Further Funding Announced for Pancreatic Cancer Research by The Hon. Greg Hunt MP

We are delighted to advise that on December 19, 2017 the Turnbull Government announced further support for cancer research with $8 million in grants.

Significantly for us, close to $700,000 of the total allocation has been dedicated to Pancreatic Cancer medical research, with $600,000 of that going to an Avner Foundation grant recipient.

This allocation further endorses the Avner Foundation Research Panel’s work and selection process, and clearly demonstrates how researchers can leverage further funds from our initial seed funding.

We congratulate the following Pancreatic Cancer researchers for receiving this funding from the Turnbull Government:

• Dr Marina Pajic from Garvan Institute of Medical Research/The Kinghorn Cancer Centre who was awarded $600,000 to continue her research into 13 major subtypes of Pancreatic Cancer based on differences in tumour DNA, and to determine how more than a third of patients with this highly lethal disease may benefit from a novel combination therapy of immune-modulating and anti-invasive agents.
• Dr Angelica Merlot, University of Sydney who was awarded $99,439 to assess specific molecular pathways implicated in metastasis and Pancreatic Cancer progression and to develop novel agents targeting these pathways. These studies will lead to the development of potent anti-cancer drugs that inhibit pancreatic cancer progression.

This new funding, along with the $2 million of research funding that the Avner Pancreatic Cancer Foundation announced on World Pancreatic Cancer Day in November will further impact our goal to find a cure for Pancreatic Cancer.