The Foundation is excited to share a final update from Prof. Bryan Day, Group Leader of the Sid Faithfull Brain Cancer Laboratory at QIMR Berghofer Medical Research Institute. The brain cancer research community lacks both patient tissue and tumour cells from recurrent patients to make breakthroughs. Prof. Day’s project aimed to address this problem by developing and distributing brain cancer models to researchers internationally. Prof. Day’s research is funded by the Foundation through a 2018 Infrastructure Grant, worth $400,000.
In their final update, Prof. Day and his team successfully developed and distributed the QCell glioblastoma (GBM) model resource which has driven breakthrough discoveries for brain cancer researchers globally and has been used successfully in over 50 research publications to date.
Models that faithfully represent the true disease state are highly sought after to drive discovery research and make breakthroughs for brain cancer patients. Therefore, this project has greatly enhanced brain cancer research across the globe. In addition, Prof. Day and his team sought to develop models of recurrent brain cancer, as this is of vital importance to overcome treatment resistance. This objective has been met and continues to be part of an active study.
On the impact of Cure Brain Cancer Foundation funding, Prof. Day commented:
“Providing funds for basic research infrastructure such as a biobank helps build the foundation of any successful medical research program. Without the resources to develop the QIMR/RBWH brain cancer tissue and culture bank, many collaborative projects within my laboratory would not have been eventuated. Further to this, being able to provide a freely available resource such as QCell to the academic community has provided significant publication authorship opportunities.”
Congratulating Prof. Day, Foundation CEO, Lance Kawaguchi said, “Supporting projects like this have a multiplier effect in terms of advancing brain cancer research. For long now, researchers have struggled to get drugs past the blood-brain barrier, and models such as the one developed by Prof Day help with new innovations that will hopefully better outcomes for those impacted.”
