Objective 3

To provide evidence of the power of spectroscopy for use in the clinical arena

Leads

Goals

  • Harnessing the capacity of the network to pool resources and instrumentation to facilitate multi-centre trials
  • Investigate variability in the equipment and methodologies employed in order to facilitate a multi-centre multi-instrument clinical trial
  • Successful completion of at least one  (ideally three) multi-centre trials during funding
  • Capturing the lessons learnt and delivering effective protocols for multi-centre trials

Reasons and added value

At present, several groups in the UK (and in this proposed network) have a number of excellent infrared or Raman spectroscopy based studies reporting either the proof of concept or reporting small scale trials demonstrating the utility of the technique for clinical applications. As yet there is no funding for large scale trials. The network will offer the opportunity to pool small scale trial data to demonstrate on a larger scale that the technologies are indeed viable thus leading to non-EPSRC funding of a major clinical trial.