The Australian Cancer Research Foundation has opened two new world-class cancer research facilities in Melbourne; the new ACRF Rational Drug Discovery Centre at St Vincent’s Institute (SVI) and a new Cancer Imaging Facility at the Ludwig Institute for Cancer Research.
These centres represent $4 million in Australian Cancer Research Foundation funding that would not have been made possible without the support of our amazing donors.
The potential for ground breaking discoveries within these world-class facilities is extremely exciting. Each of them houses the latest in advanced drug screening and imaging technologies, promising to find new treatment targets and therapeutic options faster than ever before.
Please find details about each cancer research facility below.
ACRF Rational Drug Discovery Centre, St Vincent’s Institute
The new ACRF Rational Drug Discovery Centre, funded by our $2 million research grant, will focus on providing Victorian cancer researchers with cutting edge equipment to discover new drugs for cancer.
The new centre allows SVI’s researchers to move quickly between identifying the causes of cancer to finding the cures.
CEO of the Australian Cancer Research Foundation, David Brettell said, “Dramatic technological advances have increased our Aussie researchers’ access to information which really gets to the heart of how cancer behaves. We’re thrilled to see targeted therapies being developed that directly impact specific cancer cells, more effectively treating the disease while minimising side effects.”
Cutting-edge technologies residing with-in the centre include an advanced Laser Scanning Cytometer, the first of its kind in Australia, which will show Victorian researchers, in more detail than ever before, how potential cancer drugs work inside the body.
It will provide new approaches to treating cancers that are difficult to target, due to a lack of understanding in how they occur, such as different types of leukaemia.
ACRF Centre for Translational Cancer Therapeutics and Imaging
As the first cancer research facility in the southern hemisphere to house state-of-the-art PET/MRI and SPECT/CT molecular imaging equipment, the ACRF Centre for Translational Cancer Therapeutics and Imaging will enable translational research aimed at developing new insights into cancer biology, techniques for early diagnosis of cancer, and new therapies for the disease.
Australian Cancer Research Foundation Chairman, Tom Dery said, “These are exciting times for cancer research and we’re thrilled to have helped Ludwig lay the groundwork for major breakthroughs via the ACRF Centre for Translational Cancer Therapeutics and Imaging.”
“It’s always a priority for the Australian Cancer Research Foundation to fund research that fast-tracks the transition of new therapies from the laboratory to cancer patients around Australia and globally.”
The new centre brings the Ludwig Institute, the University of Melbourne, Austin Health, and the Melbourne Brain Centre together providing a seamless link between clinical and pre-clinical researchers.
Director of the ACRF Centre and Ludwig Institute Member, Professor Andrew Scott has said “The ACRF Centre promises to be at the cutting edge of translational cancer research, ultimately aiding trials of novel therapies to be conducted in Australia and enhancing the prospects for cancer patients not only in Australia, but worldwide”.
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