News Archive

UWA and the Cancer Council of WA have combined to present a united front in the fight against cancer.

The Council recently awarded its research grants for 2012 and nearly half of the record $2.7 million went to UWA researchers, across many aspects of the disease, including cancer of the prostate, liver, breast and lung.

The biggest grants are $318,610 for a continuing Chair, the Cancer Foundation Professor of Clinical Cancer Care, to Winthrop Professor Michael Millward; and the second $100,000 installment of a $300,000 Research Fellowship over three years to Research Associate Professor Robert McLaughlin.

There are small vacation scholarships ($3,000 for a student to help with research into outcomes of breast reconstructive surgery); top-up PhD scholarships ($12,000 to help an investigation into lifetime sleep quality as a risk factor for developing breast cancer; and $8,000 to assist research into advanced radiotherapy techniques) and Honours scholarships of $7,500, but even the small grants can make a big difference.

Jonathon Thompson is an Honours student in the School of Physics and says his $7,500 grant will go a long way to towards better results in his research, by easing financial pressure and allowing him to focus on his work.

He turned to cancer research after his older sister Anna had breast cancer a few years ago. She is now in remission and the mother of two young children.

His Honours project is in biophysics and he is studying dose calculation for radiotherapy and brachytherapy for prostate cancer treatment.

"More accurate doses mean more effective treatment and fewer side-effects for the patient," Jonathon said.

Cancer Council Director of Education and Research, Terry Slevin, said the early career grants supported the work of the best and brightest young cancer researchers.

A Suzanne Cavanagh Early Career Investigation Grant was won by Dr Cornelia Bertram in the School of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine. She has received $24,000 towards her research into improved tea tree oil-based formulations that can eradicate cancer cells and can be used to treat superficial and deep skin cancers more efficiently.

Dr Bertram has a background in medical biotechnology and she works in collaboration with the tea tree oil industry.

"I hope this research will lead to the development of a better topical treatment for common skin cancers rather than the existing surgical treatment," she said. "Hopefully this grant will help to translate our research, which has been a five-year project so far, from the laboratory into a clinical trial."

The 17 grants included seven newly funded research projects, which received up to $90,000 each. In the School of Medicine and Pharmacology, Dr Borut Klopcic is working on colorectal cancer; Associate Professor Fiona Pixley is studying regulation of tumour progression; Dr Cleo Robinson is modelling malignant mesothelioma; Professor Anna Nowak is looking at immune response to chemoimmunotherapy; and Winthrop Professor Gary Lee is expanding his work on pleural effusion.

In the School of Chemistry and Biochemistry, Professor George Yeoh continues his work on liver cancer and Professor Charlie Bond is studying gene regulation.

Published in UWA News , 16 April 2012