Groundbreaking research to deliver new treatment options for patients with the most common and deadliest type of brain cancer has been supported through $4.6 million from the Medical Research Future Fund.
The collaborative “GLIMMER” research program aims to improve survival outcomes and quality of life for patients with glioblastoma, an aggressive brain cancer with a five-year survival rate of just 5 per cent.
The program brings together leading researchers and clinicians from WEHI, The Brain Cancer Centre, the Royal Melbourne Hospital, Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre, the University of Melbourne, Murdoch Children’s Research Institute and the Florey Institute of Neuroscience and Mental Health.
At a glance
- “GLIMMER” − Glioma Liquid biopsy and Multiomic-Monitoring Enabled Research platform − awarded a $4.6m grant through the Medical Research Future Fund (MRFF)
- Five-year collaborative research program focusing on glioblastoma, the most common and deadliest type of brain cancer
- Aiming to deliver new treatment and monitoring options for the aggressive cancer, which has a five-year survival rate of just 5 per cent
The “GLIMMER” program will focus on understanding drug failure, delivering new therapies and developing non-invasive tumour monitoring for glioblastoma.
Chief Investigator Dr Jim Whittle, Laboratory Head at WEHI and The Brain Cancer Centre, and medical oncologist at the Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre and the Royal Melbourne Hospital, said treatment approaches and survival rates for glioblastoma had not changed in decades.
“Informed by early and continuous engagement with patients and families affected by glioblastoma, the combined impact of this new research program will improve survival outcomes, quality of life and avoid unnecessary health burdens for this devastating disease,” Dr Whittle said.
Innovative research program
The vast diversity of glioblastoma tumours is known to be a key driver of resistance to treatment but despite this, all patients receive standard treatment with radiation and chemotherapy.
Doctors are unable to tailor treatment to individual patients to improve their outcomes because there are currently no biomarkers that could precisely identify glioblastoma tumour sub-types.
“GLIMMER” is an innovative program of preclinical research that will leverage unique access to patient samples, data and infrastructure.
The program consists of a pipeline of early to late translational science structured to ensure new findings can rapidly enter the clinic.
Researchers will examine the impact of treatment through unique access to pre-treatment, on-treatment and recurrent tumour tissue, enabling a comprehensive understanding of treatment failure to better inform the development of new therapies.
The program will deliver novel genomic tools for improving treatment decisions, new tumour targets for drug development and cellular therapies, and a non-invasive “liquid” biopsy ready for scale.
The customised liquid biopsy will reduce the need for repeat invasive neurosurgery, improving diagnosis, early identification of treatment resistance and monitoring of glioblastoma patients.
Brain cancer vision
The research program consolidates the establishment of The Brain Cancer Centre, which was launched in October 2021 with a vision that one day no lives are lost to brain cancer.
WEHI Director and Head of The Brain Cancer Centre, Professor Doug Hilton AO, said the new funding would support deep collaboration across Melbourne’s biomedical precinct.
“This program brings together some of the brightest minds around a shared goal of improving the lives of people diagnosed with brain cancer,” Professor Hilton said.
“It’s a reflection of the sustained, coordinated and long-term commitment to collaborative research and discovery that drives our efforts to make a real impact on brain cancer patients, now and in the future.”
Founded by Carrie’s Beanies 4 Brain Cancer, The Brain Cancer Centre was established in partnership with WEHI and with support from the Victorian Government.
The “GLIMMER” program has been awarded a 2021 Brain Cancer Research grant, part of the Medical Research Future Fund.
Chief Investigators on the program: Dr Jim Whittle, Associate Professor Misty Jenkins, Dr Saskia Freytag, Dr Sarah Best, Dr Lucy Gately (WEHI), Associate Professor Andrew Morokoff, Dr David Goode, Professor Sean Grimmond (University of Melbourne), Dr Stephen Wong, Professor Stephen Fox, Professor Sarah-Jane Dawson (Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre), Professor Katharine Drummond (Royal Melbourne Hospital), Professor David Eisenstat (Murdoch Children’s Research Institute), Associate Professor Lucy Palmer (Florey Institute of Neuroscience and Mental Health).