Trinity College Dublin
Dublin, Ireland

Minister of State at the Department of Health and Children, Brian Lenihan TD, launched the Academic Unit of Clinical and Molecular Oncology (AUCMO), and the Division of Radiation Therapy incorporating the TELESYNERGY® system at the Institute of Molecular Medicine, Trinity College Dublin, on Tuesday 2nd March, 2004. The new Unit unifies significant elements of the Colleges activities in education, research and clinical practice emphasing the important multidisciplinary nature of cancer care. The Academic Unit brings together the clinical departments of Radiation Oncology, Medical Oncology and Palliative Care together with the University's Division of Radiation Therapy, and the Cancer Research Laboratory within the Institute of Molecular Medicine.

The AUCMO is an integral part of the faculty of Health Sciences at Trinity College Dublin (TCD). The AUCMO is the first university programme in the Republic of Ireland to commission the NIH TELESYNERGY® system, creating a unique link between TCD, the NIH and the NCI in Washington DC, the NCI /EORTC office in Brussels, St. Luke's Hospital, Queens University, Belfast , Belfast City Hospital and the Cancer Clinical Trials Unit. TELESYNERGY® will significantly enhance international collaboration and the development of inter-institutional translational and clinical research, together with the investigation of advanced new cancer therapies. This programme will build on the research interests of AUCMO staff, which include the following areas of basic research and clinical investigations:

• Molecular and genetic analyses of prostate, breast, oesophageal and lung cancers
• Pre-clinical study of new cancer therapies including gene targeting and gene therapy
• Development of novel molecular screening approaches for specific cancers
• Study of familial cancer syndromes and high risk families
• Development of bio-mathematical modelling tools for radiation oncology treatment
• Analysis of tele-medicine and tele-oncology programmes including TELESYNERGY®
• Development of new risk management strategies and protocols for cancer care
• Development of quality assurance systems for oncology practice
• Development of institutional, national and international phase I - III cancer clinical trials
• Analysis of quality of life indices within oncology clinical practice
• Cost benefit and cost utility analyses of existing and new treatments

Equipment installed at this site: Full TELESYNERGY® system using NIH software on a Linux Workstation.