Ground-breaking pancreatic cancer research in NSW gets $13 million push

The Cancer Institute of NSW announced yesterday that has awarded $13 million to cancer research, a bulk of which will go toward improving outcomes for people with pancreatic cancer.

This is welcome news for the Pancare Foundation, which is aiming to help broaden support and funding for pancreatic and upper gastrointestinal (GI) cancers.

Dr Kara Vine-Perrow from the University of Wollongong has been awarded a Career Development Fellowship from the Cancer Institute of NSW for her work on localising Immunotherapy for pancreatic cancers by priming the tumour microenvironment.

Currently, Dr Vine-Perrow is leading the Pancare and Cancer Australia co-funded Priority-driven Collaborative Cancer Research Scheme (PdCCRS) program investigating a novel drug-eluting device to enhance the delivery of chemotherapy to combat pancreatic cancer. You can read more about Dr Vine-Perrow’s research work here.

The Career Development Fellowship of Dr Vine-Perrow is one of only three such awards, totalling $1.24 million, aimed at supporting established career researchers.

Dr Vine-Perrow commented on her newly-awarded Career Development Fellowship, “I am very thankful to be continuing my work in developing solutions to help people with pancreatic cancer. This new project is the next step in understanding how the area around the tumour can be primed to receive the most effective treatment and will complement the exciting work already underway with the Pancare and Cancer Australia co-funded program looking at new ways to deliver chemotherapy directly into pancreatic tumours.”

In addition, Professor David Goldstein from the University of NSW has also been awarded a share of $7.5 million for his Translational Program Grant to study molecular screening and therapeutics in pancreatic cancer.

This enhanced focus across Australia on funding pancreatic cancer research is essential to increase national awareness of pancreatic and other upper GI cancers and to provide the evidence-based foundations for improving clinical outcomes and quality of life for those suffering from pancreatic cancer.

This level of investment from the Cancer Institute of NSW for pancreatic cancer should instill hope in the pancreatic and upper GI cancer community.

You can read more about Pancare’s commitments to fund high-impact pancreatic and upper GI cancer research at https://pancare.org.au/cancer-research/.