Adelaide University professors Gregory Goodall, Daniel Thomas and David Waugh have each received a $100,000 Cancer Council SA Project Grant to support their research over the next 12 months.
Prof Greg Goodall
For Prof Goodall and his team, the grant will fund further investigation into the molecular drivers behind neuroblastoma, a type of cancer typically diagnosed in children under the age of 5.
“Not all neuroblastomas are the same—different patients have different molecular drivers responsible for their cancers,” Prof Goodall says.
“At the moment, treatments are generic; it’s chemotherapy, radiation therapy, and these are damaging to young children.
It’s essential we can find ways to specifically treat each individual type of neuroblastoma in a way that doesn’t create future problems for the patient.
Once we find a targeted therapy for a particular type of neuroblastoma, that’s not just going to help current patients. It will help patients all through the future, so there’s a lot of benefit that can come from discoveries in the lab.
Prof Daniel Thomas
For Prof Thomas and his team, the focus is on finding treatments for cholangiocarcinoma with the IDH1 mutation. Cholangiocarcinoma is a form of bile duct cancer which is often diagnosed at an advanced stage and has a poor survival rate.
His team is investigating how this cancer’s cells might be vulnerable to a natural fatty acid, which has the potential to help provide a safer and lower-cost treatment option.
Prof David Waugh
Prof Waugh and his team are researching treatments for advanced prostate cancer by blocking the IKKalpha protein. This protein is known to fuel growth in some types of cancer and weaken the body’s immune response.
Through this research, Prof Waugh is aiming to test drugs which target the IKKalpha protein, both alone and with existing treatments, in improving the body’s natural ability to fight cancer cells.
Visit the research pages on the Cancer Council SA website to see some of the grant opportunities available to researchers or to learn more about the other exciting research projects we help fund.
