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Cancer research and precision oncology
Contributor
Consulting
Kwatra Precision Cancer Institute & Research Centre
A-8, Shubham Enclave
Paschim Vihar, New Delhi
India
Monday to Saturday · 12:00 – 18:00
By appointment only.
Cancer genomics Artificial intelligence Computational biology Precision medicine
Cancer is not one disease. Every tumour carries its own biology.
I read the molecular, clinical and evidentiary picture of a complex cancer case together, and return a structured account of what it supports — and where it does not.
Dr. Bharat Kwatra · KPCIRC, New Delhi
What a molecular tumour board actually reads
Hover a cell to read the call
Illustrative oncoprint — recurrent genes against alteration class, in the format a molecular tumour board reads. Shown to describe the method, not a patient cohort.
A patient holding a genomic report, an oncologist weighing a difficult case, and a company designing a biomarker programme are asking different questions. Each route below is written for the person actually asking.
Most cancer care follows well-established pathways, and for most patients that is exactly right. A precision oncology review is for the situations where the standard pathway has run out, or where the picture is more complicated than a protocol accounts for.
Small evidence bases and fragmented expertise make the literature harder to apply.
The biology at relapse is often not the biology at diagnosis.
Resistance mechanisms may be visible molecularly before they are visible clinically.
Long variant lists in which relevance, not detection, is the difficulty.
Several defensible paths, and a need to compare them on their evidence.
A marker reported, but its weight in this disease and this context unclear.
Whether a relevant trial exists, and whether eligibility is plausible.
Family history or germline findings with implications beyond the patient.
Where tissue of origin is unresolved and biology carries more of the weight.
A structured re-reading of the clinical, pathological and molecular record.
If one of these describes your situation, a review is unlikely to produce a treatment nobody has thought of. What it more often produces is a clearer account of what the record actually shows, which questions remain open, and what would answer them.
Not every finding carries the same weight
A molecular report lists findings. Tiering says which of them a decision can actually rest on — and the bar length is the strength of that support.
Getting in touch does not commit you to anything. The first step is simply a conversation about whether a review would actually help in your situation — and if it would not, you will be told so plainly.
Call, message on WhatsApp, or send a short enquiry describing the situation and the question you most want answered.
We establish what the question really is and which documents are needed. Nothing is charged for this.
What will be reviewed, how long it will take and any fee are confirmed before work begins.
Clinical history, pathology, imaging and molecular results read together as one record rather than separately.
The findings are explained in language you can follow, with time for your questions and your family’s.
The written analysis goes to your oncologist in a form they can act on — so it strengthens that relationship rather than competing with it.
Sixty-eight disease pages, written in plain language: what the molecular picture usually involves, which tests are worth asking about, and the questions worth putting to your treating team.
Breast cancer is not a single disease. Receptor status and molecular subty…
Colorectal cancer has one of the better-characterised molecular landscapes…
Lung cancer is where molecular profiling most visibly changed clinical pra…
Head and neck cancer covers several anatomical subsites whose biology diff…
Ovarian cancer is among the clearest examples of germline and somatic test…
Prostate cancer spans an unusually wide clinical range, from indolent dise…
Leukaemia classification is molecular in a way few solid tumours are. Cyto…
Lymphoma comprises many distinct diseases sharing a lymphoid origin. Accur…
Modern oncology generates enormous amounts of information — pathology, imaging, genomics, biomarkers, treatment history, response data and an expanding scientific literature.
The challenge is no longer simply obtaining more information.
The challenge is integrating it.
Precision oncology aims to connect molecular biology with clinical context, evidence and disease evolution so that the information becomes useful at the point of decision.
From cancer data to a clinical decision
Each stage constrains the next. A molecular finding read before the clinical context is established is routinely over-weighted.
One base changes, and the biology changes with it
A single substitution alters one amino acid. Whether that matters clinically depends on where it sits, what the protein does, and what the evidence says — which is the whole of the interpretive problem.
These are not four separate practices. They are four views of the same problem — how molecular information becomes a better decision — and most real cases draw on all of them at once.
Thirteen active research themes, each stated as a question rather than a topic. The question determines the methods, and the methods determine what the work can honestly conclude.
Which molecular alterations in a given tumour actually carry weight for a clinical decision, and how confide…
How does the molecular composition of a tumour change under selection pressure from treatment, and what does…
When does circulating tumour DNA add information that changes a decision, and when is it simply another numb…
What does cell-level resolution reveal about tumour heterogeneity and the microenvironment that bulk profili…
How should genomic, transcriptomic, epigenomic and proteomic layers be combined so that the integration adds…
Which candidate markers survive the move from a discovery cohort to an independent one, and under what analy…
Where can machine learning materially assist oncology decision-making, and where does it mainly add unaccoun…
How can unstructured clinical and scientific text be turned into structured, checkable information without l…
How can genuinely relevant trials be identified for a specific molecular and clinical profile, rather than m…
What analytical infrastructure does an oncology service need for molecular interpretation to be reproducible…
How do germline variants affecting drug metabolism alter the risk profile of systemic anti-cancer therapy fo…
What form should molecular decision support take so that it supports clinical reasoning instead of substitut…
How should evidence be assembled and weighed for diseases where large randomised trials do not and may never…
Doctoral and postgraduate qualifications alongside fellowship and membership of professional scientific bodies. Earned and honorary doctorates are listed separately rather than run together. Awarding institutions are set out on the education page.
PhD
Doctor of Philosophy
PhD (hon)
Honorary doctorates
MSc
Master of Science
Found. Dip.
Foundational Diploma in Medicine
UG Dip.
Undergraduate diploma
BSc
Bachelor of Science
FRSM
Fellow of the Royal Society of Medicine
MRSB
Member of the Royal Society of Biology
MiSCB
Member, International Society for Computational Biology
aBGCI
Associate, Board of Genetic Counseling India
Cancer genomics is difficult to explain without either oversimplifying it or burying the point. These are attempts at neither — for broadcast, academic and general audiences.
Cancer research and precision oncology
Contributor
Cancer research and precision oncology
Contributor
Cancer genomics and computational biology
Speaker
Precision oncology, genomics and artificial intelligence
Guest
Essays on the parts of precision oncology that are genuinely difficult — where the evidence is thin, where the reasoning carries the weight, and where enthusiasm has outrun the data.
A diagnosis names a disease. A treatment plan answers a different set of questions, and the distance between the two is where most of the difficult work of oncology happens.
7 MIN READ
Cancer GenomicsSequencing a tumour is now straightforward. Knowing what the result means for this patient, in this clinical situation, is the part that has not become easy.
8 MIN READ
Cancer GenomicsBroader panels detect more alterations. Beyond a point, additional findings add interpretive burden faster than they add decision-relevant information.
6 MIN READ
KPCIRC is where the clinical side of this work lives — diagnostics, molecular tumour boards, computational capability and research operating as one service rather than as referrals between departments. It is also where consultations take place.
By appointment only. Remote review is available for patients and clinicians elsewhere.
KPCIRC building exterior with signage
Architectural framing, straight-on or slight three-quarter. Late-afternoon light. Signage legible.
kpcirc-exterior.jpg
Clinical care organised around the molecular and clinical particulars of the individual case.
Diagnostic capability spanning pathology, immunohistochemistry and molecular testing.
Structured multidisciplinary review with molecular findings at the centre of the discussion.
Clinical studies and trial participation as part of routine institutional activity.
Patients and families, referring clinicians, and industry or research partners each need a different conversation. Enquiries are routed accordingly rather than through a single generic form.
Monday to Saturday, 12:00 – 18:00 · by appointment at KPCIRC, Paschim Vihar. Remote review available for patients and clinicians elsewhere.