The treatment of cancer on the Sunshine Coast will be revolutionised following the arrival of new medical equipment bought by hospital charity Wishlist.
The Chromium IX Single-Cell Analysis System was bought with the proceeds of last year’s Wishlist Spring Carnival.
The Chromium IX has been called a game changer. On April 30, clinicians and researchers were provided with their first training session with the machine.
The Sunshine Coast Health Institute’s Barry Pritchard says the world-class technology allows researchers to unlock personalised treatments and improve outcomes for patients.
“If you think of your body like a giant city made up of trillions and trillions of tiny little cells that make up a building, most machines we have currently in the lab can only look at the buildings from a distant perspective,” Barry says.
“The Chromium IX allows researchers to zoom in to each building and see what each component is doing on an individual basis.
“It does this by separating 1000s and 1000s of cells by putting each one into its own very, very tiny droplet of a lipid or an oil with special tagging technology.
“It helps researchers answer some really big questions. It can identify which immune cells are attacking cancer, what genes are turned on in damaged organs, and how brain cells change in diseases such as Alzheimer’s.”
Wishlist CEO Brendan Hogan says the Chromium iX delivers on the charity’s aim to support health care close to home.
“Once again, Wishlist and the community working side by side has provided equipment that will help our local hospital staff deliver even better care for patients, close to home,” he says.
