IPN and the University of Oxford sign a collaboration agreement to create a biobank in the future

• It is proposed that it be installed in CICATA Morelos, with the purpose of accelerating cancer research in a period of 5 to 10 years.

• Dr. Arturo Reyes Sandoval, IPN’s General Director stated that there is a commitment to Mexican society, and the biobank will be a fundamental contribution to research.

• Dr. Isabela Pedroza-Pacheco, principal researcher at the University of Oxford, highlighted that the agreement will allow us to better understand how the environment shapes the immune response.

In order to establish joint academic-scientific work, the Instituto Politécnico Nacional (National Polytechnic Institute / IPN) and the University of Oxford signed a collaboration agreement that allows the study and identification of the genetic, cellular, molecular and proteomic characteristics of samples from Mexican colon cancer patients and, in turn, create a future Mexican biobank on cancer.

The collaboration project will be led by Dr. Isabela Pedroza-Pacheco, who has more than a decade of experience in infectious diseases and cancer research and will have the advice and support of the general director of the IPN, Arturo Reyes Sandoval, and Professor Tim Elliott, director of the Center for Immuno-Oncology at the Nuffield Department of Medicine and co-director of OxfordCancer, at the University of Oxford

This Mexican cancer studies establishment will be fundamental support to accelerate transnational research on this disease in a period of 5 to 10 years, focusing mainly on prevention, diagnosis and treatment.

Dr. Isabela Pedroza-Pacheco, Mexican-British immunologist, principal investigator at the University of Oxford and visiting professor at IPN, highlighted that the work in Mexico “will provide interesting opportunities to compare cohorts (numbers) from the United Kingdom and Mexico to better understand how “The environment shapes the immune response.”

When signing the document, IPN’s general director, held that beyond the scientific advances achieved with this research, there is a commitment to Mexican society and in that sense the biobank, which will be installed in the Applied Science and Advanced Technology Research Center (CICATA), Morelos Unit, is a fundamental contribution to research and science in Mexico.

The project –he said– is aligned with the strategy of President Claudia Sheinbaum Pardo, who is also a scientist aiming to promote this sector in the country, starting with uplifting Mexico’s National Council of Humanities, Sciences and Technologies (Conahcyt) to a State Secretariat level.

For his part, Professor Tim Elliott commented that: “By establishing this equitable partnership, we hope to strengthen global health research capacity and provide new knowledge about the links between diet, lifestyle and cancer incidence.”

The agreed collaboration is expected to be divided into various phases. In one of them, expected to be carried out at the beginning of next year, it focuses on obtaining samples from Mexican patients with colon cancer from prestigious health institutions, such as the General Hospital of Mexico.

It also seeks to transfer, through a satellite laboratory, the work methodology from the University of Oxford and store, at first, the obtained samples. Additionally, said samples will be employed and procedures will be implemented towards elucidating relationships between the cellular and molecular characteristics to the condition.

The activities to be carried out include the study of the localization and expression of various proteins, the identification of known mutations and the discovery of new modifications that may be related to cancer, as well as the establishment of the biobank with perfectly identified samples that comply with the applicable regulations.

This strategy represents an opportunity for the implementation of more effective treatments in Mexico through timely diagnosis and knowledge of the cellular and molecular bases of this kind of disease, which is already the second type of cancer with the most mortality worldwide. The collaboration aims to combat the rising rates of colorectal cancer in Mexico, whose incidence is expected to double by 2040.