Beckman Coulter Life Sciences and the Indiana University School of Medicine to expand leukemia and lymphoma testing in Africa

Beckman Coulter Life Sciences and the Indiana University School of Medicine, have been awarded a grant from the National Cancer Institute totaling $2.5 million over a five-year period to increase critical leukemia and lymphoma testing access in Western Kenya.

Led by Indiana University School of Medicine’s Dr. Terry Vik, Project Director and Principal Investigator, collaborators include the AMPATH Reference Laboratory, Moi Teaching and Referral Hospital, University of Missouri, and the Burkitt’s Lymphoma Fund for Africa.

The grant will expand work that started in 2018 in Western Kenya to adapt flow cytometry methods for early detection of pediatric hematologic malignancies, including sample workflow processes and training of personnel. It will enable healthcare providers in Western Kenya to increase staffing and supplies to bolster testing capacity and reduce turnaround time, leading to improved quality of life.

The grant will also support clinical studies that compare early access screening with sub-classifications of leukemias and lymphomas using patient bone marrow aspirates and peripheral blood for a less invasive sampling method. The study supported by the RO1 NIH Grant will enroll 500 patients to participate and provide 3,000 flow cytometry assays.

The team has partnered with the Burkitt’s Lymphoma Fund for Africa since beginning the initiative to greatly reduce the prevalence of hematological malignancies, particularly in children, through expanding access to testing. If diagnosed early, most of these pediatric malignancies are curable.

As a result of the Kenya team’s work to expand testing and education, leukemia and lymphoma mortality has improved by up to 50% since the partnership began, which has fueled demand for more testing.

"While survival rates and treatment options are strong, if you can't make a diagnosis, the child has no chance,” said Dr. Terry Vik at the Indiana University School of Medicine. “That's why we have focused on getting an accurate diagnosis as quickly as possible. What I witnessed in Kenya the last six years is that awareness of childhood cancer has increased remarkably. We've tripled the number diagnoses annually and improved survival by offering curative therapy in many of the common pediatric cancers we see. It is an honor to continue empowering these laboratories to expand their life-saving work."

The National Cancer Institute is part of the U. S. Department of Health and Human Services’ National Institutes of Health.

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