“It’s the most non-invasive approach I could think of for collecting a sample,” Foia explains. “You would be able to decide when to do it, how to do it and where to do it. It would be completely on your own terms.”
Cancer Research Horizons supported her by connecting her with a mentor with expertise in cancer and sponsoring her place on the University of Edinburgh’s [Venture Builder Incubator (VBI) programme](https://bayes-centre.ed.ac.uk/accelerating-entrepreneurship/vbi).
The VBI programme helps postgraduate students, postdoctoral researchers and academic staff to develop their startup. Cancer Research Horizons partners with VBI to support academics using their research for the prevention, diagnosis and treatment of cancer.
More research is needed to validate self-sampling and at-home HPV testing methods, like Papcup, before they can be included in the cervical screening programme. However, this is an exciting step towards making cervical screening easier and more accessible.
[Read more about Sânziana and Papcup.](https://news.cancerresearchuk.org/2024/09/04/papcup-at-home-hpv-test-to-make-cervical-screening-smear-test-easier/)
Professor Christine Harrison
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Professor Christine Harrison, Professor of Childhood Cancer Cytogenetics at Newcastle University Centre for Cancer, is one of the most highly regarded leukaemia cytogeneticists in the world, and her research has helped optimise treatments for children and young people with acute leukaemia.
Cytogenetics – the study of chromosomes, and how genes are inherited – helps to diagnose genetic diseases, plan treatment, and monitor effectiveness of therapy.
Harrison played an instrumental role in the creation of a database for the collection of cytogenetic data of acute leukaemia in 1988. By assisting clinicians to understand the role of chromosomal abnormalities in leukaemia, it has led to more effective treatments.
This database, renowned as one of the best leukaemia genetics research resources in the world, now includes data on over 35,000 UK patients, which has identified new genetic risk categories and changed treatment approaches.