Stem cell screening facility to target brain tumours

Source: University of Queensland

A new high-throughput screening facility to identify and test stem cells derived from human brain tumours has been officially opened at the University of Queensland's Queensland Brain Institute (QBI).

The ACRF Brain Tumour Research Centre has been funded by a $1.14 million grant from the Australian Cancer Research Foundation.

QBI director, Professor Perry Bartlett, said despite significant advances in treatments, the average life expectancy of patients with aggressive forms of brain cancer was often less than a year.

"This is the first time researchers will be able to isolate, enumerate and purify tumour stem cells with such high levels of efficiency," Bartlett said.

He said there was an emerging view among neuroscientists that cancers in the central nervous system may contain a population of stem cells responsible for tumour initiation and malignancy.

"Until now, one of the prime difficulties in studying these stem cells was that scientists lacked the tools to identify and collect them," he said.

The new screening facility uses a combination of advanced techniques to record molecular changes in neural stem cell assays.

Scientists from QBI, the Institute for Molecular Bioscience and the Queensland Institute for Medical Research as well as research clinicians from Brisbane's leading public hospitals will all have access to the centre.