Stories of our impact

A new protein involved in breast cancer has been revealed by Dr Jeremy Drake (Victoria University) and a group of Australian and international collaborators.

Universal Biosensors, a Victorian based company, has obtained biospecimens from VCB for their international development clinical study. Their study aims to develop a handheld portable cancer biosensor for T and Tn Antigen using a “finger prick” blood test for measuring patient cancer remission and reoccurrence.

Professor Michael Jennings and his laboratory at Griffith University’s Institute of Glycomics, along with collaborators Prof James Patton and Prof A Patton at the University of Adelaide, have developed a novel technology for the early detection of various cancers including ovarian and breast cancer.

Wendy Harrold, donated her breast tissue to the Victorian Cancer Biobank after undergoing a preventative double mastectomy and reconstruction in 2018.

Professor Jeanne Tie from the Walter Eliza Hall Institute for Medical Research (WEHI) is pioneering the use of circulating tumour DNA (ctDNA) as an indicator for risk of cancer recurrence and treatment response in colorectal and pancreatic cancer.

Since 2008, the VCB has worked with CSIRO initially and later with Melbourne based start-up company Rhythm Biosciences Ltd to provide blood serum from over 500 cancer and control patients to develop a simple, inexpensive blood test using its pioneering ColoSTAT® technology.

While immunotherapy has shown some early promise in treating lung cancer, it has had limited benefits when targeting SCLC. Associate Professor Kate Sutherland from the WEHI is investigating why some patients are responding better to immunotherapy than others.