2026 Early Career Fellowship: Dr. Olga Zaytseva

We are dedicated to developing urgently needed therapies for primary brain cancer patients.

The fundamental pre-requisite to efficacious therapies is, however, a sophisticated understanding of the molecular and cellular basis of glioma progression, which in turn requires accurate pre-clinical models.

Here, we build on the observation that mutations in the transcriptional regulator FUBP1 frequently occur in, and are predicted to drive, the low-grade brain cancer oligodendroglioma.

To develop new treatments and improve outcomes for patients, we capitalise on our expertise in mechanisms of gene regulation by FUBP1 and will determine how mutations alter transcription to drive tumour progression.

As FUBP1 mutations are loss-of-function and, thus, cannot be directly targeted, the proposed study will identify molecular signatures for pathways activated by FUBP1 loss to enable logical design of new therapies for FUBP1-driven oligodendroglioma.

In the future, expansion of molecular genetic-based drug discovery pipelines developed here will enable identification of prognostic markers and rational drug development to treat additional glioma classes.

Critically, to link our studies to brain cancer patients, we collaborate with clinical teams at The Canberra Hospital (e.g., oncologists, surgeons, pathologists), which enabled us to establish the first brain cancer biobank in the ACT. As the ACT Brain Cancer Biobank operates as a node of the National Biobank and Data Registry, administered by Brain Cancer Australia, our biospecimens and data benefit research throughout Australia.

Moreover, in collaboration with clinical teams nationally, we will ensure inclusion of promising therapies in future clinical trials.