| Project title | Using Mini-Brain Models for Personalised Brain Cancer Care |
|---|---|
Grant Amount | $400,000 |
Institution | University of South Australia |
Investigator Team | Principal investigators Dr. Guillermo Gomez, A/Prof. Cedric Bardy, Dr. Dario Arrua, Prof. Chunhua Shen and Prof. Stuart Pitson, with associate investigators Prof. Michael Brown, Dr. Santos Poonnoose, Dr. Rebecca Ormsby, Prof. Viney Tergaonkar and Prof. Hamish Scott |
Grant Type | 2018 Infrastructure Grant |
Years | 2018 – 2022 |
Cancer cell invasion, whereby cancer cells invade healthy cells and tissue, is a central characteristic of malignant brain tumours, and is significantly correlated with a poor patient prognosis. This cellular invasion is largely the result of the evolving tumour microenvironment – molecular changes that occur in the immediate area around the tumour. Currently, there is no effective therapeutic target to stop this process. Dr. Guillermo Gomez from the Centre for Cancer Biology – a partnership between SA Pathology and the University of South Australia – and his multidisciplinary team of experts, are working to change this.
Dr. Gomez will lead a project that aims to use brain organoids to understand the process of cancer cell invasion, and the potential drugs that can stop it. Organoids are essentially ‘mini organs’, created from genetically engineered cells, to model a healthy human brain.*
These organoids are grown by Dr. Gomez’s laboratory in Adelaide. Researchers conducting this project will place patient’s tumour cells inside these brain tissue models, which will allow them to investigate how the cancer invades the organoid and what drugs have the potential to interfere with this process. The organoids therefore act to model a tumour and its microenvironment, allowing the team to investigate how these elements interact to encourage cell invasion.
Cancer cell invasion will be mapped using fluorescent proteins and time-lapse multiphoton microscopy. This aims to provide a fast, patient-personalised measure of cancer invasion.
For patients, this project has the potential to be life-changing. Researchers can deliver personalised information regarding the drugs that inhibit cellular invasion in a matter of weeks after a brain cancer patient’s surgery, rather than months. As almost all cases of glioblastoma result in a recurrence, these results are clinically relevant, with the ability to inform future treatments.
Innovative research reproducing human disease in organoids is a new therapeutic development for brain cancer. Organoids have the capacity to more accurately reflect the physiology and genetics of the human brain, thereby being excellent models for the study of brain cancer. It is the aim of Dr. Gomez, to have this platform used nation-wide by brain cancer researchers and specialists.
“By providing results within a few weeks after a brain cancer patient’s surgery, this project directly focuses on how to improve patient survival.”
Dr. Guillermo Gomez
Progress report (August 2021)
The support of Cure Brain Cancer Foundation (CBCF) 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.
CBCF funding has also contributed significantly to consolidate a unique cross-disciplinary network of collaborations across Adelaide. This network has become an important national research node in brain cancer research.
My laboratory’s key role within this network is reflected in seven publications, six invitations to present at national and international conferences (including COGNO and the AACR), one PhD and one Honours student completing their degrees in brain cancer research in 2020 and several successful applications in Nationally competitive Research Grants during 2019-2021.
CBCF funding was thus essential to gain momentum in developing better and more personalised approaches for brain cancer treatment. Thanks to CBCF, we now are in a favourable position to start its translation into clinical practice. I have established critical collaborations with Prof. Hui Gan and Dr. Mark Gilbert, two internationally renowned experts in neuro-oncology clinical trials, to accelerate the application of the developments that we have made into clinical trials.
This project was supported by funding received from Tour De Cure.