Cure Brain Cancer Foundation is excited to share a progress update from Prof. Bryan Day, Head of The Sid Faithfull Brain Cancer Laboratory at QIMR Berghofer Medical Research Institute.
This infrastructure funding has been utilized to test novel drugs for brain cancer and develop unique models of disease recurrence. Prof. Day’s research is funded by the Foundation through a 2018 Infrastructure Grant, worth $400,000.
Prof. Day says, “Breakthrough discoveries will only come from increased research and better quality, more faithful models for researchers to work with. Accurate models to better understand brain cancer have been historically lacking, this has significantly limited prior progress. Over several years, we have developed a panel of primary brain cancer models for laboratory use.”
Prof. Day and team have continued to develop a bank of pair-matched primary and recurrent glioblastoma models. They have also leveraged their collection of brain cancer tumour tissue to develop cutting edge “explant” organoids to keep tumours intact.
To-date, these models, named QCell, have been incredibly successful and have been used in numerous studies all around the world to better understand brain cancer and discover, assess and implement novel therapies. It is critical to have the right research tools if we are to make significant impact on the survival and quality of life of brain cancer patients.
Watch Prof. Day explain the significance of receiving the Infrastructure Grant here:
Prof. Day’s research aims to help scientists all around the world to achieve this goal by providing primary brain cancer cell lines and organoids which accurately reflect the disease setting. Without these models, scientists would not be able to make significant breakthroughs.
“Funding support through the Infrastructure Grant from the Foundation has enabled myself and my team to build an internationally recognised brain cancer resource, greatly expand the scope of our research program and to work collaboratively on innovative projects across Australia and around the world. These collaborative networks are essential to better work as a team and bring positive findings from basic research laboratories to clinical trial.”
