Success Stories
How your support makes a difference in the fight against cancer.
Progress in the fight against cancer is being made and lives have been saved as a result of research. With the support of the community and people like you, Cure Cancer Australia has been able to give a start to many recognised researchers of today.
With the assistance of our Medical Advisory Committee, our ability to select impressive, young, talented researchers to fund is demonstrated by the fact that most successful award recipients have made their start with Cure Cancer Australia funding. Thanks to research, 90% of parents who hear the words “your child has leukaemia” will now see their child survive their prognosis. Twenty years ago, this would not have been a reality.
By supporting young researchers and their innovative approaches when they need it the most, life saving breakthroughs and real progress has been achieved. With every hour of research funded, we are one step closer to finding a cure. Your support is vital to this.
There have been a plethora of exciting breakthroughs by Cure Cancer Australia Foundation grant recipients, with most recently
- Professor Andrew Biankin in pancreatic cancer who was awarded the Wildfire Award.
- Dr Megan Bywater who uncovered a potentially lethal weakness in cancer cells.
- Dr Dan Andrews who has “revealed how cancer cells can fool the body’s natural immune defences into ignoring the threat they pose”.
- Dr Bryan Day who idenitified the marker for aggressive brain tumours (GBM).
- Dr. Megan Hitchins funded in 2005 & 2006. Other incredible progress is being made every day by the researchers featured below who received an early career funding grant from Cure Cancer Australia.
- Colorectal cancer was announced by two former Cure Cancer Australia Grant Recipients, Professor Robyn Ward funded in 1994 & 1997
May Day – World Ovarian Cancer Day |
As of the 8th May 2013 it will be the first World Ovarian Cancer Day. To highlight this inaugural event we have featured one of our Researchers Emily Colvin and her investigative research into “Ovarian cancer progression for prognosis & novel therapies” Ovarian cancer is the most lethal gynaecological malignancy in Australian women and carries a very poor prognosis. More than 1300 women are diagnosed with ovarian cancer in Australia each year and 800 women will die from the disease. In Australia, three women are diagnosed with ovarian cancer every day. It is often diagnosed at an advanced stage when the tumour has spread beyond the ovary. While initial response to chemotherapy may be high, in many patients the cancer recurs, and it’s resistant to chemotherapy. Emily’s research is critically important, in examining the importance of non-cancer cells that are present in ovarian tumours, and identifying targets for new and more effective therapies, while finding ways to diagnose the disease earlier.
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Cure Cancer 2012 in Review
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Review of our 2012 researchers, their breakthroughs and accomplishments. |
Five Success Stories |
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Recently five of Cure Cancer Australia’s previously funded grant recipients had their big wins. These big wins reflect the quality of researchers that are selected for Cure Cancer Australia funding.READ MORE |
Professor Andrew Biankin
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“At the helm of a big win at this year’s Cancer Institute NSW cancer awards was Professor Andrew Biankin, who got his research career started with a Cure Cancer grant back in 2006 investigating better treatment for pancreatic cancer.. His research group scored the inaugural Wildfire Award for their publication which was cited in a massive forty-one manuscripts in the twenty-four months following publication, gaining widespread recognition in high-ranking journals and significantly influencing how this cancer is treated.” Read more
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Dr Catherine Suter
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Dr Catherine Suter, currently Head of Epigenetics at the Victor Chang Cardiac Research Institute received her first Cure Cancer grant in 2005.Dr Suter now leads a team working in epigenetic gene regulation. In Catherine’s words, “You need a grant to get a grant.”The early funding Catherine received from Cure Cancer allowed her to really springboard and go on to achieve wonderful outcomes for cancer patients worldwide. In collaboration with several clinical teams across Australia, Dr Suter and her team are now investigating if there are there some individuals who carry an epimutation in a small proportion of their cells, and how this relates to cancer predisposition. |
Professor Robyn Ward
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Professor Robyn Ward has achieved an extraordinary amount as a pre-eminent Australian cancer researcher and oncologist over just two decades. A Cure Cancer Australia Grant Recipient in 1994 & 1997, Robyn is head of the adult cancer program at the Lowy Cancer Research Centre at UNSW and co-leader of a study which discovered a genetic mutation responsible for making people susceptible to colorectal, bowel and other cancers.Yet the achievement that pleases her most is the simplest: to be able to look after patients, every day, while staying engaged in research. Robyn refers to this as “bridging the gap” between what happens in science laboratories with what happens in a real hospital – and it’s a role she believes more medical professionals should play. |
Dr Megan Hitchins
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Dr Megan Hitchins, is the Head of the Medical Epigenetics Laboratory which she founded in the Lowy Cancer Research Centre at the University of New South Wales (UNSW).Megan received a Cure Cancer Australia Grant in 2005 & 2006 and has since co-lead a study responsible for uncovering new genetic cancer risks, revealing how cancer is passed on in some families and providing hope for sufferers.Megan’s research focus, for which she has gained wide recognition, is the role of epigenetic errors in hereditary cancer, as well as the interaction between genetic and epigenetic changes in the development of the disease.
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Professor Carolyn Mountford
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Professor Carolyn Mountford, now Director of the Centre for Clinical Spectroscopy and Visiting Professor of Radiology at the Harvard Medical School was known as “the crazy lady” during the 80′s when working with with histopathologist Professor Peter Russell on a new way of detecting cancer early. Carolyn, then a young Oxford-trained biophysicist at the Ludwig Institute for Cancer Research at Royal Prince Alfred Hospital in Sydney, was undeterred by doubters. She was convinced she would detect changes in the chemistry of human cells as they became cancerous by studying them inside a strong magnetic field.And she was proved right. The technique she was largely responsible for developing in Australia, known as magnetic resonance spectroscopy (MRS), can identify cancer in the early stages. Receiving Cure Cancer Australia Grants – in 1988, 1992, 1993 and 1995 – set Carolyn and her colleagues up well to win subsequent funding from the National Health and Medical Research Council, the New South Wales Cancer Council and then, later, the US Army and Department of Defence.
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Professor Roger Reddel
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Professor Roger Reddel, has been Director of the Children’s Medical Research Institute (CMRI) for the past two decades and has lead his team towards significant breakthroughs in cancer molecular genetics. His research has been recognised at the recent Premier’s Awards where he was named Outstanding Researcher of the Year.Roger’s work is laying the basis for development of drugs targeting the mechanisms upon which 98% of all human cancers depend for their continued growth.
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