A state-of-the-art National Health Service (NHS) laboratory has been launched in the UK, aiming to improve the diagnosis and treatment of cancer patients according to their individual needs.

The Royal Marsden Centre for Cancer Genomics is the first of its kind in the UK to introduce a new diagnostic method called composite biomarker testing. It aims to help medical teams and patients across the country make better diagnoses and treatments.

The innovative method combines comprehensive information about a patient and their specific tumour with artificial intelligence (AI) to create a complete and detailed picture of a patient’s disease.

This information will help doctors to provide NHS patients with opportunities to participate in clinical research trials, prescribe treatments tailored to their needs and adopt innovative care approaches that can be adapted as the disease progresses.

Speaking to the Press Association, Michael Heubank, scientific director of clinical genomics at the Royal Marsden and professor of translational genomics at the Institute of Cancer Research in London, said his team is constantly looking at what kind of progress is expected in cancer diagnosis and treatment over the next three to five years.