Next Generation Cancer Research

For cancer patients, every moment can be a worry. So many thoughts can run through their mind. Will I respond to the treatment? Which treatment is best? Will the cancer move around the body? If I achieve remission, will the cancer come back?

In reality, providing these answers to patients and families is not absolute but as a cancer researcher, I’m hoping to change that by improving the way we test and screen cancer drugs.

Cancer drug failure rates

About 95 per cent of new drugs fail during clinical trials after positive results during the lab testing phase, creating a bottleneck of ineffective drugs and a high cost invested in the eventually failed drugs.

Current testing methods use cells grown on a two dimensional surface like plastic or glass, which doesn’t replicate human biology because we’re not two dimensional.

This is a major issue which has hindered cancer research for decades.

I lead a team of researchers developing new three dimensional methods for screening drugs using human cancer cells grown inside of a jelly-like material (hydrogels).

These 3D models are like mini-tissues that provide a more realistic environment for researchers to study cancer or for drug companies to test new cancer treatments.

Changing the way we look at cancers

Cancer is an incredibly complex and diverse disease. There is no one-size-fits-all approach.

Each of us is an individual with different biology and different reactions to how the cancer grows and what it responds to.

Using these models, we found that the way cancer responds to drug treatments is more similar to humans than the 2D models.

This research is at the forefront of cutting-edge cancer research technologies, and will provide a new model for drug companies to test their drugs.

This could lead to a greater speed to market, greater drug accuracy in humans, and will reduce the need for drugs to be tested in animals.

Better patient outcomes

In the future, we hope that this research will contribute to more personalised and targeted cancer treatments for patients.

In Queensland, where I live, 50 per cent of men and women will develop cancer in their lifetime.

Everyone knows, or will know, someone affected by cancer.

Cancer doesn’t discriminate but the treatment each person receives should.

Imagine a world with more accurate and personalised drug treatments for cancer patients, who get to spend less time in hospital and more time with their families.

This research doesn’t end locally, but has impact globally.

These 3D mini-tissues will open the way for the next generation of cancer researchers to discover a cure.

And from there, as we look towards the future, we hope that these better models will result in better testing, which will result in better health outcomes for cancer patients.