Research Team Secures €670k in Enterprise Ireland Commercialisation Funding to Target Rising Bowel Cancer Rates with New Blood Test

Researchers from University College Dublin, Trinity College Dublin, and Dublin City University will use newly awarded funding of €670,000 from Enterprise Ireland’s Commercialisation Fund to develop a breakthrough blood-based screening test for bowel cancer (colorectal cancer, CRC).

The Trinity College Dublin-led team, working with clinicians at St. Vincent’s University Hospital, seeks to transform cancer outcomes by moving screening away from invasive or unpleasant methods to their simple, high-accuracy blood test, named “CASPDx CRC”.

The (opens in a new window)CASPDx team is now initiating the formal validation of their product. Patients are being recruited in all Bowel Screen Centres in the HSE Dublin & South East region as part of clinical validation studies, with assistance of the UCD Clinical Research Centre.

While the CASPDx CRC test is still at clinical validation and immunoassay development phases, the team aim to launch the test and spin-out as a company by the end of 2027.

Professor Glen Doherty, Consultant Gastroenterologist, St Vincent’s University Hospital and UCD School of Medicine, said, “The current waiting lists for colonoscopy require us to find more efficient ways to prioritise patients. The potential for a reliable blood-based screening test is a significant step forward. Beyond simply detecting bowel cancer at an earlier, more treatable stage, these tests could help us identify which patients truly require a colonoscopy following a positive stool test. By improving our diagnostic accuracy through a simple blood draw, we could reduce the number of unnecessary colonoscopies, ensuring that hospital resources are focused on the patients who need them most.”

Dr Emma Creagh, Associate Professor in Biochemistry at Trinity College Dublin and Scientific Lead, CASPDx, said, “Inflammation is a process essential for immunity, tissue maintenance and repair; however, it can also contribute to cancer growth, progression and metastasis. Our research has identified specific inflammation markers that become increased during CRC development and progression. The blood test we are developing will identify possible CRC patients by detecting these inflammatory markers directly from their blood sample.”

CRC is the second leading cause of cancer mortality globally, according to the World Health Organisation¹. Despite being highly treatable when caught early, over 60% of cases are currently diagnosed at a late stage.

Another problem comes from the current screening options, which rely on invasive colonoscopies or unpopular stool-based kits. These consequently suffer from low patient uptake, resulting in over one-third of eligible individuals skipping screening entirely. Notably, existing tests also lack accuracy and miss early cases.

And while there are some novel tests with increased accuracy, these are cost-prohibitive for use in national screening programmes, and many are only available in the US.

But high incidence also translates into high costs, with CRC estimated to have cost the EU €19 billion in 2020, according to a report by non-profit organisation Digestive Cancers Europe².

“With nearly 120 million unscreened individuals across the US and EU, and incidence rates increasing, a transformative solution is required – and we believe our test is exactly that,” explains Dr Kieran Clarke, Commercial Lead, CASPDx.

“In relative terms, CRC is very treatable if caught early – it’s just that current screening tools are failing to reach many people. CASPDx is closing that gap. Built for accuracy, affordability, and global scale, our solution is designed to detect CRC earlier, and for more people than ever before. The commercialisation fund from Enterprise Ireland now allows us to hire the team to complete development and clinical validation of the test. Together with our strategic partners, we are excited to bring this life-saving test to health systems worldwide.”

The rates of early-onset CRC (diagnosis in individuals under 50 years old) has almost doubled over the last 30 years³, and by 2030 it is anticipated that early-onset CRC will be one of the leading causes of death for adults between the ages of 20-49^{4-6 ,} unless cancer is caught at an earlier stage.

CRC in younger people tends to be uncovered at a more advanced stage primarily due to lower screening rates as most programmes start from 50 years onwards (58 in Ireland)^7,8.

Once diagnosed, early onset CRC tends to be characterised by more aggressive features^9,10 making accessible, early-stage detection more critical than ever to catch the cancer at an earlier stage when it is treatable and outcomes are greatly improved.

Emma Callinan, Head of Research Commercialisation, Enterprise Ireland, said, “The CASPDx blood test has the potential to be a gamechanger in the rapid detection and diagnosis of colorectal cancer which has shown to be highly treatable once caught early. Enterprise Ireland is proud to back this project through our Commercialisation Fund, which supports third-level researchers to translate their research into innovative and commercially viable products, services and companies.

This funding will allow this multi-institutional team from Trinity, DCU, UCD and St. Vincent’s Hospital to further develop the blood-based screening test which could bring about huge benefits to both patients and healthcare systems across the globe.”

April is Bowel Cancer Awareness Month where people are encouraged to familiarize themselves with the symptoms of Bowel Cancer and speak with their GP if needed. If eligible for BowelScreen people are encouraged to register for their test.

ENDS

26 March 2026

For more information contact Micéal Whelan, Communications and Media Relations Manager, NovaUCD, UCD Research and Innovation, e: (opens in a new window)miceal.whelan@ucd.ie, Kieran Clarke, Commercial Lead, CASPDx, e: (opens in a new window)kieran.clarke@caspdx.com, Thomas Deane, Research Communications Manager (STEM), Trinity College Dublin, e: (opens in a new window)deaneth@tcd.ie.

Editors Notes

CASPDx commercial and scientific leadership team

The project is led by a team of experienced scientific, commercial and clinical leaders working to bring the new product to patients:

• Professor Glen Doherty (Clinical Advisor): Consultant Gastroenterologist, St. Vincent’s UCD Cancer Centre, Full Clinical Professor, UCD School of Medicine and Regional Director of Research & Innovation for HSE Dublin and South East.
• Dr Emma Creagh (Scientific Lead, Trinity College Dublin): Associate Professor of Biochemistry, whose work in inflammatory signalling in cancer is the foundation of the test’s innovative approach
• Dr Kieran Clarke (Commercial Lead): An experienced diagnostics commercialisation specialist with a track record of leading international diagnostic test product launches and commercialisation at companies such as Abbott Diagnostics and Radiometer
• Dr Paul Leonard (Development Lead, Dublin City University): Associate Professor of Biotherapeutics and former biotech founder with deep expertise in molecular biology and recombinant antibody development.

References

1: (opens in a new window)Colorectal cancer

2: (opens in a new window)The Costs of Colorectal Cancers Factsheet - Digestive Cancers Europe

3: Ir Med J; July-August 2025; Vol 118; No. 7; P105 21st August, 2025

4: Spaander MCW. Et al., (opens in a new window)Young-onset colorectal cancer. Nat Rev Dis Primers. 2023 Apr 27;9(1):21.

5: Kim BJ, Hanna MH. (opens in a new window)Colorectal cancer in young adults. J Surg Oncol. 2023 Jun;127(8):1247-1251.

6: Done JZ, Fang SH. (opens in a new window)Young-onset colorectal cancer: A review. World J Gastrointest Oncol. 2021 Aug 15;13(8):856-866.

7: Carbone, Fabio et al. (opens in a new window)Prognosis of early-onset versus late-onset sporadic colorectal cancer: Systematic review and meta-analysis. European Journal of Cancer, Volume 215, 115172 8.

8: Saraiva MR, et al., (opens in a new window)Early-onset colorectal cancer: A review of current knowledge. World J Gastroenterol. 2023 Feb 28;29(8):1289-1303.

9: Murphy, et al., (opens in a new window)Decrease in Incidence of Young-Onset Colorectal Cancer Before Recent Increase. Gastroenterology, Volume 155, Issue 6, 1716 - 1719.e4 10.

10: Chang DT et al. (opens in a new window)Clinicopathologic and molecular features of sporadic early-onset colorectal adenocarcinoma: an adenocarcinoma with frequent signet ring cell differen a on, rectal and sigmoid involvement, and adverse morphologic features. Mod Pathol. 2012 Aug;25(8):1128-39.