The NEY Podcast team recently interviewed Dr. Polly Talley and found out all about the important role of genomics for patients with Haematological-Oncology (HaemOnc) disorders – and discussed using genomic technologies to rapidly diagnose and determine treatment for patients with leukaemia and lymphoma. Listen to Polly’s fascinating interview on The Road to Genome
Polly also described the use of the latest technologies in HaemOnc including the use of whole genome sequencing (WGS) including long read sequencing through a project being piloted in the NEY Genomic Laboratory Hub (GLH) and the HaemOnc Network of Excellence (NoE) which kicked off in April this year.
The HaemOnc NoE is one of eight NoEs which have been funded for two years with the aim of accelerating the translation of research to patient testing. The HaemOnc NoE is being co-led by NEY and Central & South (C&S) Genomic Medicine Services. It aims to explore six work packages all touching on areas of unmet need or where more advanced technologies would benefit HaemOnc patients in the extent or speed of genomic testing they receive.
The work packages cover a wide range of areas including:
- the introduction of a rapid WGS service designed to have a clinically relevant turnaround time
- a single next generation sequencing (NGS)-based diagnostic panel for patients with myeloma
- the development of a predication tool and guidelines for screening patients with CHIP (clonal haematopoiesis of indeterminate potential) and CCUS (clonal cytopaenia of unknown significance)
- understanding the precision medicine testing pathways for patients with lymphoma
- validating assays for the monitoring of CAR-T in patients following this therapy, and
- introducing a molecular methodology for telomeropathy testing.
The diagram below illustrates the HaemOnc NoE and the work packages included:
