The OECI Network

Presentation of the Centre

The Trinity St. James’s Cancer Institute integrates the long tradition of outstanding comprehensive cancer care delivered at Ireland’s largest academic health campus at St. James’s Hospital in central Dublin. In 2016, Trinity College Dublin and St. James’s Hospital established a joint initiative to develop the Trinity St. James’s Cancer Institute, bringing together the unique and complementary attributes of both institutions in the field of cancer.

Main research activities

Research at the Trinity St. James’s Cancer Institute is an integrated, thematic programme which involves fundamental science, translational medicine, health economics and planning, and global health. Our research strategy builds on existing strengths and integrates key research areas across 4 main themes, namely cancer prevention, molecular and precision oncology, cancer immunology and cancer survivorship and supportive care. Clinical research spans the breadth of these 4 themes and results in a horizontally and vertically interwoven, multidisciplinary, vibrant cancer research network based on the infrastructure provided by the Trinity Biomedical Sciences Institute, Smurfit Institute for Genetics, CRANN and Trinity Translational Medicine Institute.

Core Facilities

Primary core facilities exist at the Trinity Translational Medicine Institute and the Trinity Biomedical Sciences Institute – comprising Biosafety facilities, The Irish National Centre for High Content Screening and Analysis, Bioresource units and Laboratory for Characterisation of Advanced Biological Materials in addition to the Centre for Advanced Medical Imaging, and the Wellcome Trust – HRB Clinical Research Facility.

Education

The Institute provides extensive education programmes in Translational Oncology for undergraduate and postgraduate students, scientists, clinicians, nurses, healthcare professionals and allied healthcare workers. These programmes are also designed to engage with public-patient involvement (PPI activities). The Institute offers scholarships and fellowship opportunities in clinical and translational research and directs a career development programme for young investigators.

Presentation of the Centre

Cork University Hospital (CUH), supported by its’ academic partner University College Cork (UCC), is one of the largest university teaching hospitals in Ireland and the largest National Cancer Control Programme (NCCP) designated cancer centre in the South of Ireland. The CUH/UCC Cancer Centre provides high-quality care for patients at risk of and diagnosed with cancer, serving a wider population of approximately 1.1 million. The centre treats all major cancer subtypes and is one of only two cancer centres nationally managing surgical care of hepatobiliary/pancreatic and central nervous system tumours.

Core Facilities

Core clinical facilities include inpatient, outpatient and chemotherapy day ward services, alongside surgery and a state-of-the-art Radiation Oncology Centre - one of the largest single-site facilities in Ireland. Multidisciplinary diagnostics are embedded in cancer services and supported by dedicated nursing, allied health, and psycho-oncology teams.

Research and Education

All aspects of cancer prevention and clinical care are integrated with innovative research, education, and training to advance the quality of patient care. CUH houses a robust cancer clinical trials unit (Cancer Trials Cork, site of the UCC Cancer Trials Group) to ensure access to novel diagnostics and therapies for patients with cancer. The broad portfolio encompasses phase I-III therapeutic trials in haematologic/solid malignancies, radiation therapy and surgery; including academic collaborative trials via Cancer Trials Ireland and industry trials, with a developing portfolio of patient-focused investigator-initiated trials. Clinical and translational research currently spans the areas of cancer biology, the microbiome, synthetic biology, precision oncology clinical trials and cancer outcomes research including an expanding portfolio of studies in the cancer survivorship space.