A SECRET $2.5 million donation has opened the way for a Gold Coast medical research institute to tackle cancers that are not on the radar of the major pharmaceutical companies.
Griffith University’s Institute for Glycomics has embarked on a four-year “super science” research project.
The $2.54 million donation from a private charitable trust is one of the largest it has received.
Institute director Professor Mark von Itzstein said the money would allow researchers to identify new targets for early cancer diagnosis and fund novel cancer vaccine and drug discoveries.
The institute has partnered with a leading cancer centre in NSW that treats thousands of patients each year, hoping to help find a cure for diseases such as breast, prostate, head and neck and lung cancers.
“These are cancers that we’ve not worked in before – nobody in the world is systematically tackling cancers in this way,” Professor von Itzstein said.
“This ambitious, big science initiative will generate an unprecedentedly rich knowledge base with the potential to transform the way we understand and treat the most insidious and poorly addressed cancers.
“I think we’ll make a real difference.”
Through the partnership with the Chris O’Brien Lifehouse cancer centre, tissue samples and comprehensive clinical data will be collected from patients and analysed by the institute’s scientists using advanced equipment purchased by funds from the donation.
Prof von Itzstein said working with doctors would be paramount to the research.
The announcement was made last night at the institute’s annual gala dinner held during Glycomics Week.
The week aims to celebrate the institute’s increasingly significant research successes and the impact the research has in the world of infectious disease, cancer and vaccine and drug discovery.
Lifehouse director of research, Associate Professor Lisa Horvath, said patients from across Australia would be able to contribute to research that was leading the world.
“This research will help us to unlock the way that cells signal to each other and therefore grow and mutate,” she said.
“Glycomics is a significant new direction for cancer research.”
Ms Horvath said the donation would allow them to enhance their biobanks and research databases, run in conjunction with Sydney’s Royal Prince Alfred Hospital.
The institute’s drug discovery programs have already yielded major discoveries for metastatic cancers such as melanoma and blood cancers such as childhood leukaemia and non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma.