The European Translational Oncology Prevention & Screening (EUTOPS) Institute is a new research institution at the Leopold-Franzens-University of Innsbruck (formally affiliated with the Institute for Biomedical Ageing Research) led by Prof Martin Widschwendter. The institute was established in spring 2020, aiming to support research into improving prevention and screening methodologies in oncology. Cancer therapies have drastically improved over the past decades, yet many cancers, such as ovarian, pancreatic and lung cancer continue to have a poor 5-year survival following diagnosis and are typically detected at late stages; little improvement in patient survival has been observed in the past 20 years. For most cancers, the prognosis is best when the disease is detected at an earlier stage but ideally, the disease should be prevented altogether.
Our core mission is to develop methodologies, which can identify individuals at risk of developing cancer, and to investigate preventive measures and their effectiveness. Our expectation is that the cancer incidence will be drastically reduced using these methods.
We employ a state-of-the-art translational research approach and have both clinical and laboratory research facilities.
Our clinical facilities are located at the Landeskrankenhaus Hall. Here we carry out ongoing clinical research, such as the TirolGESUND study, LIFE- and SUN-Tirol studies.
Our high-throughput epigenetics and genetics laboratory is located in Zams. Here, our enthusiastic laboratory team carries out molecular analyses of samples, developing methods for the early detection of women-specific cancers.
Martin Widschwendter is Professor for Cancer Prevention and Screening and the Director of the European Translational Oncology Prevention and Screening (EUTOPS) Institute.
