The Turnbull Government is today announcing more support for cancer research with $8 million in grants.
Through Cancer Australia, we are investing $6.5 million combined with $2.1 million from Cancer Australia’s funding partners, Cure Cancer Australia, National Breast Cancer Foundation and Cancer Council NSW.
This brings the total funding for the 2017 round of Cancer Australia’s Priority-driven Collaborative Cancer Research Scheme (PdCCRS) to $8.6 million.
The 24 successful grant recipients lead projects focusing on prevention, diagnosis and treatment of a range of cancer types.
These include cancers of the breast, colon, head and neck, kidney, liver, lung, ovary, pancreas and prostate, as well as acute lymphoblastic leukaemia, leukaemia, melanoma and uveal (a part of the eye) melanoma, multiple myeloma and sarcoma.
There is also a strong focus on defeating and improving the outcomes of childhood brain cancers and other cancers like neuroblastoma, a cancer of the nervous system common in children.
Sixty per cent of the grant funding will go to projects that focus on rare and less common cancers and cancers with low survival rates.
The assessment process for the 2017 PdCCRS grants was done in collaboration with the National Health and Medical Research Council.
Cancer Australia’s PdCCRS has provided $124 million for priority-based cancer research since its inception in 2007.
This latest round of grant funding complements existing programs like the Australian Brain Cancer Mission which was announced in October 2017.
The Australian Government announced a $100 million fund to defeat brain cancer and provide better outcomes for people suffering from the terrible disease.
Earlier this month we announced a $640 million investment to support Australia’s world-leading health and medical researchers as they continue their work to find the next major medical breakthrough.
And only yesterday, the mid-year budget update confirmed over half a billion dollars extra for the fight against cancer with additional funding for new medicines, screening and testing.
(ENDS)
2017 Priority-driven Collaborative Cancer Research Scheme grant recipients:
Standard project grant recipients:
Recipient/ institution |
Research area |
Funding |
A/Prof Helen Abud, Monash University |
Bowel cancer – To test how “tumouroids”, grown in a laboratory environment, can be used to predict patient responses to therapy. This will help develop a pre-clinical test that could be used by oncologists to inform patient treatment. |
$597,557
Cancer Australia |
A/Prof Lisa Butler, University of Adelaide |
Prostate cancer – To identify the key regulators of prostate cancer cell survival in cultured patient tumours. This will help to design more effective combination treatments. |
$596,409
Cancer Australia |
Prof Anna DeFazio, University of Sydney |
Ovarian cancer – To complete a comprehensive molecular analysis of “low-grade serous cancer” (a subtype of ovarian cancer) and screen drugs that target activated pathways to ultimately improve treatment outcomes. |
$492,411
Cancer Australia |
Clinical Associate Prof Nick Gottardo, University of Western Australia |
Childhood brain cancer – To determine how two identified drugs can improve childhood brain cancer outcomes when combined with chemotherapy or radiation, and how these findings can inform the design of a clinical trial. |
$530,428
Cancer Australia |
A/Prof Ilona Juraskova, University of Sydney |
Support for carers – To evaluate online education interventions (one for clinicians and one for patients and carers) to help carers be more confident, engaged, and supported partners in patient care. |
$593,202
Cancer Australia and Cancer Council NSW |
Prof Maria Kavallaris, University of New South Wales
|
Lung cancer – To advance understanding and develop new and effective ways of treating tumours abnormally expressing the “cell skeleton” protein, which are associated with chemotherapy resistance and highly‑aggressive lung tumours. This aims to improve long-term survival of patients diagnosed with lung cancers. |
$592,694
Cancer Australia |
Prof Paul Keall, University of Sydney |
Liver cancer – The “Liver Ablative Radiotherapy with KIM” (LARK) trial will clinically pilot a world-first Australian innovation in image‑guided radiation therapy (KIM) to improve the treatment outcomes and experience for liver cancer patients |
$583,371
Cancer Australia |
Dr Marina Pajic, Garvan Institute of Medical Research/ The Kinghorn Cancer Centre |
Pancreatic cancer – To continue research into 13 major subtypes of pancreatic cancer based on differences in tumour DNA, and to determine how more than a third of patients with this highly lethal disease may benefit from a novel combination therapy of immune-modulating and anti-invasive agents. |
$600,000
Cancer Australia and Cancer Council NSW |
A/Prof Chamindie Punyadeera, Queensland University of Technology |
Head and neck cancers – To help identify which head and neck cancer patients will develop metastasis, through the early detection of “circulating tumour cells”. This may inform appropriate treatment, reducing morbidity, deaths and healthcare costs. |
$599,756
Cancer Australia |
Prof Des Richardson, University of Sydney |
Breast Cancer – To investigate the metastasis suppressor, NDRG1, and to assess a new anti-cancer agent as a treatment for breast cancer. |
$583,848
National Breast Cancer Foundation |
A/Prof Siva Shankar, University of Melbourne |
Kidney cancer – To investigate the use of “stereotactic ablative radiotherapy” to treat patients with inoperable kidney cancer. As part of a nationwide and international multicentre clinical trial. |
$589,082
Cancer Australia |
Dr Jennifer Stone, University of Western Australia |
Breast cancer –To validate a way of safely measuring breast density in younger women aged 18-40. This can be used to inform early detection and prevention strategies for breast cancer. |
$592,636
Cancer Australia |
Young Investigator project grant recipients:
Recipient/ institution |
Research area |
Funding |
Dr Lauren Aoude, University of Queensland |
Metastatic melanoma – To combine genomic and clinical data with PET/CT scan data to find ways to predict patient response to immuno and targeted therapies for metastatic melanoma. |
$100,000
Cure Cancer Australia |
Dr Kelly Brooks, QIMR Berghofer Medical Research Institute |
Uveal melanoma (eye cancer) – To investigate how the PLCB4 gene in uveal melanoma (the most common eye cancer) alters the normal functioning of cells. This will help identify new targets for drugs. |
$198,194
Cancer Australia and Cure Cancer Australia |
Dr Nicholas Fletcher, University of Queensland |
Breast cancer –The project aims produce a nanomedicine and to provide a combined diagnostic and therapeutic tool for triple-negative breast cancer (a tumour with poor survival outcomes) by incorporating imaging probes, as well radiotherapy to the tumour.
|
$88,878
Cure Cancer Australia |
Dr Camille Guillerey, QIMR Berghofer Medical Research Institute |
Multiple myeloma – To investigate the therapeutic potential of blocking the TIGIT molecule (which hinders the elimination of cancer cells by immune cells) in myeloma patients and to determine whether TIGIT blockade, combined with chemotherapy or other immunotherapy, may cure multiple myeloma. |
$199,062
Cure Cancer Australia |
Dr Najoua Lalaloui, Walter & Eliza Hall Institute of Medical Research |
Leukaemia – To generate a ‘hybrid compound’, for the more effective treatment of leukaemia. In this process, the “IAP” inhibitor is chemically linked to the “MK2” inhibitor to allow for the degradation of proteins. |
$198,622
Cancer Australia and Cure Cancer Australia |
Dr Pei Liu, University of New South Wales |
Neuroblastoma (central nervous system cancer common in children) – To help treat the most common childhood solid tumour by defining the role of the “DDX21” gene in promoting neuroblastoma tumour growth, and to establish the gene as a potential therapeutic target for high‑risk neuroblastoma patients. |
$100,000
Cancer Australia |
Dr Angelica Merlot, University of Sydney |
Pancreatic cancer – To assess specific molecular pathways implicated in metastasis and pancreatic cancer progression and to develop novel agents targeting these pathways. These studies will lead to the development of potent anti-cancer drugs that inhibit pancreatic cancer progression. |
$99,439
Cancer Australia and Cure Cancer Australia |
Dr Donia Moujalled, Monash University |
Acute lymphoblastic leukaemia – To examine the ability of a “BCL2” and an “MCL1” inhibitor to act as a single agent or in combination with standard or novel chemotherapy drugs, to eradicate acute lymphoblastic leukaemia. |
$200,000
Cancer Australia and Cure Cancer Australia |
Dr Kyohei Nakamura, QIMR Berghofer Medical Research Institute |
Multiple myeloma – To further understand the role of the “NLRP1-IL-18 inflammatory axis” in the myeloma microenvironment, and to establish novel therapeutic strategies to block this inflammation and suppress myeloma. |
$95,738
Cancer Australia and Cure Cancer Australia |
Dr Mark Pinese, Garvan Institute of Medical Research |
Sarcoma – To comprehensively survey the complex genetic determinants of sarcoma risk by looking at the variants and parts of the genome that are usually not examined, to see if they play a role. This work will help inform a method to identify and regularly screen people at high risk of developing sarcoma. |
$65,000
Cure Cancer Australia |
Dr Prahlad Raninga, QIMR Berghofer Medical Research Institute |
Triple negative breast cancer – To test the anti-tumour activity of a specific inhibitor, “auranofin” in targeting a mutant gene that exists in a majority of patients with triple negative breast cancer. |
$95,738
Cure Cancer Australia |
Dr Orazio Vittorio, University of New South Wales |
Neuroblastoma (central nervous system cancer common in children) – To study the potential use of a compound called “Dextran-Catechin” as a targeted treatment for neuroblastoma. The compound is preferentially active in cancer cells with high copper levels (neuroblastoma cells have high levels of copper compared to non-malignant cells). |
$197,756
Cancer Australia (Fighting Childhood Cancer) and Cure Cancer Australia |