Identifying the genes responsible for causing breast cancer and developing newer molecular treatments are among key areas of focus for researchers at the National Breast Cancer Research Institute (NBCRI).

The charity this week launched its first three-year strategic plan at its base in the Lambe Institute at the University of Galway where chairperson Caroline Loughnane outlined the current cancer research programme.

Researchers are working on the biomarkers of response to treatment and examining newer therapies targeted to individual patients. Some are investigating the role of stem cells in breast reconstruction.

As well as contributing to major international partnerships on cancer genetics and medical devices development, staff are also running clinical trials on newer treatments, all with the aim of improving treatments and outcomes for patients.

Research conducted at the Newcastle campus such as the study of microRNAs in breast cancer and the role played by mesenchymal stem cells in tumour was having an impact nationally as well as globally, she explained.

“This research spans the continuum from bench to bedside with the aim of improving treatments and outcomes for patients,” she stated.

The board of the charity has adopted six main goals under its new strategic plan. These will be monitored every three months to ensure they are progressed.

NBCRI plans to support new research through a more ambitious fundraising drive, increase the national reach of the charity and develop relationships with external collaborators.

The charity has set itself a target of increasing fundraising by one fifth over the next three years. Its big fundraisers over the years have been a combination of charity swims, walks, cycles and golf and race days, with participants donning pink while taking part.

Over the last 25 years, the charity has funded 41 full postgraduates and 102 undergraduate medicine and science students as part of the NUI Galway School of Medicine summer research programme.

It is largely funded from voluntary fundraising activities, with an annual turnover of around €1 million.

The launch heard that 33,352 people in Ireland are currently living with breast cancer. One in seven Irish women will develop breast cancer during their lifetime, making it the most common cancer among women here excluding skin cancers. Ever year around 3,542 cases are diagnosed and 760 will die from it.

That’s up from 660 women who died in 1992. But when caught early, it has the highest five-year net survival rate of 85 per cent.