Our core mission at Cure Cancer is to champion research projects with the best possible chance of finding a cure and to fund emerging researchers who are pioneering the development of ground-breaking ideas. We are incredibly proud of our 2022 research cohort, who work tirelessly to make our mission of making this the last generation to die from cancer a reality.
In recognition of World Cancer Day this February 4, we are sharing some of our researchers’ 2022 highlights and milestones that have been made possible through the efforts of our supportive community of fundraisers, donors, partners, and volunteers.
New Technologies For Improving Patient Outcomes In OAC
Dr Sandra Brosda
Oesophageal adenocarcinoma (OAC) is a gastrointestinal cancer with few treatment options, with most patients dying within 5 years of their diagnosis. With the efficacy of standard treatments having plateaued, Dr Sandra Brosda and her team are seeking novel approaches to improve health outcomes for patients who could benefit from personalised use of immune-oncology using genomics and bioinformatics.
With her Cure Cancer grant, Dr Sandra has been able to establish differences and shared features between samples taken from the same tumour, which highlights how highly heterogeneous this cancer type is. This indicates that there is no one-size-fits-all approach to OAC, and that certain treatments may even impact tumour development and affect the genomic profile of tumours over time. Dr Sandra is now focusing on publishing her results so that other scientists, clinicians, and patients may benefit from her work.
Dr Sandra’s grant is funded by Cure Cancer through the Priority-driven Collaborative Cancer Research Scheme. She is based at the University of Queensland.
OAC is a very understudied disease, which is why it is crucial for research such as this to build the knowledge required to develop more effective therapies for it. Another researcher and bioinformatician working on OAC is Dr Marjan Naeini, who was also a 2022 Cure Cancer grant recipient.
A common approach in research uses short-read sequencing, which is limited in its capacity to resolve intra-tumour heterogeneity or complex genome arrangements. Dr Marjan believes that long-read sequencing can significantly advance cancer genomics, especially in the case of OAC. She and her team were able to resolve a complex, balanced translocation consisting of two allelles in the NF1 driver gene by performing PromethION long read sequencing and Oxford Nanopore Technologies (ONT) on different tumour types. Previously, short-read sequencing could only detect one allele and was incapable of resolving complex events in allelic resolution. Her study is further evidence that long-read sequencing will potentially unveil many complex events in OAC.
Dr Marjan Naeini
In the past year, Dr Marjan has successfully established a workflow that can perform analysis on high throughput Oxford Nanopore data and summarise its output. A single experiment can generate massive amounts of data, let alone several that go into sequencing, and this can understandably take a long time to analyse. Dr Marjan’s system can significantly reduce this wait time, which can then help scientists to uncover significant patterns and highlight other important information faster.
Dr Marjan is now preparing to delve deeper into the biology of oesophageal cancer to identify novel targets and biomarkers which may be used in a clinical setting.
“I am proud of every step we are taking to improve our understanding of oesophageal cancer biology. These efforts may one day be translated into novel treatments or diagnostic tools that could improve the quality of life for many patients.”
Dr Marjan’s grant was funded by Cure Cancer, through the Priority-driven Collaborative Cancer Research Scheme. She is based at the Garvan Institute of Medical Research.
Revolutionising Endometrial Cancer Research
Dr Shafiq Syed
Dr Shafiq Syed identified the cell of origin for endometrial cancer during his PhD - a massive effort that took over 7 years, but has significant impact on this area of research. For more than half a century, there has been little progress on endometrial cancer research. With the discovery of these new stem cells, they can now be investigated in-depth and open the field to new perspectives.
Funding is extremely scarce for endometrial cancer, like most gynaecological cancers, but Dr Shafiq counts himself fortunate to have been awarded a Cure Cancer grant in 2022, and again this year, to continue his promising research. With this funding, he has been studying how these stem cells are regulated and dysregulated in cancer, with the aim of developing targeted therapies for endometrial cancer.
Dr Shafiq’s Cure Cancer grants in 2022 and 2023 were generously funded by the Bobbin Head Cruising Club, through the Priority-driven Collaborative Cancer Research Scheme. He is based at the University of Newcastle.
Laying The Groundwork For Treating Resistant Prostate Cancer
Dr. Jana Panchadsaram
Prostate cancer is one of the most lethal cancers for men worldwide, with only 28% of patients surviving 5 years. Prostate Specific Antigen (PSA) screening is commonly used for its diagnosis, which is known to have potentially harmful side effects. Going through this can already be taxing, but once diagnosed, most patients who undergo androgen targeted therapies will initially respond positively to it, only to later on develop a resistance to it.
Dr. Jana Panchadsaram and her team were able to identify the Iroquois Homeobox 4 (IRX4) gene, which is highly expressed in prostate cancer, as a modulator of the androgen receptor. With this discovery, she is optimistic that molecular therapies and future drug programs may be developed to treat resistant prostate cancer cells by understanding the IRX4 gene's role in prostate cancer progression better.
Dr Jana's grant was funded by the Denton Family Trust and Cancer Australia through the Priority-driven Collaborative Cancer Research Scheme. She is based at the Florey Institute of Neuroscience and Mental Health.
