Updated 8pm
A team of University of Malta researchers has set off to unravel "the little-known processes behind elusive tumours" in the pituitary - a small gland under the brain.
This gland helps regulate hormones and various other processes in the body, so when a tumour develops there, patients may experience a wide spectrum of severe symptoms such as vision impairment and changes in metabolism.
The research is being made possible through a €1.2 million grant by the Emanuele Cancer Research Foundation Malta (ECRFM).
The university said that because of "significant knowledge gap" in the role of the immune system in pituitary tumours, academic Josanne Vassallo "painstakingly set up" a Maltese pituitary tumour tissue bank which has been in operation since the year 2000.