2020 Collaboration Grants announced
PanKind, The Australian Pancreatic Cancer Foundation today announces over $1.2 million in grant funding for the 2020 Collaborative Research Grant round. The funding will be shared between four highly promising pancreatic cancer collaborative research projects involving scientists from leading institutions around Australia. This funding commitment adds to the recently announced Early Detection Grants valued at $467,000 and brings the total investment into cutting-edge pancreatic cancer research to a total of $1.67 million.
The Collaborative Research grants have been awarded to teams led by Dr Daniel Croagh from Monash Health , Dr Sumit Sahni from The Kolling Institute at the University of Sydney, Dr Ashleigh Poh from Olivia Newton-John Cancer Research Institute and Prof Frederic Hollande from The University of Melbourne. A comprehensive list of talented collaborators will form the research teams on each project.
PanKind CEO, Michelle Stewart, said "after initially committing $600k to this grant process, given the uncertainty of COVID, we are thrilled to be able to commit a total of $1.67 million to these new projects. Our ability to increase our commitment was due to the generous support of our donors and other significant funding partners who are aligned in their commitment to improving survival for people with pancreatic cancer."
The announcement comes after PanKind recently launched our Early Detection Initiative, which will involve increased focus and funding for projects that will allow the earlier detection of pancreatic cancer and working with the research community to improve early diagnosis of the disease. The first projects to be funded under this initiative are led by Prof Rachel Neale at QIMR Berghofer Medical Research Institute and A/Prof Andrew Metz at the Jreissati Family Pancreatic Centre at Epworth.
We would like to thank our esteemed scientific advisory panel who provided a multi-disciplinary, global perspective and assessed the applications from a very high quality field against predetermined assessment criteria.
2020 Collaboration Grant recipients
Project: Accelerating the uptake of precision medicine in pancreatic cancer using endoscopic ultrasound biopsy.
(The Expanded MoST study: Using EUS to get more out of MoST)
Principal Investigator: Dr Daniel Croagh, Monash Health
Co-Investigators:
Prof David Goldstein, Prince of Wales Hospital
Prof Brendan Jenkins, Monash University
A/Prof Nam Nguyen, Royal Adelaide Hospital
Prof Benedict Devereaux, University of Queensland Medical School
A/Prof Arthur Kaffes, Royal Prince Alfred Hospital, University of NSW
Prof Krish Ragunath, Curtin University, Royal Perth Hospital
Dr Joanne Lundy, Hudson Institute of Medical Research
Dr Scott Fanning, Launceston General Hospital
Dr Vivek Rathi, Monash Health
Dr Hugh Gao, Monash Health
Funding Amount: $298,811
Project: Reprogramming the tumour microenvironment of pancreatic cancer to improve response to therapy
Principal Investigator: Dr Ashleigh Poh, Olivia Newton-John Cancer Research Institute
Co-Investigators:
Prof Mattias Ernst, Olivia Newton-John Cancer Research Institute
A/Prof Mehrdad Nikfarjam, Austin Hospital
Prof Peter Gibbs, The Walter and Eliza Hall Institute
Prof Wei Shi, Olivia Newton-John Cancer Research Institute
Funding Partner: Tour de Cure and Woolworths Ltd. through Woolies Walks and Wheels
Funding Amount: $295,316
Read the project details
Project: A sequential CRISPR approach to rationally design robust combination treatments in pancreatic cancer
Principal Investigator: Prof Frederic Hollande, The University of Melbourne
Co-Investigators:
A/Prof Kaylene Simpson, Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre
Dr Tracy Putoczki, The Walter Eliza Hall Institute of Medical Research
Dr Belinda Lee, Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre, Northern Health Medical Oncology
Dr Benjamin Loveday, Royal Melbourne Hospital, Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre
Funding partner: The Ian Harty Charitable Trust
Funding amount: $300,000
Read the project details
Project: Development of Personalised Treatment Pathways for Pancreatic Cancer Patients
Principal Investigator: Dr Sumit Sahni, Kolling Institute of Medical Research, University of Sydney
Co-Investigators:
Prof Mark Molloy, University of Sydney
Dr Anubhav Mittal, Royal North Shore Hospital
Clinical Prof Jaswinder Samra, Royal North Shore Hospital
A/Prof David Chang, University of Glasgow
Prof Anthony Gill, Northern Sydney Local Health District, Royal North Shore Hospital, University of Sydney
Prof Nick Pavlakis, Northern Sydney Local Health District, Royal North Shore Hospital, University of Sydney
A/Prof Angela Chou, Northern Sydney Local Health District, Royal North Shore Hospital, University of Sydney
Funding partner: The Ian Harty Charitable Trust
Funding amount: $299,671.90
Early Detection Initiative
We have also committed to two new Early Detection grants as part of the PanKind Early Detection Initiative.
Project:Towards earlier diagnosis of pancreatic cancer, Pancreatic Cancer Early Diagnosis Group
Principal Investigator: Prof Rachel Neale, QIMR Berghofer Medical Research Institute
Co-Investigators:
A/Prof Susan Jordan, University of Queensland
Prof Gloria Petersen, Mayo Clinic
A/Prof Joel Rhee, University of Wollongong
Prof Karen Canfell, Cancer Council NSW
A/Prof Louisa Gordon, QIMR Berghofer Medical Research Institute
Prof Benedict Devereaux, University of Queensland, Royal Brisbane and Women’s Hospital
Dr Daniel Croagh, Monash Health
Mr Paul Grogan, Cancer Council NSW
Prof John Windsor, University of Auckland, Mercy Hospital, Auckland City Hospital
A/Prof Andrew Metz, Melbourne Health
Dr Michael Caruana, Cancer Council NSW
Dr Bridie Thompson, QIMR Berghofer Medical Research Institute
Prof John Zalcberg, Monash University
Funding amount: $300,000
Project: Early detection of pancreatic cancer using a novel clinical screening tool in people with diabetes and chronic pancreatitis
Principal Investigator: A/Prof Andrew Metz, Jreissati Family Pancreatic Centre in Collaboration with Royal Melbourne, Administering Institution: Epworth Medical Foundation
Co-Investigators:
A/Prof Spiros Fourlanos, Royal Melbourne Hospital
Mr Brett Knowles, St Vincent’s Hospital, Royal Melbourne Hospital, Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre, Epworth HealthCare
Dr Caroline Le, Epworth HealthCare
Funding partners: Tour de Cure and Woolworths Ltd. through Woolies Wheels and Walks
Funding amount: $164,138.00