Research Institute: Ludwig Institute for Cancer Research
Amount granted: $1 million
Year granted: 2005
Support from ACRF to improve its capability for identifying serum/plasma biomarkers has assisted with early detection, prognosis and treatment of colon cancer. Although the initial applications are directed towards colon cancer, once established, the cancer biomarker capability can be applied to other cancers for monitoring the progress of cancer treatment.
The grant has assisted in the translation of laboratory research expertise in proteomics to a cancer biomarker capability, which enables the detection of serum proteins/peptides associated with cancer. The equipment has allowed the direct identification of low abundance proteins from serum samples, and the newly established bioinformatics and tissue banking capabilities have allowed the linkage and correlation of this protein data with clinical data from patients at many hospitals.
The acquisition of a mass spectrometer configured for direct identification of proteins in complex mixtures formed the technical basis for LICR to establish a dedicated clinical, cancer biomarker capability.
Chief investigators: Professor Tony Burgess (director), Dr Peter Gibbs
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.
