Lung cancer is the biggest cancer killer worldwide, with five-year survival following diagnosis varying between 5% to 25%. Though tobacco smoking has long been recognized as the major risk factor for lung cancer, many cases cannot be explained by it. LUCIA is an EU funded project that aims to discover and understand new risk factors that contribute to lung cancer development.

The partners of the LUCIA consortium will analyse three aspects:

1. Personal risk factors, including a person’s exposure to chemical pollutants and behavioural and lifestyle factors;
2. External risk factors, such as urban, built and transport environments, social aspects and climate; and
3. Biological responses to the personal and external risk factors, including changes in genetics, epigenetics, metabolism and aging.

The analysis will be based on retrospective and prospective cohort databases, AI models, wearable devices, novel non-invasive sensors, and multi-omics. These tools will identify environmental, biological, demographic, community and individual level risk factors associated with the formation of lung cancer. Cell and molecular biology methods and in vivo analysis will then be used to validate molecular changes associated with these risk factors. Next, clinical use cases will validate the impact of these risk factors. The resulting evidence within LUCIA will be translated into policymaking recommendations, aiming to implement them in a lung cancer screening program.

Our role

Timelex is acting as a legal advisor to the LUCIA consortium partners, handling all legal and ethical issues related to the project, including GDPR and data protection compliance and legal and ethical challenges related to the use of AI.