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The impact of your BarbeCURE®
Every year, more than 75 Australian families will hear the devastating news that their child has sarcoma. Sadly, 2 in 5 children diagnosed with this common childhood cancer will die from it.
Your BarbeCURE® will fund 2 years of Dr Ben Wylie's vital new research on childhood sarcoma, which aims to prevent the recurrence of cancer after surgery by developing safer and more effective treatments for young sarcoma warriors.
Watch Dr Ben Wylie's Lunch & Learn here:
Sarcoma is an aggressive type of cancer that affects the bone and soft tissues, and can be difficult to treat. Although it is considered a rare cancer in adults, it disproportionately affects children and adolescents, accounting for 20% of the cancers affecting people under 20 years old.
Unfortunately, young sarcoma warriors, who have already had surgery to remove the cancer, are known to have a high risk of the cancer returning and becoming fatal. When this happens, they often need to undergo high doses of chemotherapy or radiotherapy, which have severe, long-term side effects and limited benefit. That’s why we need your help.
Ben and his team at Telethon Kids Institute and The University of Western Australia have developed a biodegradable gel that surgeons can apply locally during cancer removal surgery. This gel will contain anti-cancer immunotherapy drugs that use similar technology to the COVID-19 vaccine, making messengers that activate the immune system to precisely attack any remaining cancer cells after surgery. As the gel is naturally broken down by the body over time, the immunotherapy drugs are slowly released. This means patients can return home sooner without needing to stay in hospital for follow-up treatments.
Ben hopes that the research you are helping to fund will enable him to find the best messengers to signal the immune system to kill cancer cells. His team will then fine-tune the gel to deliver these precise signals during cancer removal surgery. The ultimate benefit being that young sarcoma warriors will receive a safer and more effective treatment with less side effects, and will be able to return home to their families sooner.
“Cure Cancer grants are vital for promising early-stage research. It is wonderful that Cure Cancer has recognised the potential of my work, and their funding will allow me to establish my research program in a new and exciting area that shows great promise for the development of improved cancer therapies.
“This funding provides me the security to grow my team and gather crucial proof of concept data, which will validate my approach and allow me to apply for future grant funding and fellowships.”
- Dr Ben Wylie
