Cure Cancer Virtual Researcher Symposium 2020
Earlier this month, Cure Cancer grant recipients and supporters came together at our first ever virtual Researcher Symposium.
Our 2020 Virtual Research Symposium featuring Cure Cancer researchers and special guests
The Cure Cancer Researcher Symposium an important platform for early-career researchers to connect with fellow grant recipients and learn about each other’s innovative ideas and approaches to improving the prevention, detection and treatment of all cancers. This year’s event was also an opportunity for grant recipients to exercise their skills in presenting scientific research in layman’s terms – something that is becoming increasingly important in today’s competitive grant application environment.
Held annually, the Researcher Symposium is usually a physical event. However, as a result of the global pandemic, the decision was taken to host this year’s Symposium online instead – and with fantastic results.
Shared Learnings
Cure Cancer identifies research projects with the best possible chance of finding a cure, and funds the emerging research stars of tomorrow, all whom are fearless in their development and exploration of ground-breaking ideas. As part of our grant award program, Cure Cancer also focusses on providing professional development and mentorship to grant recipients. This year, current grant recipients, alumni and valued supporters were joined by guest speakers James Butler (Chair of Cancer Council NSW’s Consumer Research review panel) Lisa Greissl (Cure Cancer Fundraiser and Big Hug Box Founder), Professor Carolyn Mountford (Professor of Radiology, Queensland University of Technology) and Hugh Kearns (Productivity Expert from Thinkwell). Thank you to all those who gave their time.
We also heard from all of our current grant recipients, who each provided fascinating insights into their groundbreaking Cure Cancer-funded research projects ranging from cancer-related pain therapies through to immunotherapy, gene mutation, understanding metastasis and much more.
Congratulations!
Congratulations to Dr Rachel Thijssen for winning our award for Best Presentation on the day. She is funded by our principal supporter, the Can Too Foundation and is based at the Walter and Eliza Hall Institute of Medical Research. Rachel’s presentation focused on chronic lymphocytic leukemia (the most common adult blood cancer in western countries), the ways in which the cancer can build up resistance to treatment and why she is focusing on single cell sequencing in an attempt to understand and ultimately overcome this resistance to improve outcomes for patients with CLL.
Rachel did a fantastic job of clearly and succinctly explained her current research project, using easy-to-understand analogies and laypersons language. Check out her presentation below. Well done Rachel!
Thank You
Thank you to all those who attended and helped to make our first ever virtual Researcher Symposium possible. We look forward to seeing you again next year.