- Children's Cancer CoLab has awarded $2.25 million to four Victorian research projects aimed at developing safer, more effective treatments for children with cancer, addressing a significant gap given that only 19 targeted cancer drugs have ever been approved for children compared to more than 100 for adults.
- The funded projects will tackle aggressive brain tumours, high-risk solid tumours, neuroblastoma, sarcoma, and life-threatening blood clots during leukaemia treatment, with research led by teams at WEHI, Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre, Monash University, and the University of Melbourne and Murdoch Children's Research Institute.
- The grants were made possible through major investments from the Victorian Government and Children's Cancer Foundation, with Minister for Medical Research Anthony Carbines stating the funding would support development of gentler treatments to benefit children and families in Victoria and globally.
- Lived experience advocate Lucy Fay Francazio, who was diagnosed with lymphoma aged 11 and now lives with chronic nerve pain, cognitive problems, and fertility impacts from treatment, emphasised the need for targeted therapies designed specifically for children rather than adapted adult treatments.
- The four projects focus respectively on improving immunotherapy effectiveness against neuroblastoma and sarcoma, testing mRNA export inhibitors across multiple childhood cancers, investigating new treatment strategies for aggressive brain tumours, and identifying blood patterns that may predict which leukaemia patients are at risk of dangerous blood clots.
Children’s Cancer CoLab (CoLab) has awarded $2.25 million to four Victorian research projects working to develop safer, more effective treatments for children with cancer and reduce the lifelong harms caused by current therapies.
The projects will tackle some of the toughest challenges in childhood cancer, including aggressive brain tumours, high-risk solid tumours, neuroblastoma and sarcoma, as well as life-threatening complications during treatment for acute lymphoblastic leukaemia.
These research grants address a major gap in cancer treatments: while more than 100 targeted cancer drugs have been approved for adults, only 19 have ever been approved for children.
CoLab CEO Dr Udani Reets said the grants would back Victorian researchers working on cancers that remain difficult to treat and therapies that can cause significant, long-term harm.
“Too many Australian children with cancer are treated with therapies originally designed for adults, despite the unique needs of their growing bodies.”
“These grants back researchers tackling some of the hardest problems in childhood cancer: tumours that remain difficult to treat, therapies that do not work well enough and treatment complications that can threaten a child’s life or affect their health for decades.” Dr Reets said.
For Lucy Fay Francazio, Co-Chair of CoLab’s lived experience committee, the need for kinder treatments is deeply personal.
Lucy was 11 when she was diagnosed with Stage 3 anaplastic large cell lymphoma. She underwent immediate, intensive chemotherapy and now lives with chronic nerve pain, permanent memory and cognitive problems, and fertility impacts caused by treatment.
“Children aren’t small adults, and we shouldn’t have to keep borrowing treatments built for someone else. What we need are targeted, more effective and kinder therapies, designed for children from the start,” Ms Francazio said.
“Surviving childhood cancer has to mean more than not dying from it.”
The projects will include research to help stop deadly brain tumours from growing, identify new medicines for high-risk solid tumours, make immunotherapy work harder against neuroblastoma and sarcoma, and research aimed at reducing the risk of life-threatening blood clots during leukaemia treatment.
Children’s Cancer Foundation (CCF) CEO, Margaret Fitzherbert, said the four projects reflect what CCF’s donors and families want for children with cancer.
Researchers at WEHI, Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre, Monash University, and the University of Melbourne and Murdoch Children’s Research Institute will lead the projects.
Children’s Cancer Foundation CEO Margaret Fitzherbert said the projects reflected what the Foundation’s donors and families wanted research to deliver.
“Our donors want more than survival. They want safer, kinder treatments designed specifically for children,” Ms Fitzherbert said.
“Cancer treatment can mean long hospital stays, invasive procedures and lifelong side effects. These four projects offer hope for a future in which children with cancer can receive more effective treatment with fewer lasting burdens for them and their families.”
The projects were selected through CoLab’s rigorous and competitive funding process. Each application was assessed by CoLab’s Scientific Advisory Committee, supported by a broader faculty of scientific advisers and a panel of lived-experience reviewers.
The grants were made possible through major investments in CoLab from the Victorian Government and Children’s Cancer Foundation.
Minister for Medical Research Anthony Carbines said the investment would support Victoria’s researchers to develop safer and more effective treatments for children with cancer.
“Every child deserves the best possible chance to beat cancer without facing a lifetime of harmful side effects,” Minister Carbines said.
“We’re backing Victoria’s world-class researchers to develop gentler treatments that can improve the lives of children and families here in Victoria and around the world.”
The funded projects
Paediatric and adolescent cancer immunotherapy program
Dr Deborah Meyran, Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre | $728,750
Dr Deborah Meyran and her team will test whether an anti-cancer drug, curaxin CBL0137, can make immunotherapy more effective against high-risk childhood solid cancers, including neuroblastoma and sarcoma. Early research suggests the drug can kill neuroblastoma cells and “reawaken” the immune system, improving the effect of anti-GD2 immunotherapy. The project will extend this approach to paediatric sarcomas, aiming to reduce reliance on intensive treatment and its long-term effects. Read more about this project.
Using first-in-class mRNA export inhibitors to treat childhood cancer
Prof Vihandha Wickramasinghe, WEHI | $500,897
Prof Vihandha Wickramasinghe and his team will test inhibitors that block mRNA export, a process some cancer cells rely on to grow. The research will identify childhood cancers most dependent on this pathway, including osteosarcoma, neuroblastoma, medulloblastoma and rhabdomyosarcoma. The aim is to lay the groundwork for more targeted, less toxic treatments that may one day be taken at home. Read more about this project.
Epigenetic control of differentiation in paediatric high-grade glioma
Prof Lee Wong, Monash University | $512,000
Prof Lee Wong and her team will investigate whether overcoming a biological barrier that prevents diffuse midline glioma cells from maturing can make these cancer cells less aggressive and more responsive to treatment. The approach will be tested across an extensive collection of cell models developed from children’s tumours to identify the most promising new treatment strategies. Read more about this project.
Safer asparaginase treatment
Prof Paul Monagle, University of Melbourne / Murdoch Children’s Research Institute | $505,035
Prof Paul Monagle and his team will investigate why some children and adolescents treated for acute lymphoblastic leukaemia develop serious blood clots. The study will identify blood patterns that may predict who could benefit from clot-prevention medicines, helping reduce serious clots, unnecessary injections and side effects. Read more about this project.
ENDS
About us:
Children's Cancer CoLab is an independent non-profit organisation transforming how childhood cancer research is funded and delivered in Australia. We unite government, philanthropy, researchers, clinicians, advocates, survivors and families to accelerate breakthrough discoveries. By fostering collaboration and innovation across sectors and disciplines, and ensuring survivors and families shape our decisions, we're creating a future where every child and adolescent with cancer can survive and thrive.
www.cccolab.org.au
Contact details:
Dr Udani Reets
Children’s Cancer CoLab CEO
E: [email protected]
M: 0416 053 977
