ACRF Centre for Mass spectrometry Analysis of Tumour Response In compleX microenvironments

$2.5 million awarded to Garvan Institute of Medical Research in New South Wales to establish the ACRF Centre for Mass spectrometry Analysis of Tumour Response In compleX microenvironments (MATRIX). 

ACRF MATRIX will revolutionise our ability to investigate why some cancers resist treatment and spread to other organs.  

While most cancer research focuses on tumour cells themselves; this centre is investigating the 'neighbourhood' the cancer cells live in – the tumour microenvironment (TME). This includes scaffolding proteins and supporting structures that surround cancer cells and influence their growth and response (or lack of) to treatment.   

This will be Australia's first dedicated centre for ultra-high-resolution spatial proteomics in cancer and fundamental biological insights often follow technological breakthroughs. ACRF MATRIX will allow researchers to visualise how the TME changes during chemotherapy or immunotherapy and drives metastatic spread, revealing why some tumours become resistant and others respond—and why secondary cancers often behave so differently from the original tumour.  

These discoveries will help drive the development of new combination therapies that target both cancer cells and their supporting microenvironment simultaneously, to improve survival across multiple cancer types.