Backing new ways to treat children’s cancer
Children’s Cancer CoLab Future Leaders Fellows left to right: Dr Claire Sun, Dr Stacie Wang and Dr Zoe Day
Three Victorian medical researchers have been awarded Children’s Cancer CoLab Future Leaders Fellowships.
The recipients are:
- Dr Claire Sun from the Hudson Institute of Medical Research
- Dr Stacie Wang from The Royal Children's Hospital
- Dr Zoe Day from the WEHI.
They will share more than $1.3 million in funding to develop purpose-built therapies for some of the most devastating and hard-to-treat childhood cancers.
Dr Sun uses artificial intelligence and epigenetics to better understand childhood brain tumours. Her work will support the development of highly targeted drugs. It will also help doctors find the specific treatment most likely to work for each child.
Dr Wang is working to improve treatments for children with brain cancer. This includes the development of Victoria’s first clinical trial of CAR T-cell therapy for children with brain cancer.
Dr Day is leading research into a childhood brain cancer with a very poor survival rate. Her work aims to improve immunotherapy treatments by combining them with drugs to directly target brain tumours. This will help to reduce the frequency and length of treatment.
Every year, more than 1,000 children and adolescents in Australia are diagnosed with cancer. Advances in treatment have significantly improved survival rates. However, up to 80% of survivors experience ongoing health challenges that affect their quality of life.
Children’s Cancer CoLab is driving cutting-edge research to tackle childhood cancer.
We supported them with a $35 million investment, alongside $10 million from the Children’s Cancer Foundation.