Research Institute: Griffith University
Amount granted: $2 million
Year granted: 2018
Compounds Australia, housed within Griffith University, manages compound libraries (>670,000 compounds), providing them to researchers in customised, assay-ready microplates for biological screening, thus facilitating identification of bioactive compounds with potential to become novel therapeutic candidates; and accelerating research into the discovery and validation of new molecular targets.
The successful grant, led by Professor Vicky Avery of Griffith University, will enable Australian cancer researchers to access the most advanced compound management capability available internationally, thus accelerating cancer target validation and drug discovery efforts nationally.
“This is a fantastic outcome for cancer research made possible through the incredible support of ACRF and leading cancer researchers throughout Australia, such as our colleagues who contributed significantly to this proposal. We are extremely thankful for this substantial support,” Professor Avery said.
“The new ACRF funded centre will provide Australian cancer researchers with unparalleled compound management facilities.”
Ms Moana Simpson, Manager of Compounds Australia, says the ACRF investment in cutting-edge acoustic compound management technology, available at only a handful of facilities worldwide, will ultimately lead to the discovery of new candidate compounds to seed the cancer drug development pipeline.
“We welcome the generous support of ACRF, which will increase the capacity for cancer drug discovery research in Australia,” she said.
The Compounds Australia ARCF Centre for Compound Management and Logistics will underpin the step-change in capacity and capability required to transform compound management for cancer research in Australia. This much needed additional support will enable world-class Australian cancer researchers to be globally competitive.
“Griffith University warmly acknowledges this support to underpin a national resource for compound management for cancer drug discovery, which will help move it to the next level of technological development,” Griffith University Pro Vice Chancellor for Sciences Professor Andrew Smith said.
The new ACRF Centre for Compound Management and Logistics was championed by Professor Vicky Avery (Griffith University), Professor Ross Hannan (ANU), Associate Professor Kaylene Simpson (Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre), Professor Ross McKinnon (Flinders University) and Professor Kum Kum Khanna (QIMR Berghofer Medical Research Institute), all of whom are current users of Compound Australia’s research services.
“We at GRIDD are delighted that through this major funding award, the ACRF recognises the importance, benefit and impact of compound management to the broader cancer research community,” Professor Jennifer Martin AC, Director of Griffith Institute for Drug Discovery (GRIDD).
“The Compounds Australia ACRF Centre for Compound Management and Logistics is a vitally needed support capability that will enable researchers throughout Australia access to and the provision of an incredibly large range of compounds needed for the discovery, development, validation and utilization of new drugs for the treatment of cancer,” ACRF Chief Executive Professor Ian Brown said.
What your donations have achieved
Cervical cancer vaccine
We gave initial seed funding to Professor Ian Frazer’s research into the cervical cancer (HPV). Over 150 million doses of vaccine have been delivered worldwide to date.
The pill that melts away cancer
Our long term support of cancer research at WEHI has led to a treatment that melts away certain advanced forms of chronic lymphocytic leukaemia. It has been approved for clinical use in the US, European Union and Australia and is being trialed for other types of cancer.
Personalised cancer diagnosis
In 2015, we awarded $10 million seed funding to an ambitious cancer proteome project that aims to provide each cancer patient a personalised treatment plan within 36 hours. This will improve treatment outcomes and help avoid unnecessary treatments.
Zero childhood cancer
We are one of the founding partners of the initiative that will tackle the most serious cases of infant, childhood and adolescent cancer in Australia. It is a key step towards the program vision of one day helping to cure 100% of children with cancer.