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Honorary Research Associate

Feilman Fellow; Head, Precision Health Research and Head, Translational Intelligence

Honorary Emeritus Fellow

Eight childhood cancer researchers have been awarded over $2 million in transformative grants from Cancer Council WA to advance their pioneering work in improving cancer treatments and outcomes for patients in Western Australia and around the world.

On Monday 1 September, childhood cancer researcher Jacob Byrne is lacing up his running shoes and taking the first steps of an extraordinary challenge: 30 marathons in 30 days across Perth.

The WA Kids Cancer Centre has a suite of world-leading research projects to unlock new treatments for childhood cancers.

Leukaemia, also spelled leukemia, is a cancer that develops in the bone marrow and results in abnormal white blood cells. It is the most common cancer in children, accounting for almost a third of all childhood & teen cancers.

Osteoclasts are important regulators of bone remodeling, with an established role in maintaining skeletal homeostasis. The emergence of osteoimmunology has identified osteoclasts as key players in the immune system. In particular, osteoclasts can initiate bi-directional crosstalk mechanisms with hematopoietic stem cells and various immune cells, such as T cells, B cells and NK cells, to influence hematopoiesis and inflammatory response.

The success of cancer immunotherapies has highlighted the importance of monitoring the anti-tumour T cell response. Patients with mesothelioma frequently present with a malignant pleural effusion (MPE) that is commonly drained regularly to alleviate symptoms. As MPE contains tumour cells, T cells and cytokines, it provides a unique opportunity to sample immune events at the tumour site.

Chemotherapy often kills a large fraction of cancer cells but leaves behind a small population of drug-tolerant persister cells. These persister cells survive drug treatments through reversible, non-genetic mechanisms and cause tumour recurrence upon cessation of therapy. Here, we report a drug tolerance mechanism regulated by the germ-cell-specific H3K4 methyltransferase PRDM9.