BrainCancerCentre

Congratulations Dr Leesa Lertsumitkul! 🎓✨ Leesa has just completed her PhD at The University of Melbourne, working in the Jenkins Lab at @WEHI_research @leesa_lerts research explored how the immune system can differentiate between brain tumour cells and healthy tissue — knowledge that paves the way for new targeted therapies that can selectively kill cancer cells while sparing healthy cells. Leesa’s work has helped lay the foundation for EphA3 as a potential brain cancer therapeutic target, and she’s made a lasting impact in the lab and within our BCC community through her warmth, generosity, and collaborative spirit. We can’t wait to see the bright path ahead for her! 🌟

Hear BCC Co-Head Research Strategy, Dr Jim Whittle @whittlejim talking about our pioneering clinical trial platform Brain POP on Healthy Living. Laboratory Head @wehi_research & Medical Oncologist @petermaccancercentre Jim shares how Brain POP is delivering groundbreaking insights into how a new drug can slow the growth of low-grade gliomas (LGG) - a type of brain cancer that mostly affects young adults. 🎧 Listen Here omny.fm/shows/healthy-… @braincancerlab

Catch Dr @sarahannbest – BCC Research Rockstar & @WEHI_research Lab Head – as she talks about our incredible BrainPOP clinical trial platform on @einstein_agogo 🎙️ 🎧 Listen here rrr.org.au/shared/broadca…

The Brain Cancer Centre’s most significant investment has been the establishment of The Brain Cancer Research Laboratory (BCRL) at @wehi_research The @braincancerlab is pioneering a new model for a collaborative laboratory. Co-headed by Dr @sarahannbest cancer biologist WEHI, Dr @whittlejim medical oncologist @PeterMacCC and WEHI and Dr @SaskiaFreytag bioinformatician WEHI, to bring a multidisciplinary focus. Through groundbreaking collaborations they’re working to investigate the tumour microenvironment to understand it better, study glioma development to prevent its occurance and identify new treatment options and novel clinical trials for patients. Their goal is to transform brain cancer outcomes through pioneering research and targeted therapies. Many Minds. One Focus.

Today is International Childhood Cancer Day. Prof. Nick Gottardo, Paediatric Oncologist at @PerthChildrens & Co-Head of Brain Tumour Research at @TheKids_AU is leading the charge against childhood brain cancer. Some brain cancers, like DIPG, still have no effective treatments—they are 100% terminal. This has to change. Current options like chemotherapy and radiation can be devastating for little bodies. Nick is passionate about harnessing new breakthroughs like immunotherapy to increase survival rates while reducing side effects. “To me, success looks like 100% cure… with no side effects.” Many Minds. One Focus. youtu.be/7Ken_UTrw_M

Today is International Day of Women and Girls in Science 👩‍🔬 We’re celebrating the incredible women behind our research. 🔬 Most of our senior research leaders are female 👩‍🔬 60% of our Chief Investigators are women 🧬 We support 50+ brilliant female research minds We’re proud to have them as part of our team, driving groundbreaking discoveries and shaping the future of brain cancer research.

@PeterMacRes @BenjaminHogan13 @whittlejim Brilliant minds and people, proud to have them part of the team!

Wonderful to see @BenjaminHogan13 and @whittlejim receiving grants to further advance brain cancer treatments and outcomes. Thank you @BrainCancerCtr and all who donated to make this happen.

@LucyMPalmer @TheFlorey @UniMelb @TheRMH Proud to have you part of the team!

We are absolutely thrilled to receive a BCC grant to delve deeper in the neuroscience of brain cancer shorturl.at/XyhFF @BrainCancerCtr @TheFlorey @UniMelb @TheRMH

2025 BCC Grant Recipients!! We’re excited to announce our 2025  funded programs. $2.25 million in additional funding to these brilliant researchers and projects. In our 4th year - we’re proud to continue to support these brilliant researchers working together to achieve our vision: That one day no lives are lost to brain cancer. Our focus is clear – we invest in the most impactful research, driving discoveries that bring hope to patients – now and in the future. We can’t wait to see where these brilliant minds take their research. Many Minds. One Focus. Read more: shorturl.at/XyhFF @WEHI_research @PeterMacCC  @MonashUni @UQ_News @TheRMH @TheKids_AU @TheFlorey @ResearchMenzies @DrMistyJenkins @whittlejim @DrEndersby @JosephNicolazzo @sarah_ann_best @SaskiaFreytag @luluhegs @LucyMPalmer

In December 2018, the lives of the Pavone family were changed forever. At just Laurence was diagnosed with an aggressive, inoperable brain tumour – a Glioblastoma Multiforme. Despite the devastating news, Laurence and his wife Julie turned heartbreak into hope. From his hospital bed, they founded Laurie’s Love, dedicated to raising funds and awareness for brain cancer research. Laurie’s Love helps support the incredible work happening through The Brain Cancer Centre including in @WEHI_research Brain Cancer Research Laboratory. Co-led by Dr @sarah_ann_best a fundamental biologist, Dr @SaskiaFreytag a bioinformatician and Dr @whittlejim a medical oncologist, this team is pushing boundaries to find new treatments for glioma, giving hope to families facing this devastating diagnosis. Julie’s passion continuing Laurence’s legacy by supporting The Brain Cancer Centre shines through: “Our beliefs, our hopes, our vision is the same. A world without brain cancer. Together we can make a difference”    Read More: thebraincancercentre.org.au/lauries-love-b…

Check out our BCC Research Rockstars and Cover Stars!   Prof Kate Drummond AM is Director of Neurosurgery at @TheRMH and Professor @UniMelb She’s a passionate mentor and advocate for junior colleagues, like Dr Heidi McAlpine, trainee neurosurgeon.   Currently only around 11% of neurosurgeons are women. A statistic Prof Drummond is keen to change. Kate has been a leader in her field for over 30 years, generously sharing her expertise, skills and knowledge as a mentor to many. Kate and Heidi have known each other for 15 years.  They’re both passionate about global health education and are leaders in Pangea Global Heath Education, which brings together volunteer healthcare professionals who travel to Africa to train health workers in local communities. Both these brilliant minds are part of our BCC dream team. Heidi has recently completed her PhD and is an integral part of our BCC research, focused on the electrical activity of brain cancer, working towards a better understanding and more effective treatments for glioma patients. Kate is instrumental in a number of our research projects including The BRAIN Registry, Dangerous Networking: Brain Cancers and the Brain and our world-first clinical trial platform Brain POP. We’re so proud to have brilliant minds like theirs working on our ground-breaking research projects and clinical trials, that will lead to more targeted, personalised treatments for patients.   Many Minds. One Focus.   Read the full article here: issuu.com/mdhsalumni/doc…

Prof Nick Gottardo is a Paediatric Oncologist at Perth Children’s Hospital and Co-Head Brain Tumour Research at The Kids Research Institute Australia. “So many people don’t know this, but brain cancer is the biggest killer of children…. More than any other disease” Prof Gottardo co-leads the Brain Tumour Research at @WAkidsCC along with another BCC Research Rockstar A/Prof @DrEndersby . Their work is critical in developing treatments that reduce side effects for kids with brain cancer. He is passionate about finding new, less toxic treatments for kids. Current treatments like chemotherapy and radiation have a devastating impact on their small, developing bodies and the side effects can be much greater than for adults. Nick is excited about harnessing these new discoveries like immunotherapy to find more specific, targeted treatments.   “To me success looks like 100% cure …. with no side effects”   We’re proud to have brilliant minds like Nick part of our team, working hard to build a brighter future for patients & their families.   Many Minds. One Focus   Read more about Nick’s work here: thebraincancercentre.org.au/research-proje…

💙 Everyone’s Got a Fiver 💙 Brain cancer is a devastating illness. Currently there is no cure. We need to change this. 5 is a number that means a lot to us. 🔹 Every 5 hours, one Australian is diagnosed with brain cancer 🔹 Only 5% of people survive Glioblastoma, the most aggressive form 🔹 80% of patients will die within 5 years of diagnosis These stats are devastating. We know that these statistics hurt our community that are currently living with this disease. The only way we can improve this is through more research. Imagine if everyone in Australia gave $5. Together our impact would be incredible. Can you skip a coffee to support ground-breaking research? Every bit helps. Let’s make a difference together 💙 👉 Give your fiver here: pointtopinnacle2024.grassrootz.com/cb4bc

This week is International Brain Tumour Awareness Week, shining a spotlight on the devastating impact brain tumours have on patients, and their families. We’re on a mission to develop new treatments and trials for patients, to help create a brighter future for patients. Our world-first clinical trial platform Brain POP is transforming research into these new therapies.  It is delivering a more targeted, personalised treatment for patients by enabling doctors to predict the the effect of a new drug on a patient’s brain tumour by comparing samples before and after surgery.  We’ve screened over 100 patients in the last 12 months, this is just the beginning.
This platform was made possible through funding from the @VicGovAu Brain POP is led by The Brain Cancer Centre with our partners @WEHI_research @TheRMH @PeterMacCC @RCHMelbourne @UniMelb 
Find out more: thebraincancercentre.org.au/research-proje…

Our Research Rockstars Prof @DrMistyJenkins & Dr @sarah_ann_best @WEHI_research have just returned from the EANO Neuro-Oncology Conference in Glasgow, where some of the leading brain cancer clinicians and researchers gathered to discuss the latest in brain cancer research. Amazing to have them represent The Brain Cancer Centre on the global stage. Taking part in insightful presentations and thought-provoking discussions, inspired by the latest advances in neuro-oncology and connecting with brilliant minds from across the globe. Misty & Sarah left with lots of new ideas and collaborations to explore. Many Minds. One Focus.

We’re turning 3!! 🥳 Happy Birthday to us! 🎉 We’re so excited about how far we’ve come in 3 short years. We’re celebrating: 🧑‍🔬 3 years of ground-breaking research 💰 $30 million committed to research & clinical trials 🌏 A world-first clinical trial Brain POP 👩‍🔬 70 researchers collaborating with peers and institutions all over the world 🔬 13 funded research projects and clinical trials 🤝 17 collaborative partnerships across Australia 🫶 Welcomed new charity partners ❤️ Our beautiful community coming together to support our research We can’t wait to build on the momentum of The Brain Cancer Centre and bring real hope to patients and their families. This is just the beginning 🙌 @carriesB4BC @WEHI_research @VicGovAu @TheFlorey @MarkHughesFdn @MonashUni @MCRI_for_kids @PeterMacCC @TheRMH @RCHMelbourne @TheKids_AU @UniofAdelaide @UniMelb @UQ_News @VCCCAlliance

Our BCC Research Rockstars have had another exciting new paper published, led by Dr @luluhegs @WEHI_research This study is part of BCC funded programme the BRAIN Registry and captures comprehensive data from patients with brain cancer, from the time of their diagnosis throughout their journey. This crucial information underpins innovative new clinical trials and research towards earlier diagnosis, identification of new treatments and improving outcomes for brain cancer patients. This study details how we treat patients diagnosed with low grade glioma and the impact of our current treatments. Understanding how we manage our patients helps us to understand where new treatments fit in and how we select patients for each treatment to achieve their best outcome. This is particularly important as we now have the option of vorasidenib, a new targeted therapy, for our patients with low grade glioma. This is an incredible example of collaboration in action, between a number of our BCC researchers and multiple institutions: all working together to improve outcomes for patients. This builds on the work of Prof Kate Drummond @TheRMH and Prof Peter Gibbs at WEHI over many years – we thank them and everyone involved in this important piece of work for their continued focus on collaboration towards our vision. Read more here: thebraincancercentre.org.au/wp-content/upl…

Proud to have brilliant minds like Dr @luluhegs and Megan part of our BCC dream team. Many Minds. One Focus.

One of our brilliant minds BCC member @SammyShaya presented his research RESET-GBM at the Asian Society for Neuro-Oncology ASNO annual meeting. Sammy works with our Co-Head Research Strategy Dr @whittlejim with collaborative partners @PeterMacCC @WEHI_research and @TheRMH He presented their clinical trial idea to investigate the use of a new ultra-rapid genetic testing technique which can be performed during brain surgery. In the trial this would diagnose and allocate patients to targeted therapy specific to their tumour’s biology within hours, rather than the weeks which is required by routine testing today. If this approach proves feasible, then the rapid processing of genetic test results would allow future targeted therapies to be tested earlier in the treatment of brain cancer, where they are more likely to be successful. “'I'm passionate about delivering cutting edge treatment to those living with cancer to improve people's lives. There is nowhere that needs these breakthroughs more than in brain cancer.” Says Sammy Awesome to see the brilliant work of our brightest minds shared on a global stage. Many Minds. One Focus.

Dr @whittlejim BCC Co-Head Research Strategy is presenting at @myESMO in Barcelona, a platform with over 30,000 researchers from all over the world. His talk will focus on the early data from one of our first trials targeting IDH1-mutated Low Grade Gliomas (LGGs), testing Safusidenib, a promising IDH1 inhibitor. This world-first perioperative study, part of the Brain POP program, supported by the Victorian Government’s $16 million investment, explores feasibility and direct tumour impact in newly diagnosed LGG patients. Taking the results of this trial to this international platform opens the trial to global scrutiny and peer review, crucial for advancing brain cancer treatments. Demonstrating safety, feasibility, and drug efficacy through tumour biopsies before and after treatment, this pioneering trial reshapes the future of LGG therapy  “We’re proud that Jim has won this opportunity to present this very important work. This is a measure of success in our model and the platform that we have created with the Vic Gov and we look forward to the exposure and new opportunities that Jim’s presentation will give to Australian brain cancer research.” Sam McGuane, BCC CEO