Tumour Mapping
The project is placing focus on building a 3D breast cancer tumour map that will lead to “significant
advances in the understanding – and thus diagnosis, treatment and management – of cancer”5.

1Overview – Grand Challenge. Cancer Research UK Website. Available at:https://www.cancerresearchuk.org/funding-for-researchers/how-we-deliver-research/grand-challenge-award.
Accessed on December 29, 2018.
2
Teams. Cancer Research UK Website. Available at: https://www.cancerresearchuk.org/funding-forresearchers/how-we-deliver-research/grand-challenge-award/previously-funded-teams. Accessed on December
29, 2018.
3“Professor Greg Hannon Leads £20 Million Grand Challenge Project to Build 3D Cancer Tumor”. Cambridge InAmerica. Available at: https://www.cantab.org/about-us/1729. Accessed on December 29, 2018.
4
Fully Funded Team – Their Project. Creating a Virtual Reality Tumor Graphic. Cancer Research UK Website.
Available at: https://www.cancerresearchuk.org/funding-for-researchers/how-we-deliver-research/grandchallenge-award/funded-teams-hannon. Accessed on December 29, 2018.
5Cambridge In America, op. cit.

Professor Hannon explains: “Cells communicate with each other in ways that we really don’t yet capturewith any technology that we have developed so far. But with our project, we hope to change that.” 6
He further explained what he called a ‘Superman mode’ wherein scientists will be able to ‘walk into’ the3D tumour using virtual reality and then examine its workings in unprecedented detail: "It literally lets
you fly inside a tumour, point at every cell, know exactly what kind of cell it is, know what it’s doing, who
it is talking to, and what it is saying to them. By doing this, we could learn more about tumours andbegin to answer questions that have eluded cancer scientists for many years."7 He provides these samedetails in a Cancer Research UK video posted on YouTube, entitled “Creating Virtual Reality Maps ofTumours”.8
The Grand Challenge: Going Forward
The first round of Grand Challenge Awards included Professor Hannon’s team and four other recipients.
Back in June 2017, the second round of £20m Grand Challenge funding awards was opened. 134
applications across 41 countries were reviewed, and 10 multidisciplinary, international teams have beenshortlisted. Each of these teams have received £30,000 seed funding to work up their applications forinterviews. Decisions about which teams will receive full funding will be announced in early 2019.
The Cancer Research UK website has posted details on the Round 2 shortlisted teams on their website.9
Some of the areas of focus include how obesity can cause cancer, the impact of chronic inflammation asa cause of cancer, mining of medical records for early signs of cancer, and the use of personalized cancer
vaccines.

6Cambridge In America. op. citIbid.
8
Creating virtual reality maps of tumours | Cancer Research UK. Cancer Research UK YouTube Channel. February
10, 2017. Available at: https://youtu.be/a8mZqcmRJrk. Accessed on December 29, 2018.
9Teams – Round 2 Shortlisted Teams. Cancer Resarch UK Website. Available at:https://www.cancerresearchuk.org/funding-for-researchers/how-we-deliver-research/grand-challengeaward/round-2-shortlisted-teams. Accessed on December 29, 2018.
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