A new breast cancer research collaboration has been launched by the Irish Cancer Society and is the first of its kind in the world.

The centre will see experts from around Ireland join forces to improve treatment options and outcomes for patients by sharing resources, patient samples and technical expertise.

The collaboration will run for five years at a cost of €7.5 million to the Irish Cancer Society (ICS).

The Society says over 50 leading Irish and world experts will work towards and benefit from a common research goal, which will provide centralised access to resources, particularly patients samples, and technical expertise.

"This will lead to an integrated breast cancer database and modelling of virtual cancer patients to track prognosis and therapy response" it adds.

Director of the ICS Collaborative Cancer Research Centre is UCD Professor William Gallagher.

Commenting on the announcement, he said "The Collaborative Cancer Research Centre will for the first time in Ireland harness the wealth of data available on breast cancer from around the globe to inform new clinical trials and treatments, and link in with world leading scientists and institutions such as the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute in Boston and the Cambridge Research Institute in the UK".

"The ultimate goal of this research is personalised medicine, which allows us to tailor therapy towards individual patients based on the characteristics of their particular tumour and, thus, improve outcomes for breast cancer patients both in Ireland and worldwide" he added.

Head of Research with the ICS is Professor John Fitzpatrick. He says women with breast cancer will be able to have a more personalised approach to their treatment.