$1.14 million capital works grant

Feature Outcome: An integrated Brain Tumour Flow Cytometry Screening Facility based at the Queensland Brain Institute, University of Queensland. The facility will be built around the latest in flow cytometry technology, allowing processing and analysis of large numbers of samples to characterise and build phenotypes of glioma.

STOP PRESS:  ACRF Brain Tumour Flow Cytometry Screening Facility opened in March 2008.

Full Media release click here.

Funding provided by the Australian Cancer Research Foundation is specifically directed towards the purchase of state-of-the-art equipment for the new facility. The Brain Tumour Flow Cytometry Screening Facility is to be afforded dedicated self-contained laboratory space within the new Queensland Brain Institute building, due for completion in mid 2007.

Research Institution: The Queensland Brain Institute (QBI), The University of Queensland (UQ).

Director of Research: Professor Perry F Bartlett FAA, Program Leader

Chief Investigators:   Professor Andrew Boyd PhD, Assistant Director and Head of Cancer and Cell Biology, Queensland Institute of Medical Research, Professor Brandon J Wainwright PhD, Institute for Molecular Bioscience, Queensland and Professor Brent A Reynolds PhD, Senior Research Fellow, Queensland Brain Institute.

Background / Overview: The overall incidence of primary brain tumours is 10 per 10,000. Unlike many other tumours, they occur in all ages and comprise the second most common tumour type amongst children and young adults.  Despite advances in chemotherapy, radiotherapy and surgery, the outlook remains unaltered and is in desperate need of new approaches.

It is becoming increasingly apparent that one of the major reasons for treatment failure is the difficulty in abating the tumour stem cell because of its drug resistance due to slow cycling rate or ability to expel toxic agents. The aim of the ACRF grant is to develop technology to rapidly identify and purify tumour stem cells from individual patients and to use these cells as a platform for diagnosis. It will also provide molecular genetic profiles of individual tumours which will accelerate discovery of the key regulatory genes involved in brain tumour pathogenesis.

Further Details / Outcomes :  The achievable aim requires the establishment of a new facility which will apply advanced flow-cytometry technology and robotic handling to purify and quantify tumour stem cells from primary tumour samples.  Successful establishment of this facility will impact not only on brain tumours, but also on other solid tumours such as breast cancer.

Expected benefits of the Brain Tumour Flow Cytometry Screening Facility to cancer research outcomes:

The overall goal of this project is to establish the world’s first automated high through-put screening facility focused on functional cell-based analysis and identification of stem cells derived from human brain tumours. The QBI envisages successful application of this technology will significantly advance the discovery process for identifying molecules that specifically target tumour-inducing stem cells in the central nervous system and that the technology will ultimately find application to other solid tissue cancers including breast, skin and prostate.