Professor Valerie Speirs is co-principal investigator of the Breast Cancer Now Biobank. Here Valerie and Edward Jones, our research communications officer, discuss how the biobank has grown over the past 10 years to become a phenomenal medical resource.
It’s about striving for improved outcomes for patients in future
Valerie is a laboratory scientist with a PhD in cancer biology. She’s been working in breast cancer research for more than 25 years, and helped create the Biobank Project.
To date, the biobank has collected almost 129,000 samples from people who are at risk or affected by breast cancer. Already, more than 16,000 of those samples have been allocated to research projects.
Among the projects Val and Edward talk about in this episode is the Cell Atlas, and how that’s transforming the way researchers understand the biology of disease. It could, Val explains, lead to major advances in the way breast cancer is diagnosed and treated in future.
The biobank has grown over the last 10 years to become a phenomenal resource.
Val
Everyone’s experience is unique to them. This podcast contains the personal story and experience of the speaker, rather than that of Breast Cancer Now.
Breast Cancer Now podcast
You can subscribe to The Breast Cancer Now Podcast via your preferred podcast provider. This is where you'll hear the personal stories of people who have experienced breast cancer, as well as discussions with healthcare professionals and researchers.