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The National Cancer Institute, under the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ National Institutes of Health, has awarded a grant totaling $2.5 million to Indiana University School of Medicine alongside life sciences company Beckman Coulter.

The grant is aimed at increasing leukemia and lymphoma testing access in Western Kenya.

It will support ongoing efforts in the region, including sample workflow procedures and staff training to implement flow cytometry techniques for the early detection of pediatric hematologic malignancies.

These efforts have been going on since 2018.

Since the start of the campaign, the team has collaborated with the Burkitt's Lymphoma Fund for Africa to increase access to testing in an effort to significantly lower the startling frequency of pediatric hematological malignancies, majority of which are treatable with early detection.

Leukemia and lymphoma mortality has decreased by as much as 50% since the cooperation started thanks to the Kenya team's tireless efforts to increase testing and education, which has increased demand for additional testing.

The AMPATH Reference Laboratory, Moi Teaching and Referral Hospital, University of Missouri, and the Burkitt's Lymphoma Fund for Africa are among the partners, under the direction of Dr. Terry Vik, Principal Investigator and Project Director at Indiana University School of Medicine.

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“When we learned how severely deprived of critical resources Africa was in this workflow for something easily diagnosable and treatable, we knew we could make a positive impact,” said Tony Boova, Beckman Coulter Life Sciences Principal Medical and Scientific Affairs. “We quickly established a collaboration that provided resources to increase testing through flow cytometry automation. Six years after the journey began, it is gratifying to contribute as an industry partner with Dr. Vik and the Indiana University School of Medicine and to know we will be able to ramp up efforts to save lives through increased testing in other African countries.”

"While survival rates and treatment options are strong, if you can't make a diagnosis, the child has no chance,” said Dr. Terry Vik at the Indiana University School of Medicine. “That's why we have focused on getting an accurate diagnosis as quickly as possible. What I witnessed in Kenya the last six years is that awareness of childhood cancer has increased remarkably. We've tripled the number of diagnoses annually and improved survival by offering curative therapy in many of the common pediatric cancers we see. It is an honor. to continue empowering these laboratories to expand their life-saving work."

Western Kenyan healthcare providers will be able to improve quality of life by increasing staffing and supplies to support testing capacity and shorten turnaround times thanks to the award.

Additionally, employing patient bone marrow aspirates and peripheral blood as a less intrusive sampling technique, the funding will fund clinical trials that compare early access screening with sub-classifications of leukemias and lymphomas.

The RO1 NIH Grant-supported study will deliver 3,000 flow cytometry assays and recruit 500 participants.