Cancer Molecular Diagnostics Laboratory
Facilitating translational research studies
and clinical trials to GCLP standard,
to ensure patient safety,
data accuracy and reliability.

The Cancer Molecular Diagnostics Laboratory (CMDL) is part of the University of Cambridge School of Clinical Medicine Dept. of Oncology, located on the Cambridge Biomedical Campus.
The laboratory is jointly funded by the Cancer Research UK Cambridge Centre and the NIHR Cambridge Biomedical Research Centre.
The laboratory currently operates under Good Clinical Practice (GCP) and Good Clinical Lab Practice (GCLP) standards while working towards ISO 15189 accreditation.

- Processing of patient samples
- Extractions
- Next-Generation Sequencing (NGS)
- Specialised molecular assays
- Bioinformatic analysis and data reporting
CMDL services are available to clinical trials and independent research groups.
Please contact us using the email address on the right, or click below for more about our services.

CMDL are involved in a many ongoing CTIMP and observational clinical trials as well as smaller translational and research studies, acting as a site, central laboratory, and contract researcher.
CMDL provide a spectrum of services to support the required endpoints and liaise directly with clinical teams to provide advice and support for trial/study setup and running.

CMDL participates in the following Genomic Quality Assessment (GenQA)(EQA)/Proficiency Testing:
- BRCA testing for ovarian and prostate cancer (somatic)
- Breast cancer PIK3CA testing
- Chronic lymphocytic leukaemia (CLL) TP53 testing
- Colorectal cancer (core)
- DNA extraction from formalin-fixed paraffin embedded (FFPE) tissue
- DNA extraction from fresh frozen tissue
- DNA quantification
- Gastrointestinal stromal tumours (GIST)
- Lung cancer - EGFR only
- Melanoma
- Next Generation Sequencing (NGS) somatic - tumour testing only
- Pathology of haematological neoplasm variants (classification only, pilot)
- Pathogenicity of somatic sequence variants (pilot)

CMDL works closely with other teams on the Cambridge Biomedical Campus, including:
Human Research Tissue Bank (HRTB)(link is external)
Cambridge Clinical Trials Unit (CCTU)(link is external)
Stratified Medicine Core Laboratory (SMCL)(link is external)
Cambridge Blood and Stem Cell Biobank (CBSB)(link is external)
East England Genomic Hub(link is external)
CRUK Cambridge Institute Biorepository