Presentation of the Centre
The IRCCS-CROB, Referral Cancer Centre of Basilicata is an autonomous, public, no-profit Institute for Cancer Research and Care (IRCCS). It was recognized by the Italian Ministry of Health and by the Regional Government of Basilicata in 2008 after a starting-up phase shared with the Istituto Nazionale Tumori in Milan.
The Institute has two clinical departments (Onco-Haematology and General/Women Surgery) that manage adult solid tumours and haematological malignancies. One additional diagnostic and therapeutic department that includes Radiotherapy, Nuclear Medicine, Laboratory, Radiology/Diagnostic Imaging and Pathological Anatomy. Nephrology, Psycho-oncology and Cardio-oncology services are also available.
The Institute coordinates the Regional Cancer Registry and the Screenings for breast, cervix and intestinal cancers and it holds useful relationships with several Universities and other Cancer Centres.
Main research activities
According to the institutional research plan, the scientific objectives pursued are:
- new tailored treatments based on molecular traits of tumours (precision medicine)
- novel therapeutic targets and prognostic biomarkers
- innovation in high technologies (radiology, nuclear medicine and
radiotherapy), including procedures for monitoring environmental professional risks tumour epidemiology, preventive/predictive medicine, cancer patients’ quality of life and survivorship.
The Laboratories of Clinical and Translational Research are equipped with all needed facilities for advanced cytofluorimetric, cytogenetic, molecular and immune-histochemical diagnostics, as well as for next generation sequencing, gene expression profiling, transcriptome and methylation analysis, genotyping, protein screening, and SNP discovery.
Core Facilities
- Hematopoietic stem cell transplantation
- Thoracic, abdominal, breast, urologic, gynaecologic and plastic/reconstructive specialised surgeries
- Conformational, brachi- and intra-operative radiotherapy (n. 3 linear accelerators)
- Metabolic and radioligand therapies
- Pain therapy (vertebro/kypho-plasty)
- Palliative and Intermediate/Interdisciplinary cares (hospice included)
- Video-mediastinal thoracoscopy 3D
- 3-Tesla RMN with laser-guided system for micro-biopsies
- PET-TC (novel tracers, volumetric evaluation of neoplastic metabolism)
- Bio-banking
- NextSeq 550dx Illumina and Ion GeneStudio S5 next-generation sequencing platforms
- Liquid biopsy (circulating tumor cells)
- Laparoscopic radical prostatectomy 3D and robotic prostate surgery