TRANSLATIONAL CANCER RESEARCH

The Perkins Cancer Biobank collects, characterises and stores tumour samples. These biospecimens, together with high quality detailed biological, pharmacological and diagnostic data will provide an important resource to inform patient treatment and predict patient outcome.

We are generating patient-derived tumour organoids and growing tumour slice cultures in the laboratory. Tissue slice cultures preserve the tumour cells within their surrounding environment making this an attractive model to investigate the influence of the tumour microenvironment in tumour growth and treatment response. Patient-derived tumour organoids are being used for screening new and already approved drugs/drug combinations to determine the best treatment options for patients.

Currently more than 80% of oncology clinical trials will fail. One of the main reasons for this is that many laboratory models do not accurately represent cancer growth. We are developing patient derived xenograft models of various cancers including models that can replicate the human immune system. These pre-clinical models of real patient tumours allow us to undertake sophisticated pre-clinical trials for new drugs and new combination therapies. More accurate pre-clinical trials will enable better design and greater success for patients entering into clinical trials. We are collaborating with several laboratories around Australia to enable increased pre-clinical trial capacity.