UHS researcher wins Rs21.5m HEC grant

Funding is approved under Local Challenge Fund initiative of HEC

LAHORE:

The Higher Education Commission (HEC) has approved a grant of Rs21.5 million for a research project of the University of Health Sciences (UHS) on early-stage screening of patients with colorectal cancer.

The principal investigator of the research is the immunology department’s head, Dr Shah Jahan.

This is the sixth research funding won by the stalwart researcher.

The title of the research project is “Fecal microbiota profiling and molecular biomarkers for colorectal cancer screening at an early stage: A way towards the non-invasive, cost-effective, and accurate CRC screening assay for local patients”.

The funding has been approved under the Local Challenge Fund initiative of the HEC with the support of the World Bank. Colorectal cancer (CRC) is a common gastrointestinal tumour, affecting 1.36 million people with about 65,000 deaths per year worldwide and ranked as the fourth leading cause of death in Pakistan.

From benign to malignant, it follows a long stepwise progression. CRC remains asymptomatic in the early stage and spreads sporadically in most cases. Environmental factors play a leading role in the sporadic spread. The death rate can be reduced significantly if detected early.

Published in The Express Tribune, May 24^th, 2022.