Click the headings below to find out more about the projects we have been able to fund in 2025, thanks to community donations and support.
Research Excellence Awards
The Cancer Council WA Research Excellence Awards were established in 2013 to recognise and celebrate the achievements of Western Australia’s best and brightest cancer researchers. They also serve to reinforce the importance of cancer research as an aspirational career choice and provide encouragement for the next generation of leading cancer researchers.
| Award: | Cancer Council WA Early Career Cancer Researcher of the Year |
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| Award: | Cancer Council WA Cancer Researcher of the Year |
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| Award: | Professor Bruce Armstrong Career Achievement Award |
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Cancer Research Project Grants
Our Cancer Research Project Grants are co-funded by the Future Health Research & Innovation Fund through the Western Australian government.
This co-funding has allowed us to expand the number of grants and funding amount we can provide, including offering grants in key priority areas such as Aboriginal health, rural and remote health, public health, and clinical.
Our Cancer Research Project Grants provide one to two years of support to help local, world-class cancer researchers further their research.
Grants are assessed by the Cancer Council WA Research Grants Advisory Committee, which includes scientific and community members, on the basis of quality, practicality, financial viability, and contribution to the advancement of cancer knowledge.
See below for the 2025 Cancer Council WA Cancer Research Project Grants.
| Project title: | Novel therapies for aggressive hormone sensitive breast cancer |
| Lead researcher: | Associate Professor Pilar Blancafort |
| Institution: | Harry Perkins Institute of Medical Research The University of Western Australia |
| Project description: | This proposal focuses on breast cancer (BC), the most common cancer in women. Most BCs (~80%) can be treated with anti-hormonal therapy. Whilst most have excellent outcomes, there is a subset (~20%) of these patients where the anti-hormone therapy actually activates the cancer, leading to aggressive behaviour and cancer spread. There is currently no test available to detect these cancers with hidden aggressive traits. We have discovered a new cancer-driving gene that instructs the cancer cells to make a cancer-driving protein named AAMDC. In patients that are unlikely to respond to anti-hormonal therapy, the cancer cells have extra copies of the AAMDC gene. We will first develop tests to identify these patients by detecting the AAMDC gene in tumour-biopsies and find out if it can be detected in blood samples. Secondly, we aim to develop new therapies which kill these BCs once we have found them, either preventing cancer return or better controlling advanced cancers. The benefits of this research will be the early diagnosis of this “hidden” subtype of aggressive BC followed by effective treatment of these BCs with an individualized targeted treatment. For this new treatment, we will identify both existing drugs used for the treatment of other cancers and medical conditions. As some of these drugs are already approved, this research should progress quickly into clinical practice. Our ground-breaking research and our understanding of the AAMDC protein will also allow us to develop novel drugs to target this deadly pathway. Our research could improve treatment outcomes in BC and in other deadly cancers such as ovarian cancer. |
| Funding: | Total: $139989.72 in 2025
$69,994.86 funded by FHRI grant $69,994.86 funded by CCWA |
| Supported: | CCWA is currently seeking funding for this research |
| Project title: | A closer look at bowel cancer in Aboriginal People |
| Lead researcher: | Dr Thomas Ferguson |
| Institution: | The University of Western Australia |
| Project description: | Bowel cancer grows in the large bowel (colon) or back passage (rectum). It can start as a polyp and, if undetected, grow into a cancer that can spread to other areas. Across Australia, more bowel cancers are diagnosed in Aboriginal people each year. Also, Aboriginal people who get bowel cancer are more likely to die. This means there are lots more bowel cancer deaths in Aboriginal people. Research so far shows that the higher death rate is not caused by later diagnosis, increased remoteness or less treatment. We will therefore study some different areas to explain the higher death rates. We will look at the type of bowel cancers Aboriginal people are getting and study treatment length and type as well as side effects in more detail. The project involves studying all Aboriginal people diagnosed with bowel cancer over 10 years compared to non-Aboriginal people. We will examine medical and pathology records to find out details about each person’s cancer and the treatment they got. Information on treatment will include side effects, how long treatment lasted and how many people finished full treatment. We will also look at cancer samples for the same people to find out about the types of genetic changes that are important in how a cancer behaves and what treatment is best for it. We will also study the immune cells in people’s cancers which may affect the chances of cure and also guide some treatments. The things we learn will be used to improve treatment of Aboriginal people with bowel cancer in the future. |
| Funding: | Total: $139924.40 in 2025
$69962.20 funded by FHRI grant $69962.20 funded by CCWA |
| Supported: | CCWA is currently seeking funding for this research |
| Project title: | Improving monitoring of patients with myelofibrosis after transplantation |
| Lead researcher: | Dr Belinda Guo |
| Institution: | The University of Western Australia |
| Project description: | Myelofibrosis is a low survival bone marrow cancer that disrupts the production of normal blood cells. Patients are highly symptomatic suffering from tiredness, abdominal pains from an enlarged spleen, recurrent infection and bleeding. The symptoms can be controlled with medicines, but these do not cure. Patients have a 20% chance of developing leukaemia or the bone marrow totally failing. On average, patients survive 3-5 years. The only chance of cure is with a bone marrow transplant. However, in 40% of patients, the cancer will recur and this can be within 1-year of the transplant. The current methods used to monitor for relapse are insensitive and invasive, often involving repeated and painful bone marrow biopsies. New blood-based techniques are urgently needed. We will address this shortfall by testing three new methods to see if we can detect changes in the blood indicating recurrence before the patient is aware of a problem. To do this, we will analyse samples from patients before and after their transplant at Fiona Stanley Hospital (where all transplants for myelofibrosis are carried out in WA). The tests we will do will look at genetic changes (DNA and RNA) associated with the cancer. This is a new approach which we believe will be more accurate than current tests. We anticipate that if we see even very low-level changes in these tests it could mean the cancer has come back and the patient needs more treatment. This new approach, with better and more precise patient monitoring, will lead to better results after transplantation, hopefully improving patient survival and outcomes. |
| Funding: | Total: $13993.16 in 2025
$6996.58 funded by FHRI grant $6996.58 funded by CCWA |
| Supported: | CCWA is currently seeking funding for this research |
| Project title: | Bridging the cancer evidence gap for people experiencing homelessness |
| Lead researcher: | Dr Matthew Tuson |
| Institution: | Notre Dame University |
| Project description: | There is little Australian evidence of how cancer affects people experiencing homelessness, and so these people are often ‘invisible’ in cancer strategies. However, people with a lived experience and services supporting them have shared how homelessness affects: • Struggles to reduce cancer risks • Participation in screening programs • Delays in receiving positive screening results • Barriers to receiving and adhering to cancer treatment if you don’t have a home • Managing symptoms and treatment (including palliative care) • People dying young due to late cancer detection This project will help us understand how common such experiences are, and importantly, what can be done to reduce the impacts of cancer on people without a home. With WA hospital, GP and cancer data for >7,500 people who have been homeless, we can determine which cancers are most common (and which are preventable), look at access to screening, symptom follow up and diagnosis, and see if there has been timely treatment. Sadly, the average age of death of people homeless in Perth is just 48 years, and we will look at how often cancer is a cause of this. We’ll also talk to healthcare workers and people with a lived homelessness experience to identify factors that would help these people better access cancer screening, diagnosis and treatment. The findings of the project will not ‘sit on a shelf’, as we will be working closely with cancer programs, and health and homelessness services to lessen the barriers people experiencing homelessness face to cancer screening, prevention, detection, and treatment as easily as other Western Australians. |
| Funding: | Total: $140,000 in 2025
$70,000 funded by FHRI grant $70,000 funded by CCWA |
| Supported: | CCWA is currently seeking funding for this research |
| Project title: | Novel immunotherapies to prevent cancer recurrence after surgery |
| Lead researcher: | Dr Francois Xavier Rwandamuriye |
| Institution: | The Kids Institute on behalf of Centre for Child Health Research, The University of Western Australia |
| Project description: | Many cancer patients receive surgery as a first option of treatment. However, in many cases, the surgeon is unable to remove the entire tumour, and the remaining cancer cells will cause their tumour to regrow. Patients often receive follow-up chemotherapy and radiotherapy that can have severe side effects and long-term impact on patient health. Despite these aggressive treatments, recurrence remains a major cause of cancer-related death. To overcome this issue, we are developing more effective and less toxic treatments for cancer patients having surgery to remove their cancer. We recently developed a world-first immunotherapy gel that can be applied inside a wound after cancer surgery, to slowly release immunotherapy that activates local immune cells to mop up any remaining cancer cells. This approach showed promising results in reducing cancer recurrences in preclinical models and, importantly, we found that the surgeon can easily apply the gel and it is safe in relevant oncological wound settings in canine patients with naturally occurring sarcoma. I now want to adapt the immunotherapy gel to deliver new mRNA-based therapeutics. With this technology, we can send messenger molecules (mRNA) to instruct the body to increase the number of drug receptors within a tumour. This will in turn increase the sensitivity of these tumours to immunotherapy and enhance the ability of immune cells to destroy the tumour. This approach would provide an entirely new way for patients having surgery to remove their cancer, to receive a once-off targeted treatment to reduce the risk of recurrence. |
| Funding: | Total: $138537.56 in 2025
$69268.78 funded by FHRI grant $69268.78 funded by CCWA |
| Supported: | CCWA is currently seeking funding for this research |
| Project title: | Directly visualising how cancer changes metabolism at the microscopic level as it spreads through time and space |
| Lead researcher: | Dr Kai Chen |
| Institution: | The University of Western Australia |
| Project description: | Most cancer-related deaths are caused by the spread of cancer to other body parts, known as metastasis, rather than by the original tumour. One grand challenge in cancer research is figuring out how cancer cells manage to grow in other organs, such as bones, which are a common site for cancer colonisation. Breast and prostate cancers have the highest rates of spreading to bones. A key metastasis feature is that cancer cells can change their own metabolism to adapt to new environments and alter the metabolism of bones even before they arrive there. This means that targeting metabolism could provide a unique opportunity to prevent or slow down cancer spread. However, developing such treatments has been challenging due to our limited understanding of metabolism during cancer spread, primarily because of technical limitations. We aim to use a groundbreaking imaging technology—unlike any conventional methods—to directly observe how nutrients (like fats, sugars, and proteins) are absorbed by cancer cells and bone cells as cancer moves into and grows in bone tissue. We will also use genetic analysis to uncover the mechanisms behind these metabolic changes. Throughout this research, we have actively involved cancer patients and community representatives, whose invaluable insights have helped shape our approach and underscored the urgency of understanding bone metastasis. This project will help us identify specific intervention points to disrupt cancer cell metastasis and ultimately offer new strategies to tackle one of the most challenging aspects of cancer treatment—metastasis. |
| Funding: | Total: $137097 in 2025
$68548.50 funded by FHRI grant $68548.50 funded by CCWA |
| Supported: | CCWA is currently seeking funding for this research |
| Project title: | ‘The worst thing about the cancer should be the cancer’: improving cancer patient navigation in regional, rural and remote Western Australia |
| Lead researcher: | Professor Fiona Doolan-Noble |
| Institution: | Curtin University |
| Project description: | Cancer diagnosis and treatments are far from equal. In Western Australia, regional and rural communities, as well as First Nations peoples, continue to face barriers towards timely, supportive access in what is increasingly recognised as a complex – and inhospitable – healthcare system. In this project, we seek to lay the groundwork towards exploring the potential of a ‘patient lay navigator’ service to improve healthcare navigation for people diagnosed with cancer and their families. Patient lay navigator services hire and train non-clinical local community members to provide key advice and guidance for patients that is context-specific and culturally sensitive. The aims of our study are: 1) to explore the current ways in which patients find information to inform their healthcare decision-making and 2) to host a series of co-design workshops with stakeholders to explore the potential of how a patient lay navigator service could be embedded within the community. Our project will include three unique sites in WA to explore patient lay navigator services, including: Kalgoorlie-Boulder, Esperance and the Northern Goldfields. At each of these locations we will work closely with people diagnosed with cancer, carers of patients, including family and close friends, and healthcare providers to explore the potential benefits of embedding such a service. Already demonstrated in other international settings, we anticipate benefits ranging from improved early diagnosis and cancer treatments for those on a cancer journey. We also expect broader value to the community through creation of jobs, and stronger relationships between local communities and healthcare providers. |
| Funding: | Total: $138,957 in 2025
$69478.50 funded by FHRI fund $69478.50 funded by CCWA |
| Supported: | CCWA is currently seeking funding for this research |
| Project title: | A new therapy for the treatment of ovarian cancer |
| Lead researcher: | Professor Peter Leedman |
| Institution: | Harry Perkins Institute of Medical Research The University of Western Australia |
| Project description: | Ovarian cancer is highly aggressive and is the 8th most common cancer in women worldwide. The five-year survival rate for women following ovarian cancer diagnosis is only 49%. Current treatments are surgery followed by chemotherapy drugs, but most ovarian tumours stop responding to the treatments, making them ineffective; therefore, new therapies are urgently needed. The cells in our body naturally have small molecules called microRNAs that interact with our genes to control biological processes such as cell growth. We have shown that when we increase the levels of a specific microRNA (microRNA-7) in ovarian cancer cells in the laboratory, we can turn off the cancer-causing genes and stop tumour growth. This research project aims to investigate the effectiveness of a super version of microRNA-7, called mRx-7, as a therapy for ovarian cancer. We have wrapped mRx-7 in a protective coat that will help to deliver it directly to ovarian cancer cells in the body, eliminating the exposure of healthy cells to the drug and preventing unwanted side effects commonly seen with current treatments. To achieve the aims, we will test mRx-7 in established ovarian cancer cell lines, in ovarian cancer tumour samples from patients (which will be grown as mini-cancers in the laboratory), and in mouse models of ovarian cancer. Success of the study will deliver mRx-7 directly to ovarian tumours, providing a new therapy for ovarian cancer. For this ‘hard to treat’ cancer, these new breakthroughs have the potential to significantly change the lives of and provide hope for ovarian cancer patients and their families. |
| Funding: | Total: $140,000 in 2025
$70,000 funded by FHRI grant $70,000 funded by CCWA |
| Supported: | CCWA is currently seeking funding for this research |
| Project title: | Artificial intelligence-enabled microscopic detection of cancer during breast-conserving surgery |
| Lead researcher: | Professor Brendan Kennedy |
| Institution: | Harry Perkins Institute of Medical Research The University of Western Australia |
| Project description: | In Australia, breast cancer is the leading cancer-related burden of disease in women. The most common surgical treatment is breast-conserving surgery, for which the goal is complete removal of malignant tissue whilst ensuring a good cosmetic outcome. However, accurate and complete excision of malignant tissue is challenging, with 20-30% of patients requiring additional surgery to remove remaining cancer. The major limitation is that accurate, microscopic examination is only available after the surgery through histology performed by pathologists. While several techniques have been proposed for use during the surgery, none have shown a significant reduction in re-excisions and have therefore not been widely adopted. Optical coherence tomography (OCT) is a high-resolution optical imaging technique, often referred to as the optical equivalent of ultrasound, and that is a promising approach to visualise tumour during surgery. However, OCT is currently limited by poor validation by gold-standard histology that has thus far limited translation to clinical practice. Micro-scale validation of OCT image contrast is currently not possible because of geometrical distortions between OCT images and histology introduced during the preparation of histology images. As a result, it has not been possible to accurately determine what many of the features present in OCT images correspond to physiologically, greatly restricting the utility and clinical feasibility of OCT. In this project, we propose to address these challenges by using artificial intelligence to accurately co-register histology images with OCT images of fresh breast tissue. If successful, this technique will unlock OCT’s potential for widespread clinical use, greatly reducing the number of patients requiring re-excision surgery. |
| Funding: | Total: $139465.32 in 2025
$69732.66 funded by FHRI grant $69732.66 funded by CCWA |
| Supported: | CCWA is currently seeking funding for this research |
| Project title: | Boosting natural killer cells to fight childhood leukaemia |
| Lead researcher: | Dr Bree Foley |
| Institution: | The University of Western Australia |
| Project description: | Leukaemia afflicts thousands of Australian kids each year and despite the advances of modern medicine, safe and effective treatments are still lacking for many patients. New strategies are urgently required to safely unleash enhancements to our immune system on this disease. Natural Killer (NK) cells are a type of immune cell in our body that has a natural ability to destroy cancer cells. These cells are a safer alternative to current treatments that use T cells (another type of immune cell) to fight cancer. In this application we will explore a new approach that combines NK cells with a new artificial compound that is used to boost the cancer-fighting activity of NK cells. In a series of tests, we will first confirm in the laboratory that these compounds, in combination with NK cells, can kill different types of leukaemia harvested from patients. We will then explore this combination in sophisticated animal models that mimic the progression of leukaemia following chemotherapy to determine whether they can be used to improve survival. Overall, the data from this project will provide critical insights that will lead to the development of safer and more effective immunotherapies that will improve the quality of life of kids with leukaemia. |
| Funding: | Total: $139,907 in 2025
$69953.50 funded by FHRI grant $69953.50 funded by CCWA |
| Supported: | CCWA is currently seeking funding for this research |
| Project title: | Towards tailoring novel therapies for Down syndrome leukaemia |
| Lead researcher: | Dr Sebastien Malinge |
| Institution: | The Kids Institute on behalf of Centre for Child Health Research, The University of Western Australia |
| Project description: | Leukaemia is the most common tumour type and remains the second highest cause of death by cancer in children. Moreover, even when treatment is effective, many children suffer from lifelong side-effects associated with standard of care therapy. A subset of children react badly to treatment and develop life-threatening conditions. These poor clinical features are exacerbated in children with Down syndrome (trisomy 21), a community that already has higher rates of leukaemia and poorer outcomes compared to others, as well as many other health issues. We need to do better for these children, by tailoring safer treatment strategies to each individual kid. We recently demonstrated that the ‘young’ tumour ecosystem, i.e. the cells that are surrounding the cancer cells, is different from that in ‘adults’. We used this information to develop children-specific immunotherapies that improve outcomes of paediatric cancer models. In this project, we will explore the role of how the genetic mutations associated with Down Syndrome change this ‘young’ bone marrow, the site in the body where leukaemia cells grow. We will investigate how these mutations affect the immune response, as well as the effectiveness of chemotherapy and immunotherapy. Altogether, this will provide us with new markers of treatment response and toxicity, as well as a better understanding of how the tumour ecosystem responds to those therapies. Ultimately, this project will forge the basis to develop tailored therapies and improve safety, quality of care, and survival for children with Down syndrome, that may be applicable to all children with leukaemia. |
| Funding: | Total: $139,651 in 2025
$69825.50 funded by FHRI $69825.50 funded by CCWA |
| Supported: | CCWA is currently seeking funding for this research |
| Project title: | Ngangk Ngabala Ngoonda (Sun Safety) of Aboriginal young mob of WA |
| Lead researcher: | Professor Asha Bowen |
| Institution: | The Kids Institute on behalf of Centre for Child Health Research, The University of Western Australia |
| Project description: | Skin cancer, though less frequent among Aboriginal Australians, often presents at an advanced stage and with poorer outcomes compared to non-Aboriginal Australians. The ‘Ngangk Ngabala Ngoonda (Sun Safety) of Aboriginal young mob of WA’ research project seeks to identify the sun safety needs of Aboriginal young people in WA. Co-designed with Aboriginal Elders and community members in partnership with Aboriginal Community Controlled Health Organisations, this project investigates existing knowledge, attitudes, barriers and misconceptions around sun safety and skin cancer risk in Aboriginal young people. The project will conduct a review of the currently available sun safety resources specific for Aboriginal Australians, and critically appraise current sun protection guidelines for children and young people, with a focus on children and young people with skin of colour. This evidence will inform the co-development of culturally relevant health promotion messaging and resources on sun safety and skin cancer awareness that will be widely disseminated and robustly evaluated. This project will provide evidence-based prevention and early intervention initiatives. Aboriginal people will be supported to gain the knowledge and skills to make positive sun smart choices leading to overall health and wellbeing. The aim of this project is to ultimately reduce the difference in skin cancer health outcomes between Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal West Australians. |
| Funding: | Total: $139786 in 2025
$69893 funded by FHRI grant $69893 funded by CCWA |
| Supported: | CCWA is currently seeking funding for this research |
Suzanne Cavanagh Early Career Investigator Grants
Early Career Investigator Grants are designed to help talented early career cancer researchers develop the skills and necessary track record to advance their career. These one year awards give many researchers their first step in their career as an independent cancer researcher.
See below for the 2024 grant recipients.
| Project title: | Using cholesterol lowering drugs to boost immune treatment for mesothelioma |
| Lead researcher: | Dr Nicola Principe |
| Institution: | The University of Western Australia |
| Project description: | Mesothelioma is a cancer of cells that line the lungs and heart, often caused by asbestos exposure. Australia has one of the highest rates of mesothelioma in the world, with Western Australia particularly affected due to historical asbestos mining. Unfortunately, survival rates have remained very low, with only 6.8% of patients surviving five years after diagnosis. This highlights the urgent need for better treatment options. Immunotherapy, a form of cancer treatment that enhances the body’s immune system to recognise and attack cancer cells, has shown limited success in hard-to-treat cancers like mesothelioma. This is because tumours adapt to evade and resist the immune responses, even when boosted by immunotherapy. My research has identified a specific type of regulatory immune cell within mesothelioma tumours that are powered by cholesterol. These cells suppress the immune system’s ability to fight cancer, reducing the effectiveness of immunotherapy. The aim of this research project is to investigate whether commonly prescribed cholesterol-lowering drugs such as statins, can block the activity of regulatory immune cells in tumours, thereby enhancing the immune system’s capacity to target and kill cancer cells. We will test combinations of cholesterol-lowering drugs and immunotherapy in mice with mesothelioma tumours. We will identify best performing combinations and assess how cholesterol-lowering drugs improve anti-tumour immunity by developing cutting edge techniques to accurately measure cholesterol within regulatory cells that reside in tumours. This project has the potential to impact cancer treatment by repurposing existing, clinically approved drugs to enhance the effectiveness of immunotherapy, offering new hope to patients with mesothelioma. |
| Funding from Cancer Council WA: | $35,000 in 2025 |
| Supported: | CCWA is currently seeking funding for this research |
| Project title: | AI-enhanced comprehensive imaging for accurate breast tumour detection. |
| Lead researcher: | Dr Jiayue Li |
| Institution: | The University of Western Australia |
| Project description: | Breast cancer is the most common cancer affecting Australian women, with over 20,000 new cases each year. For early-stage breast cancer, breast-conserving surgery is the primary treatment, but 1 in 4 patients require a second operation because the cancer is not fully removed during the initial surgery. Surgeons typically rely on sight and touch to locate and remove breast tumours during surgery, primarily because tumours are often stiff. However, these approaches are subjective and not always accurate, making it difficult to detect small remnants of cancer that may be left behind. To reduce the need for additional surgeries, and the associated risk of infection, costs, and psychological burden on patients, it is critical to improve the diagnostic accuracy of tumour detection during surgery. To address this need, our research focuses on developing an innovative imaging technique that captures a variety of biomarkers showing tumour features across a series of images for more reliable breast cancer detection. Furthermore, the interpretation of these images is enhanced by leveraging artificial intelligence, enabling surgeons to make better decisions during surgery. We believe that our comprehensive imaging technique has the potential to substantially reduce the number of patients needing additional surgeries, leading to improved treatment outcomes and experiences for those with breast cancer in Australia. |
| Funding from Cancer Council WA: | $35,000 in 2025 |
| Supported: | CCWA is currently seeking funding for this research |
| Project title: | Does the fitness of the immune system affect how blood cancers respond to immune cell therapies? |
| Lead researcher: | Dr Colin Chin |
| Institution: | Royal Perth Hospital |
| Project description: | The immune system is made up of an army of immune cells in the blood which protect the body from dangers such as germs or cancer. New treatments called immune effector cell therapies are being used to fight blood cancers, saving the lives of many patients. These treatments use the body’s own defences to target and destroy cancer cells. One type of treatment, called CAR T-cell therapy, changes a patient’s own immune cells to recognise and attack cancer cells. Doctors take a patient’s own blood, modify the immune cells in a lab, and put them back in the body to fight off cancer. Another treatment, called bispecific antibodies, uses special proteins to help the immune system recognise and attack cancer cells. While these treatments have helped many patients, most still face challenges, like the cancer coming back or not responding to treatment. This can happen because the immune cells get tired. To make these treatments even better and save more lives, we need to understand how they affect the immune cells over time. Our project uses a technology called flow cytometry to study individual blood cells. Flow cytometry uses special lights to characterise blood cells by how big they are, what is on the inside and on the outside of these cells. Patients with a blood cancer called B-cell non-Hodgkin lymphoma will have blood samples collected and sent to UWA to be studied. Our project will help us come up with new ideas on how to improve these treatments, like recharging the immune cells or finding new ways to give the treatments. |
| Funding from Cancer Council WA: | $35,000 in 2025 |
| Supported: | CCWA is currently seeking funding for this research |
| Project title: | Understanding characteristics in tumours of aggressive thyroid cancer patients that can help predict disease course and improve outcomes |
| Lead researcher: | Dr Bella Nguyen |
| Institution: | South Metropolitan Health Service |
| Project description: | Many thyroid cancers respond well to radioactive thyroid treatment and are cured. Aggressive thyroid cancers are rare but highly fatal. Some patients initially respond to treatment, but the cancer finds a way to become resistant. This project seeks to better understand why aggressive thyroid cancers are so deadly and find ways to improve treatment and outcomes for these patients. Fiona Stanley Hospital runs the State’s only combined thyroid malignancy clinic. We will recruit and consent patients with two subsets of thyroid cancers with poor outlook: Differentiated/poorly-differentiated-thyroid-cancers (DTC/PDTC) that are ‘radioactive iodine refractory’ (RAIR). These patients initially respond to radioactive iodine therapy; however, the cancer eventually becomes resistant to this therapy. (Cohorts 1 and 2-20 patients) Anaplastic thyroid cancers (ATC). This type of thyroid cancer is resistant to treatment from the start and associated with the highest mortality. (Cohort 3-10 patients) For Cohorts 1 and 2, we will collect primary tumour samples at diagnosis (before they receive treatment), and when the cancer becomes therapy-resistant (lesions have developed). We will analyse these samples using state-of-the-art biological and genomic testing equipment to examine the mutations at the different collection times to understand the changes. For Cohort 3, we will analyse samples from patients undergoing a combination of immunotherapy and targeted therapy to identify mutations and predictors (biomarkers). This project will advance the basic biological knowledge in this rare-tumour field and provide important molecular understanding for the development of novel treatments. It will also help inform the design of future clinical trials for these aggressive thyroid cancers. |
| Funding from Cancer Council WA: | $35,000 in 2025 |
| Supported: | CCWA is currently seeking funding for this research |
Research Fellowships
Our Research Fellowships fund outstanding biomedical and health researchers working in the field of cancer so they can undertake research of major importance. They provide salary support for up to five years with the aim of advancing the quality and impact of cancer research in WA and promoting collaboration and partnerships, locally, nationally and internationally.
| Project title: | Curing cancer using Virus-derived RNA |
| Lead researcher: | Dr Tao Wang |
| Institution: | The University of Western Australia |
| Project description: | Immunotherapy holds promise for treating various types of cancer. Over the past decade, it has achieved great success in certain patients. However, many still fail to benefit, primarily due to insufficient immune cells, and those present are typically inactive. This is especially true for childhood cancers, which do not respond well to immunotherapy. My approach is inspired by nature. Our immune system has evolved to become activated by viruses, by detecting their RNA. This provides an opportunity to enhance the efficacy of immunotherapy by hijacking this RNA-detecting mechanism. In this fellowship, I aim to uncover how our immune cells recognise these RNAs and develop RNA-based therapeutic drugs. These drugs will attract and activate immune cells in tumours to enhance the effectiveness of current immunotherapy. My research could lead to new treatments to benefit people with cancer, in particular children with incurable tumours. |
| Funding from Cancer Council WA: | 120,000 in 2025 ($480,000 total, 2025-2028) |
| Supported: |
CCWA is currently seeking funding for this research |
| Project title: | Reducing breast cancer morality by improving early detection |
| Lead researcher: | Associate Professor Jennifer Stone |
| Institution: | The University of Western Australia |
| Project description: | Breast cancer is the second leading cause of cancer-related deaths in Australia. Population breast cancer screening increases early detection, which improves treatment options and saves lives. Australia provides free mammographic screening for women aged 40+, however, screening participation is low, with only ~55% of women in the targeted age range (50-74) attending the state-run BreastScreen programs. BreastScreen’s one-size-fits-all approach lacks incorporation of known risk factors to identify women at increased risk and as it stands, ~9 cancers go undetected per 10,000 women screened. Despite the success of BreastScreen programs in preventing breast cancer deaths, there is clear potential for improvement. This research program aims to reduce breast cancer mortality in Australia by improving early detection using three approaches: increasing screening participation; co-producing primary care pathways to improve screening; and facilitating consumer-driven research. Specifically, this research aims to: 1.) Evaluate a novel intervention targeting obesity-related barriers to mammographic screening participation within the BreastScreen Western Australia (WA) program via the BreastScreenPlus Project. 2.) Co-design and implement personalised screening pathways for women within primary care, as part of our NHMRC Centre for Research Excellence, MyBRISK, and as part of a Cancer Council WA Collaborative Cancer Grant. 3.) Co-develop an interactive web-based platform that facilitates prioritisation and co-production of consumer-driven research projects to improve screening outcomes in Australia. This program of research will improve breast cancer screening and save women’s lives. In extensive consultation with stakeholders, our expert teams will deliver highly-translatable outputs that will reduce breast cancer mortality by improving early detection of the disease. |
| Funding from Cancer Council WA: | $96,000 in 2025 ($480,000 total, 2024 – 2028) |
| Supported: |
CCWA is currently seeking funding for this research |
| Project title: | Targeting cancer with vaccines – focusing the immune system on cancer mutations |
| Lead researcher: | Professor Jenette Creaney |
| Institution: | The University of Western Australia |
| Project description: | This research will benefit people with difficult-to-treat cancers such as lung cancer and the asbestos-induced cancer, mesothelioma. Lung cancer is the most common cause of cancer-related death in Western Australia, with over 1000 cases diagnosed in the state each year. WA has the highest rate of mesothelioma in the world. These cancers have very poor outcomes, with over 80% of people with lung cancer and 95% of people with mesothelioma dying within 5 years of diagnosis. Modern cancer treatments use the body’s own immune system to eliminate tumours. These treatments are highly successful in some but not the majority of people. My research focuses on developing personalised cancer vaccines to increase the number of people with lung cancer and mesothelioma who respond to treatment. These vaccines will target genetic changes that occur specifically in a person’s own tumour. I will study the natural immune response to cancer mutations in people with cancer and use animal models to perfect vaccine development. At present, I am testing the safety and practicality of this personalised vaccine approach in a small clinical trial in people living with lung cancer in WA. The funding from this grant will allow me to continue the vital laboratory and animal-based research underpinning the current clinical trial and also help toward expanding the next phase of clinical trials in which a greater number of participants are able to receive this type of personalised therapy. |
| Funding from Cancer Council WA: | $120,000 in 2025 ($480,000 total, 2023 – 2026) |
| Supported: |
CCWA is currently seeking funding for this research |
| Project title: | Testing the ability of new medicines to improve radiation therapy and increase survival rates for the childhood brain cancer medulloblastoma |
| Lead researcher: | Associate Professor Raelene Endersby |
| Institution: | The Kids Institute on behalf of Centre for Child Health Research, The University of Western Australia |
| Project description: | Brain cancers differ from other types of cancers. Radiation is necessary for treatment but causes significant additional problems – especially for children who have to live the rest of their lives with the consequences of radiation – like reduced brain function. Most lab-based research on childhood cancers still uses adult-cancer based techniques. My team have developed more accurate childhood cancer models. Our early data show that two existing cancer drugs might work with lower doses of radiation to decrease side-effects. By combining these existing medicines with low-dose radiation therapy, I can determine if 1) this more effectively kills brain cancer than radiation alone (which is the standard treatment today) and 2) if this reduces the side effects of radiation, since the dose is lower. If successful, I will move this finding into clinical trials quickly, as this will be the first time a new treatment for brain cancer has been identified in more than 30 years. |
| Funding from Cancer Council WA: | $120,000 in 2025 ($480,000 total, 2023 – 2025) |
| Supported: |
CCWA is currently seeking funding for this research |
Postdoctoral Research Fellowships
| Project title: | Empowering the immune system: unravelling new avenues for immunotherapy in liver cancer |
| Recipient: | Dr Jennifer Currenti |
| University: | Curtin University |
| Description: | Liver cancer is the second leading cause of cancer-related deaths globally, with a steadily increasing incidence. It is one of only three cancers in WA that has not seen an improvement in the 5-year survival rate, with liver cancer remaining at a low 24%. These statistics indicate an urgent need for more effective treatment options. T-cells are the primary immune cells responsible for recognising and subsequently killing cancer cells. However, as cancer progresses, their capacity to kill cancer cells decreases. Immunotherapy is the current standard-of-care for late-stage liver cancer and aims to restore the cancer cell killing capacity of T-cells. However, it works in less than 1 in 3 patients and can have life-long and life-threatening side effects. Consequently, this project aims to revolutionise liver cancer treatment by identifying T-cells in the blood linked to immunotherapy response. It will identify unique markers of T-cells that are able to kill cancer cells in those patients where immunotherapy does work. This will enable us to determine which part of cancer cells are being recognised and to harness this information to develop a personalised treatment (i.e. a therapeutic vaccine) that will restore the cancer cell killing capacity of T-cells. As this treatment will be specific to a patient’s cancer cells, we envisage that its success rate will be significantly higher than that of current treatments with considerably fewer side effects. Furthermore, this treatment stems from a blood test, a minimally invasive procedure that is available in rural and remote WA. |
| Funding from Cancer Council WA: | $75,000 in 2025 ($225,000 total for 2025 – 2027) |
| Supported: | CCWA is currently seeking funding for this research |
| Project title: | Supporting cancer outcomes by establishing referral pathways to exercise |
| Recipient: | Dr Mary Kennedy |
| University: | Edith Cowan University |
| Description: | Exercise is important medicine for people with cancer. Every person diagnosed should be referred to a specialised cancer exercise professional to benefit from this important medicine. Unfortunately, research shows referrals only happen for fewer than 13% of people. This low number is unacceptable. My research aims to increase the number of people who are referred to appropriate exercise services during cancer treatment. There are three phases: Phase 1: Explore how cancer doctors and nurses in an organisation refer patients to exercise and what makes referrals hard, so we can learn what is and is not working and why. Explore how people receiving cancer treatment are receiving information about exercise and what they think is and is not useful about that information. Phase 2: Design a new system to increase the number of people who receive an exercise referral from their cancer care team. The new system will be designed by an advisory group of managers, cancer doctors and nurses, administrative professional, and people who have received treatment from the organisation. Phase 3: Evaluate the new system to see if cancer doctors and nurses use it, if it helps people receiving treatment recognise the importance of doing different types of exercise during treatment, and if it helps people participate in exercise during treatment. The work will be used to develop resources to help guide others to establish an exercise referral process within their cancer care organisations and will increase the number of patients who benefit from exercise during cancer treatment. |
| Funding from Cancer Council WA: | $75,000 in 2025 ($225,000 total for 2024 – 2026) |
| Supported: | CCWA is currently seeking funding for this research |
| Project title: | Can exercise reduce the symptom burden and improve tumour blood flow to increase treatment efficacy |
| Recipient: | Dr Oliver Schumacher |
| University: | Edith Cowan University |
| Description: | Radiotherapy is one of the main treatment options for prostate cancer. However, the biology of prostate tumours is complex, with many of the blood vessels surrounding the tumours being abnormally developed, limiting the ability to deliver oxygen to some parts of the tumour. This lack of oxygen is seen as a major limiting factor in the effectiveness of radiotherapy, with low levels of oxygen making cancer cells more resistant to radiotherapy. Moreover, this reduced oxygenation of tumours is also associated with the growth and spread of cancers, ultimately contributing to treatment resistance, cancer progression and mortality. In addition, some patients may experience side effects from treatment that negatively affect their daily activities and quality of life. The purpose of this project is to investigate the effects of exercise on blood flow and oxygenation in tumours of men with prostate cancer undergoing radiotherapy. I will first examine if a single exercise session can improve tumour blood flow and oxygenation. In addition, I will examine long-term effects of exercise training over the course of radiotherapy on tumour blood flow and oxygenation as well as whether exercise can reduce treatment-related side effects such as bladder and bowel symptoms. The impact of these results, if proven effective, are enormous. Reducing urinary side effects addresses a major issue for prostate cancer patients. Furthermore, by demonstrating the effects of exercise on tumour blood flow and oxygenation, I hope to highlight exercise as a low-cost therapy that can enhance the effectiveness of cancer treatment. |
| Funding from Cancer Council WA: | $75,000 in 2025 ($225,000 total for 2023 – 2026) |
| Supported: | CCWA is currently seeking funding for this research |
PhD Top Up Scholarships
PhD Top Up Scholarships are awarded to applicants who have an outstanding academic record and the potential to pursue full-time PhD studies in cancer-related research.
| Project title: | Better together: how to use radiotherapy to increase the success of immunotherapies in mesothelioma cancer |
| Lead researcher: | Faith Chang |
| Institution: | The University of Western Australia |
| Project description: | Mesothelioma is a rare, fatal cancer caused by asbestos, and that has very few treatments. Though immunotherapies (treatments which help the immune system fight cancer) have recently shown success in mesothelioma, they don’t work for everybody. Researchers are searching for ways to increase the success of immunotherapy. Radiotherapy is given to more than half of all cancer patients and can even cure some cancers. We know that radiotherapy kills cancer cells and stops them multiplying. However, radiotherapy can also boost immune responses to cancer. Combining radiotherapy with immunotherapy could greatly improve treatment responses. This research aims to find the best way to combine radiotherapy and immunotherapy. We have already found a particular combination that can cure 100% of tumours under the skin in mice. With more information, we may be able to apply radio-immunotherapy to humans. This project studies how radiotherapy changes immune cells to help them destroy tumour cells. We will test how well radio-immunotherapy treats cancer that has spread and attempt to treat tumours surrounding the lung, mimicking where mesothelioma occurs in humans. This project will use mesothelioma mouse models and a highly precise X-ray machine for irradiations with the goal of providing evidence needed to start clinical testing of radio-immunotherapy for mesothelioma patients. This research will ultimately result in better treatment options and survival for many cancers. |
| Funding from Cancer Council WA: | $12,000 for 2025 (Total $36,000 for 2023 – 2025) |
| Supported: | CCWA is currently seeking funding for this research |
| Project title: | Phases of care following the initial diagnosis and treatment phase of female breast cancer |
| Recipient: | Shantelle Smith |
| University: | Curtin University |
| Description: | This research is about understanding how women with breast cancer in Australia use health services after the first six months (following their initial diagnosis and treatment). Breast cancer is the most common cancer in females in Australia, and people are surviving many years after their diagnosis. Most studies about breast cancer focus on either the first treatment or overall survival, and little is known about the use of services across the cancer journey. This study will look at what happens all the way to the end of a person’s life. This includes both women who do and don’t have their cancer return. We’re doing this research because we want to uncover different phases of care and how these differ across women depending on their initial diagnosis and other factors, such as where they live. We’re going to do this by talking to women who are living with and beyond breast cancer and their caregivers. We will also look at the data that is routinely collected to record the treatment and services these women use. This will help us understand what each phase is like, what care is needed, and what data is required to monitor care so that we can more holistically evaluate the cancer journey. This research will benefit people with breast cancer. By learning more about their journey and their needs, we can improve the allocation of resources used to care for women living with and beyond breast cancer, and plan health services that account for the entirety of the journey. |
| Funding from Cancer Council WA: | $12,000 for 2025 (Up to $36,000 in total for 2022-2026) |
| Supported: | CCWA is currently seeking funding for this research |
Lions Cancer Institute Karen and Joshua Chinnery PhD Top Up Scholarship
| Project title: | Shooting the messenger; targeting exosomes for the detection and treatment of pancreatic cancer |
| Lead researcher: | Jordan Fyfe |
| Institution: | Curtin University |
| Project description: | Pancreatic cancer (PC) is one of the deadliest cancers, with 90% of people dying within 5 years of diagnosis. PC is usually detected late in disease as the cancer cells grow quickly and can spread to other parts of the body (known as metastasis) before causing symptoms. PC is also very hard to treat and the therapies currently used don’t often work. With the number of people diagnosed with PC on the rise, we urgently need to improve our ways of detecting and treating this fatal disease. PC cells can communicate with other cells, like immune cells, by sending small bubble-like particles called exosomes. Exosomes are naturally released and carry many different molecules (proteins, lipids, genetic information and other substances) usually found inside cells. When other cells take up exosomes, these molecules are delivered and can change how the cell functions. Our research group recently discovered an important lipid molecule inside exosomes produced only by PC cells. This lipid is known to control normal immune responses but is also involved in various immune disorders, including cancer. In this project, we explore how exosomes transport this lipid to immune cells to stop their tumour-killing functions. We aim to see if blocking this transport can boost immune cells to find and kill cancer cells. We also want to study other materials inside exosomes from PC patients to know if they can be used as a non-invasive way to detect PC. This study will help us understand how PC cells control immune cells and may provide new ways to detect and treat this deadly disease. |
| Funding from Cancer Council WA: | $12,000 in 2025 (Total $36,000 for 2024 – 2026) |
| Supported: | CCWA is currently seeking funding for this research |
Student Vacation Research Scholarships
Cancer Council WA Student Vacation Research Scholarships offer talented university students a taste of what cancer research can offer. They offer students a small stipend to conduct a specific research project over a period of four to 10 weeks.
| Project title: | Investigating new RNA-based treatments for Liver Cancer |
| Lead researcher: | Saskia Saville |
| Institution: | Curtin University |
| Project description: | Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is a highly aggressive liver cancer and the third leading cause of cancer-related deaths worldwide. Current treatments for HCC are often ineffective at extending survival and can have severe side effects, reducing patients’ quality of life. This underscores the urgent need for new therapies that are more effective and have fewer side effects. Our research focuses on using the Cas13d enzyme, part of an advanced gene-targeting system, to combat HCC. Cas13d can cut specific RNA molecules, reducing the production of harmful genes. Its precision allows it to target only the intended genes, minimizing off-target effects. We aim to harness this capability to deliver Cas13d to liver cancer cells, targeting key RNA molecules involved in cancer progression to stop tumour growth or induce cancer cell death. The research will proceed in several stages. First, we will design guide RNAs (gRNAs) that direct the Cas13d enzyme to specific cancer-related genes in liver cancer cells. Next, we will test these gRNAs by treating liver cancer cells and measuring the reduction in gene activity. Finally, we will assess how the targeted reduction of specific harmful genes can help kill liver cancer cells or reduce their growth and proliferation. This project represents a foundational step towards developing a revolutionary treatment platform for liver cancer. If successful, it could pave the way for personalised treatments tailored to individual patients and be adapted to treat other cancers and diseases. |
| Funding from Cancer Council WA: | $3000 in 2024 – 2025 |
| Supported: | CCWA is currently seeking funding for this research |
| Project title: | A new approach to enhance the effectiveness of chemotherapy in children with leukaemia |
| Lead researcher: | Yasmin Henderson-Kelly |
| Institution: | Curtin University |
| Project description: | Acute lymphoblastic leukaemia (ALL) is a type of blood cancer that disproportionately affects young children. In children aged 0-14 years old, ALL represents more than half of blood cancer diagnoses. Despite improvements in modern therapy leading to survival rates of over 90%, clinical outcomes in some childhood leukaemia remain poor. In fact, less than 40% of infants with certain aggressive types of leukaemia will survive beyond 5 years. This is often caused by a combination of treatment resistance and toxicity from chemotherapy. Therefore, new therapies that can improve survival in these vulnerable patients are desperately needed. The Leukaemia Translational Research Laboratory at The Kids Research Institute Australia plans to test a new strategy of treating ALL by targeting a specific antioxidant pathway which can potentially increase the effectiveness of chemotherapy in leukaemia treatment. As a proof-of-concept, this proposal will investigate the anti-leukaemia effect of an antioxidant agent. I will treat the leukaemic cells with chemotherapy in combination with the antioxidant agent to study whether this combination will improve the killing of leukaemic cells. Furthermore, I will also evaluate how this agent kills the leukaemia cells. This study will be performed in the laboratory using established techniques by my supervisors. If successful, we will progress this research into animal trials to investigate whether combining this agent with chemotherapy can extend survival. Positive outcomes from this research can potentially lead to a new way of treatment for high-risk ALL, including infant ALL which has the lowest survival rate. Thus, we envisage a pathway of clinical translation from “bench to bedside”. |
| Funding from Cancer Council WA: | $3000 in 2024 – 2025 |
| Supported: | CCWA is currently seeking funding for this research |
| Project title: | Investigating how tumour stiffness affects breast cancer cells in developing resistance to chemotherapy |
| Lead researcher: | Zhuang Min Lee |
| Institution: | The University of Western Australia |
| Project description: | The purpose of my research is to investigate how tumour stiffness can affect the ability of breast cancer cells to develop resistance against chemotherapy. Chemotherapy resistance is the cause of 80-90% of cancer-related deaths, and breast cancers detected at later stages are exceptionally difficult to treat. Research has shown that when breast cancer cells are grown in a high stiffness environment, such as one formed from a dense network of fibres, they are more likely to develop chemotherapy resistance by forming pumps on their surfaces which pump drugs out of the cells. However, not much is known whether the stiffness of the tumour environment can also increase pumping activity. My project aims to first develop a 3D hydrogel which mimics the range of stiffnesses found in late-stage breast cancer. The material used to make the hydrogel is a protein called collagen which is abundantly found in breast tissue. The stiffness of the hydrogel is manipulated by controlling the formation of networks between the collagen fibres. Then, I will grow breast cancer cells within the hydrogel and detect for the formation of drug-extruding pumps as well as measuring pumping activities. Findings from my project will provide a deeper understanding as to how mechanical signals can influence chemotherapy resistance, and shine light on other possibilities for therapeutic interventions. In addition, the research field has become increasingly aware of the importance of using 3D models to better represent events happening in the body. Thus, the 3D collagen hydrogel developed can be useful for other cancer cell research or used as drug testing models. |
| Funding from Cancer Council WA: | $3000 in 2024 – 2025 |
| Supported: | CCWA is currently seeking funding for this research |
| Project title: | Establishing a workflow for analysing and visualising immune cell specificities in melanoma patients treated with immune-activating therapies |
| Lead researcher: | Ropafadzai Jawa |
| Institution: | Edith Cowan University |
| Project description: | Melanoma is a potentially deadly form of skin cancer that is being treated with immune-activating therapies. It has a high impact in Australia and is difficult to treat in the late stage. Immune-activating therapies, known as immunotherapies, include various drugs that activate certain parts of the immune system. The aim of this study is to assess the changes in the immune cell responses as treatment progresses. The research will be done using immune cells (T cells) extracted from the patient’s blood in order to compare the specificity of the immune responses using computational tools. The immune specificity will pertain to how effective the immune cells are at recognising and attacking the tumour cells. Comparing the diversity of the immune cells at the different time points and between the different patients will give us an indication of how the treatments differ between patients as well. The benefits will be the comparison of different drugs to see which drug works better, and how the immune system adapts to the treatment. This will tell us how we can adapt the results for monitoring patients and to improve current treatments. |
| Funding from Cancer Council WA: | $3000 in 2024 – 2025 |
| Supported: | CCWA is currently seeking funding for this research |
Cancer Research Trust Enabling Grant
The Cancer Research Trust Enabling Grants were established in 2009 to promote and support collaborative cancer research in WA and make a globally-significant contribution to the diagnosis, prevention and treatment of cancer.
| Award: | Enabling advanced single cell cancer genomics in Western Australia |
| Recipient: | Professor Alistair Forrest |
| University: | The University of Western Australia |
| Description: | Tumours contain many different normal cell types that interact with the cancer cells. Although some cell types are associated with good or poor prognosis, relatively little is known about all the cell types that exist in a tumour. The team will use new ‘single cell technologies’ that look at the cell’s DNA to study hundreds of tumour samples from many different cancer types donated by patients across Perth. This will provide new insights into what cell types are present in each tumour and determine the genes switched on and off in thousands of cells from each patient’s tumour. This information will be used to study four priority areas: what cell types are present in each tumour ; which drugs might kill these cancer cells, what fraction of cancer cells are likely to be resistant, and why some are cancers resistant; what changes between the cancer cells in a primary site when they move to a metastatic site; and whether new biomarkers can be identified for early cancer detection and whether cancer cells can be detected in the blood. |
| Funding from Cancer Council WA: | $50,000 in 2025 (total $450,000 for 2018-2026) |
| Supported: | CCWA is currently seeking funding for this research |
| Award: | Western Australia Melanoma Initiative (WAMI): developing novel treatments for immunotherpy-resistant melanoma |
| Lead researchers: | Professor Jonas Nilsson and Professor Elin Gray |
| University: | Harry Perkins Institute Edith Cowan University |
| Description: | Melanoma is a deadly form of skin cancer with an increasing incidence rate worldwide. Australia currently has the highest incidence of melanoma, which accounts for an estimated annual healthcare cost burden of $201 million. In recent years, advancements in our understanding of the genetics and immunology of melanoma have led to the development of novel molecular targeted and immune-based therapies for a subset of patients. Unfortunately, these treatments are often associated with debilitating and persistent side-effects. Moreover, around 50% of patients will not derive clinical benefit and succumb to the disease. The Western Australia Melanoma Initiative (WAMI) is a research collaborative comprising basic and clinical researchers from WA, as well as their national and international collaborators. The clinical needs of our consumer representatives with lived experience of melanoma drives WAMI research agenda and the focus of this grant application. Our project aims to improve the outcomes of patients not benefiting from current therapies. WAMI will build upon current areas of excellence in melanoma research in WA, focusing on consolidating existing biobanks and developing an analytical pipeline to provide detailed molecular profiling for translational clinical studies. WAMI’s overarching themes are: (i) implement adoptive cell therapy with tumour infiltrating lymphocytes (TILs) in WA and (ii) use advanced animal models, fundamental research and gene therapeutics to improve TIL and other cell therapies. Notably, TIL therapy is an effective form of cellular immunotherapy currently unavailable in Australia. The establishment of clinical experience in cell therapy for melanoma, and our innovative platform for improving and delivering additional cell therapies, will improve the lives of patients and enable translation also for patients with other solid tumours. A special focus of WAMI is to identify which patients are most likely to require TIL therapy. By biobanking tumours and blood before and after immune checkpoint inhibitor therapy and TIL therapy, biomarkers that can help with patient stratification will be made clinically useful. |
| Funding from Cancer Council WA: | $25,000 in 2025 (Total $125,000 for 2024 – 2028) |
| Supported: | CCWA is currently seeking funding for this research |
| Award: | Centre for RNA therapeutics in Cancer |
| Lead researchers: | Professor Archa Fox |
| University: | The University of Western Australia |
| Description: | The Australian Centre for RNA Therapeutics in Cancer (ACRTC) will combine RNA technology with existing cancer research strengths in WA to translate discoveries into the clinic. We will develop platform approaches, piloted with targets against specific cancers but also adaptable to other cancer subtypes. For example, the knowledge gained from creating mRNA-encoding cytokines to remodel pancreatic tumour microenvironments, can be used to design cytokines for additional solid tumours. We will establish an RNA production facility for research-grade RNA therapeutics in cancer and become a nexus for applying these in cancer treatment. Our deep knowledge base will attract national and international collaborators, venture capital, and pharma to partner with our researchers to develop products. By creating a dedicated centre where RNA innovators work hand in hand with oncologists, consumers and patient advocates to design, synthesise, test and improve pilot RNA products, we will improve cancer outcomes in WA and give local cancer researchers a powerful competitive edge. We also have a niche, being the only proposed centre focusing solely on applying RNA technology for oncology treatments, giving a razor focus on cancer relative to other RNA hubs. Our multidisciplinary approach brings together diverse researchers from oncologists to cell biologists, chemists and computer scientists. The ACRTC will support multiple WA research groups directly, with potential for new groups to benefit once established. Pilot projects incentivise collaboration, as no single group has all the skills needed to produce a new drug – we must work together! In five years, we aim to be well progressed on a translational pipeline for 5 new treatments, as well as discovering innovative approaches and frameworks that can be used by other researchers for solutions for other cancer subtypes. Ultimately, our goal is to get new therapies to the clinic to improve outcomes and quality of life for those afflicted by cancer. |
| Funding from Cancer Council WA: | $50,000 in 2025 (Total $250,000 2024 – 2028) |
| Supported: | CCWA is currently seeking funding for this research |