A unique research collaboration, which aims to improve the way in which patients are treated for breast cancer, has been launched in Ireland.

This is the first cancer research collaboration of its kind in the world and will bring together the expertise of both Irish and international scientists.

Known as BREAST-PREDICT, the project will provide scientists with centralised access to resources, such as patient samples. According to the Irish Cancer Society (ICS), ‘this will lead to an integrated breast cancer database and modelling of virtual cancer patients to track prognosis and therapy response'.

"It will harness biological information to redefine how breast cancer is treated, with the ultimate goal of precision therapy - that is, more accurate and personalised approaches," the charity, which is investing €7.5 million in the project over the coming five years, explained.

According to BREAST-PREDICT director, Prof William Gallagher of UCD, the project will improve outcomes for breast cancer patients both in Ireland and around the world.

Currently, some 2,500 women are newly diagnosed with breast cancer in Ireland every year.

"It will, for the first time in Ireland, harness the wealth of data available on breast cancer from around the globe to inform new clinical trials and treatments, and link in with world leading scientists and institutions such as the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute in Boston and the Cambridge Research Institute in the UK," Prof Gallagher explained.

He added that the ‘ultimate goal' of this research is ‘personalised medicine, which allows us to tailor therapy towards individual patients based on the characteristics of their particular tumour'.

Meanwhile according to ICS head of research, Prof John Fitzpatrick, this marks the ‘biggest thing the Irish Cancer Society has ever done in the area of cancer research in Ireland'.

He added that the ICS's €7.5 million investment in BREAST-PREDICT is coming ‘entirely from fundraising'.