WHERE DOES THE MONEY GO?
CURING THE INCURABLE: PATIENT-CENTRED DIAGNOSTICS GUIDING THE SELECTION OF THERAPIES FOR METASTATIC BREAST CANCER
2020 - 2023
INSTITUTIONS:
Olivia Newton-John Cancer Research Institute (ONJCRI) & La Trobe University
CHIEF RESEARCHERS:
Dr Belinda Yeo and Dr Delphine Merino
A formal translational study to demonstrate the value of analysing patient samples in both early stage and advanced breast cancer, to better understand disease progression and to identify what therapies are most likely to be effective for individual patients at different times of their cancer journey.
This research incorporates the laboratory science and the clinical application that will be required to ultimately provide individual treatments for women with secondary breast cancer.
This grant is funding two of Australia’s leading breast cancer research experts, Dr Belinda Yeo and Dr Delphine Merino, in the expansion of ONJCRI’s Translational Breast Cancer Research Program.
At the ONJCRI, researchers are embedded in a hospital, making the timeline between bench and bedside much shorter. This professional collaborative model - a clinician and a researcher - has the potential to force progression toward personalised medicine and clinical translation (a model that is not exclusively clinical and not exclusively research).
Positive patient outcomes from a personalised medicine approach will include improving chances of survival by identifying the most effective treatment; and reducing the stress, uncertainty and unwanted side effects. This funding will also enable patients to become part of the ONJCRI living biobank.
