On 28 July 2026, the BIRD-Lasers4Life team successfully initiated a new study site at University Hospital Augsburg. This marks another important step in the expansion of the Lasers4Life clinical network and further increases the number of actively recruiting study sites.
The new site will also expand the pool of samples available for the study, including blood samples from patients with lung cancer as well as from patients with pulmonary control conditions.
At University Hospital Augsburg, three clinical departments will contribute to patient recruitment: the CCCA Oncology Center, the Department of Pulmonology, and the Department of Thoracic Surgery. The initiation of the study site was carried out jointly with the local clinical study team.
The Lasers4Life study focuses on Infrared Molecular Fingerprinting (IMF), as an innovative analytical approach for characterizing molecular patterns in blood samples. The study investigates whether these molecular signatures can support the early detection of lung cancer and provide reliable diagnostic information in clinical practice, independent of the study site at which patients are examined and samples are collected.
Expanding the clinical network is an important prerequisite for this evaluation. The analysis of samples collected at multiple clinical sites allows IMF to be assessed across different patient populations and clinical settings. This will help determine the robustness, reproducibility, and site-independent diagnostic performance of the method and provide important evidence for its potential application in clinical lung cancer diagnostics.
The continued expansion of the clinical study is made possible through funding from the Bavarian Center for Cancer Research (BZKF). The BIRD-Lasers4Life team sincerely thanks the BZKF for its support, which is helping to advance the clinical evaluation of Infrared Molecular Fingerprinting and to further expand the network of participating study sites across Bavaria.
Photo caption:
The medical team and study coordination team from University Hospital Augsburg together with the BIRD-Lasers4Life team during the initiation of the new study site.
