Dr. Guillermo Gomez, 2018 Infrastructure Grant recipient, is running in the PREPD Adelaide Marathon Festival this Sunday, August 22 to raise awareness and support for brain cancer research.
Cure Brain Cancer Foundation is incredibly thankful to Dr. Gomez for his passionate commitment to the cause across both his research and awareness efforts.
Dr. Hamza Anwer, Head of Research at Cure Brain Cancer Foundation commented, “Dr. Gomez is a testament to the passion of our community. It is incredibly humbling to see our researchers participating in fundraising events while simultaneously providing incredible outcomes in the research arena.
Dr. Gomez and his team have facilitated a level of collaboration with their brain-organoid platform unlike we have ever seen in the Australian brain cancer research community, and I commend Dr. Gomez for all he has done and continues to do for the cause.”
The Foundation is also pleased to share a recent update from Dr. Gomez on the recent progress of his 2018 Infrastructure Grant project, ‘Using Mini-Brain Models for Personalised Brain Cancer Care’.
Dr. Gomez and his team have developed a novel infrastructure of mini-brain models, called organoids, which are integral to developing personalised treatments and improved treatment outcomes for patients affected by glioblastoma.
By providing results within a few weeks after a brain cancer patient’s surgery, this project directly focuses on improving patient survival. In the weeks following initial surgery, Dr. Gomez’s novel screening platform can generate timely results that can indicate therapeutic strategies for patients, in the event of brain cancer recurrence.
Excitingly, Dr. Gomez’s work has reached significant momentum and has opened new directions in glioblastoma translational research. This is currently being explored as a part of a national effort involving collaborations with the Australian Brain Cancer Research Alliance, the Brain Tumour Research SA, the Australia Living Organoid Alliance and Brain Cancer Biobanking Australia.
Speaking to the impact that this grant has had, Dr. Gomez said, “Cure Brain Cancer Foundation support was vital at one of the most important steps of my research career. It helped me consolidate my transition from postdoctoral researcher to Group Leader by allowing my lab to advance our brain cancer research rapidly.”
Foundation funding has also contributed significantly to consolidate a unique cross-disciplinary network of collaborations among researchers and clinicians, across various Adelaide institutes. This network has become an important national research node in brain cancer research.
Dr. Gomez has commented that the next phase of his project will be translating their work into clinical practice. Critical collaborations have already been established with two internationally renowned experts in neuro-oncology clinical trials, to accelerate these developments into clinical trials.
You can read more about the project here.
