UA31301 Impact of Giving A4 Book FINAL - Flipbook - Page 6
Impact of Giving
From biobank to
breakthroughs
The Australian Lions
Childhood Cancer
Research Foundation
(ALCCRF) has made a
transformative impact on
paediatric brain cancer
research by donating
$600,000 to a team at
the South Australian
immunoGENomics
Cancer Institute
(SAiGENCI).
Paediatric brain cancer is the most
common solid tumour in children and
the leading cause of disease-related
death among Australian kids. While
aggressive multi-modal treatments
have boosted survival rates to over
70%, these treatments often come with
severe side effects that affect survivors
to varying degrees, potentially having
a long-term impact on their physical
abilities, school performance, job
prospects, and social lives. Unfortunately,
around 60% of survivors are unable
to achieve independence as adults.
There are no strategies to reduce
these impacts that do not compromise
cure rates, underscoring the need to
develop new solutions that ensure
children with brain cancer have optimal
survival and survivorship outcomes
while also maintaining their physical
and psychosocial wellbeing.
We know very little about why the
treatments affect some children more
than others, but Neuro-Oncologist
Professor Jordan Hansford and his
team are aiming to answer this question
using South Australia’s first Paediatric
Brain Tumour Biobank, established and
operated between the South Australia
Health and Medical Research Institute
(SAHMRI) and the Women’s and
Children Health Network (WCHN).
With new advances in molecular biology
the team will further investigate brain
cancers, revealing the underlying cause
of the disease and beginning to balance
the risks of different treatments more
Above: Professor Jordan Hansford, Dr Noralyn Manucat-Tan and Amanda Luck in the Paediatric Neuro-Oncology laboratory
Opposite: Troy and Lucy celebrating her successful surgery
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