Physiomics plc announced that it has been chosen by The University of Sheffield to support a grant funded project focused on an insect model of cancer treatment. The value of this work to Physiomics will be PS45,000 and will commence in the second half of this calendar year. The work is in support of one of seven cancer-focused projects recently announced by the University, all of which will be funded by Yorkshire Cancer Research.

This work follows on from a pilot project with the University, funded by the UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) Higher Education Innovation Funding (HEIF) scheme (announced 31 May 2023), and Physiomics will once again be working with principal investigator Dr Kyra Campbell, who has led a significant programme of research in this field since December 2021. The project is focused on the development of an insect model of cancer that could be used to screen new drugs prior to pre-clinical testing in more traditional models of cancer and has a particular focus on the prediction of metastasis. This new approach could provide important insights into the development of novel cancer therapies as well as potentially reduce the number of pre-clinical animals involved in the drug development process.

Physiomics' role will be to create mathematical models based on experimental data generated by Dr Campbell and her team and explore the relationship between the effect of drugs in these models, established models and humans. Physiomics will also provide advice and guidance on the possible commercialisation of the technology.