ACTREC in this new 60 acre campus in Navi Mumbai is the metamorphic form of the oldest basic Cancer Research Institute in this part of the world which was established in 1952 in the Mumbai campus of the Tata Memorial Centre. This metamorphosis has brought about a new synergy between basic and clinical sciences and a paradigm of excellence in research, including translational sciences. On behalf of my colleagues I feel very responsible and also confident in stating - 'Just as the challenge of cancer is enormous, so is the opportunity to tackle it and a specialized comprehensive cancer research centre like ACTREC cannot afford to go off the mark'. While I hesitate to endorse the vision statement from the National Cancer Institute, USA- 'eliminating death and suffering from cancer by the year 2015', I sincerely hope that by this time we would have made significant contributions towards the understanding, curability and containment of several cancers.

Our mandate is to create knowledge that will push the frontiers of biology and cancer medicine, solve some of the cancer riddles and generate real and sustainable intellectual excitement amidst the cascading hype. From a basic research perspective, cancer remains one of the most intriguing biological processes. Similarly, from the medical research perspective, cancer is the most challenging human disease to tackle. In this context, we will have to convince ourselves and our peers that our basic research is indeed novel and the translational and clinical research that we do has the potential to define or solve a significant clinical issue. Cancer research is a continuum with several interfaces and its impact may transcend well beyond publications, patents and even patients. We would rate our research efforts, not only by the impact factors or respectability of the journals where we publish, but also by its true impact and the satisfaction from leaving a legacy of significant contributions towards the understanding of the Biological ~ Physical ~ Psychosocial Underpinnings of cancer.  

In basic research, the twenty existing principal investigators along with an equal number of other scientists can possibly cover only a limited spectrum of cancer research, as outlined in the web pages of these investigators. Several basic enquiries have provided interesting leads in various aspects of malignant transformation, progression and metastasis, and some of these leads have entered in to the translational mode. The challenge now is to unlock the true potential of our scientists, recruit new principal investigators with originality and tenacity, and seek collaborators who would further invigorate science at ACTREC. Since cancer is a manifestation of various related and unrelated vital biological processes going wayward, it is not surprising that basic enquiries in very diverse sciences from developmental biology to stress biology to genetics can all uncover new facets of cancer biology. New investigators and collaborators with a research background in systems biology, genetics, developmental biology, stem cell biology, stress biology, structural biology, immunology, virology, protein sciences, nanosciences, molecular medicine, pharmaco-genetics, mathematics, and bioinformatics would ideally complement the existing basic science pool at ACTREC. 

The Clinical Research Centre (CRC), which became fully functional towards the end of 2005, is a 52 bedded state-of-the-art facility for clinical and translational research using novel protocols for cancer imaging, molecular pathology, cancer surgery, high precision radiotherapy, cytotoxic, biological and stem cell therapy. The clinical researchers have embarked upon the exercise of conceiving and conducting phase I - III clinical trials in frontier areas of cancer therapeutics in a research environment designed specifically for complex or resource intensive trials. Most importantly, being in CRC gives the much needed protected research time and space to clinicians, something which otherwise never happens even in the teaching medical schools. This has also enabled us to get involved in developing and testing innovative or indigenous cost effective technology- the best example of which is 'Bhabhatron'- the Telecobalt machine developed by the BARC.  The clinical faculty of ACTREC and Tata Memorial Hospital (TMH), working in seamless integration recruit eligible patients from TMH for clinical trials at ACTREC. The ACTREC administration not only supports the faculty and other staff but is also doing an admirable job of providing complex logistic support to patients and their families, including their accommodation on campus and transport. 

Today we are perhaps the largest exclusive clinical research centre for cancer in the world and, in this capacity, we will have to evolve a model policy for a mutually beneficial, ethical and sustainable long term relationship with Indian and international partners from academia and industry. With increasing and inevitable engagement between academia and industry, we will re-examine the pre-conceived notions, prejudices and areas of concern between them. Phase I - III human trials remain the most critical and expensive aspect of drug development and most of them come from industry to academic centres. Our emphasis will remain on early clinical development through phase I and II trials of novel treatment approaches, especially if it provides our researchers the opportunity to be involved in the study design. At ACTREC, we would be wary of locking our precious research resources in energy sapping, boring or expensive clinical trials merely for early regulatory approvals or some similar corporate machination.

India is at the cusp of a major wave of outsourced clinical research by global pharma and biotech companies. Such outsourcing is currently pegged at $100 million with a predicted annual growth of 80%. However there is a very fundamental difference in being the host to outsourced work in human clinical trials as opposed to the IT and BPO sectors. While IT and BPO outsourcing can be viewed primarily as an opportunity for employment and economic gains for India, clinical research on behalf of multinational companies will have to be judged on certain additional parameters too. These include issues related to the appropriateness of research, motives for participation and partnership, involvement of our medical researchers in trial design, sharing of intellectual property, availability of our clinical researchers to work on leads from academic basic researchers and to address our own health issues. Our real test would be to break free of the 'Law of diminishing returns', so evident with continued efforts to refine conventional therapies. Translational research, based on the biology of the disease may be the way forward but so far what we have is mostly the 'proof of principle' for the efficacy of molecular medicine. Realization into substantial clinical benefits in a wide range of common clinical contexts may be a long way.

To survive, to thrive and to do justice to our idyllic surroundings we depend on the originality and tenacity of our basic and clinical researchers, the objectivity and openness of our critics, the enthusiasm and optimism of our students, the dedication of our support staff and, most importantly substantiation of the hopes of our patients. In the years to come, our efforts would hopefully bring to fruition the 'Bench to Bedside' paradigm in cancer research, thereby becoming a model for other human diseases.