Children’s Cancer Institute of Australia – 2007
ACRF Drug Discovery Centre for Childhood Cancer at the Lowy Cancer Research Centre
State: NSW
Amount Granted: $3.1 million
Year Granted: 2007
Purpose: To establish a dedicated childhood cancer drug discovery facility
Chief Investigators: Prof Michelle Haber, Prof Phil Hogg, Prof Murray Norris, Prof Glenn Marshall, Prof Maria Kavallaris, Prof Levon Khachigian, Prof Andrei Gudkov
Types of Cancer: Neuroblastoma
Project Overview
ACRF Funds were awarded to create an integrated and dedicated Drug Discovery Centre for Childhood Cancer, focusing specifically on defined molecular targets for improved treatment of childhood cancer.
The funds will allow identification and validation of bona fide molecular targets in various forms of childhood cancer. Funding is sought from ACRF to provide all necessary scientific equipment and instrumentation to fully fit-out the ACRF Drug Discovery Centre for Childhood Cancer.
This $3.1 million grant offered by the ACRF has been made possible through a generous bequest by the Estate of the late Mrs Berenice M McDonnell.
Expected Benefits
The team collaborates actively with the major paediatric clinical trials groups in Australia, USA and Europe, and as such, is ideally positioned to build capacity in translational research for childhood cancer. The new facility will further enhance this capacity and provide proof-of-principle that following identification of a valid molecular target, testing systems can be designed to rapidly and effectively identify small molecule pharmaceuticals for use in the clinic.
The entire Program is focused on the development of new candidate drugs to improve the therapeutic outcome of children with cancer. It will lead to improved survival rates of children with cancer through the development of novel pharmaceutical agents.
Project Description (Detailed)
Despite the success of multiagent, cytotoxic chemotherapy for many types of child cancer, 30% of patients still die of their disease. Moreover, this therapeutic success has been accompanied by severe short- and long-term side-effects in some patients, which reflect the unique susceptibility of the growing child. Many of the novel therapeutics now in use in adult cancer types have shown limited in vitro and in vivo efficacy in child cancer cells. If improved treatment outcomes are to be attained, research efforts need to be directed towards possible alternate treatment strategies for children with cancer.
Researchers will use a combined approach aimed at first defining novel targets in specific pathways required by the cancer cell, and, second, using this information to design and test large-scale, small molecule screening strategies in a drug discovery process.
RECENT NEWS:
Click Here for ACRF Drug Discovery Centre for Childhood Cancer Media Release.
ACRF Drug Discovery Centre for Childhood Cancer Official Opening 19 August 2010.
Lowy Cancer Research Centre, which houses the new ACRF Drug Discovery Centre for Childhood Cancer, officially opened on 28 May 2010.
ACRF staff take a special tour of the new ACRF Drug Discovery Centre.
Lowy Cancer Research Centre celebrates its launch with first Lowy Symposium, bringing together world leaders in cancer research.
