Research Institute: Ludwig Institute for Cancer Research
Amount granted: $2 million
Year granted: 2011
The hospital with which this research centre is associated, the Austin Hospital in Melbourne, is a pre-eminent centre for imaging of human cancer, and this work relies heavily on the research undertaken through the international network of Ludwig research centres.
The ACRF grant awarded to the Ludwig Institute helped the research team to develop a new facility that will significantly increase our understanding of the underlying causes of cancer, while exploring new therapeutic approaches. Their approach is to expand the utility of existing antibodies specific for targeting particular cancer antigens by adapting them for cancer imaging or targeted therapies.
This grant enabled this world-class research centre to purchase significantly more sophisticated equipment which will speed up their research, and ultimately, their discoveries.
Chief Investigator: Professor Andrew Scott
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.