PROJECT
SANGUINE: Early detection and screening of hematological malignancies
A PROJECT FOR: European Union (Horizon Europe program)
BRIEF
The Challenge
Project SANGUINE is a response to the Cancer Mission Call, driven by the pressing societal challenge of cancer in Europe. With 2.7 million new cancer diagnoses annually in the EU, the project specifically targets hematological malignancies, constituting 10% of cases.
Aligned with the Cancer Mission's four objectives—understanding, prevention, diagnosis, and improving quality of life—the project introduces an innovative minimally-invasive blood test. This test, based on detecting epigenetic biomarkers in DNA, offers superior sensitivity at a low cost, ideal for screening purposes. The SANGUINE team, comprising medical, technological, and social experts, ensures a holistic approach to optimizing the diagnostic test.
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With a user-centric focus and real-life clinical implementation, the project aims to enhance accessibility and increase screening rates. Ultimately, Project SANGUINE aims to provide validated reagents, HemaChips, and data analysis software, ready for large-scale screening.
FOCUS
The Approach
The project employs a multidisciplinary approach, emphasising five social principles—beneficence, non-maleficence, autonomy, justice, and explainability—the project intertwines sociology, psychology, ethics, and other SSH disciplines for comprehensive data analysis. Through addressing and overcoming bias, such as under-representation, and ethical considerations, the blood test is designed to be inclusive and reliable.
Legal, policy, economics, and public administration branches contribute to shaping regulatory frameworks and facilitating implementation. Effective communication and stakeholder involvement drive result dissemination and engagement, promoting collaboration at every stage of the project.
CONCLUSIONS
The envisioned result
SANGUINE is creating a multifaceted platform technology capable of adapting to various cancer types and diverse tests. This includes applications for screening, early disease detection, disease classification, minimal residual disease detection, and disease management. The adaptability is only dependent on the samples utilized during the development process.
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As experts in behavioural science,the role of PredictBy consists of conducting a societal study using a design thinking approach, where several communication approaches will be tested. In addition, we are responsible for the design and execution of a co-creation process to establish the instruments to increase screening rates. PredictBy will conduct the following tasks:
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PredictBy contributes to the following tasks:
PREDICTBY
Our role
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Conducting a scoping review on how behavioural science can improve participation rates for screening
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Organising focus groups
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Conducting in-depth interviews
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Creating and testing of several communication package mock-ups
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