The VCCC alliance took a look at the emerging area of personalised medicine for World Cancer Day last week with a live online event called Six weeks with my biopsy – a story of cancer and genomics.
At the same time, Science published a special issue on the 20th anniversary of the sequencing of the human genome – showing how far we have come in a short time.
While the Science editorial feature takes a deep dive into the complicated legacies of the achievement – and prompts scientists everywhere to reflect on where they were 20 years ago – the VCCC event presented a discussion about the effect genomic sequencing has had on one individual and how that impacts on the whole cancer community whether they be a patient, researcher or clinician.
After losing an eye to melanoma 12 years ago, Vicky Morrison’s cancer returned four years ago with tumours in her head, lungs and thorax.
When standard treatments proved to be no longer effective, Vicky took part in whole-genome sequencing, learning her disease was different from standard melanoma cases and may respond to a novel immunotherapy compound.
During the discussion, Dr Belinda Lee, Dr Stephen Luen, Dr Richard Tothill and Vicky provided some compelling insights, demonstrating how genomics innovation and use in clinical care is a progressive area and how recent advances in science and technology have helped speed up the pace of this area of research.
If you missed the special one-hour presentation, you can view it now on our website.
Would you like to be involved?
The VCCC is currently exploring the opportunity to establish a Precision Oncology Consumer Reference Group to work alongside its Personalised Cancer Care Program, with the aim to document the cancer patient experience.
We are interested in hearing from people with a lived experience of cancer (including people with a lived experience of cancer genomic testing) to potentially join the group.
In the first instance, please provide your details confidentially here - by 5.00pm Wednesday 31 March 2021, and we will be in touch with you as the opportunity develops.
You can read more about consumer engagement at the VCCC on the Consumer Engagement Current Projects page.
The VCCC Molecular Tumour Board (MTB) is a multidisciplinary style forum that provides opinion on the clinical implications of molecular pathology test results of tumours. You can read more about the MTB on VCCC Research Program pages.
