WEHI gets $2m grant for new cancer labs

The Walter and Eliza Hall Institute (WEHI) has received $2 million from the Australian Cancer Research Foundation (ACRF) to fit out two new cancer research laboratories, which will open in late 2012.

The first of the labs will be attached to the ACRF Stem Cells and Cancer division, and will conduct research into the biology of epithelial cancers, including breast, lung and ovarian cancer, led by Professor Geoff Lindeman and Professor Jane Visvader.

The second lab will be part of the ACRF Chemical Biology division is led by Professor David Huang, and will focus on the development of new medications for cancers including epithelial cancers and blood cancers such as leukaemia.

“Discovering the causes of cancer, and developing treatments for cancer, have been a focus of our researchers for much of the past 100 years,” said WEHI director Professor Doug Hilton.

“The institute has already made many contributions that have helped patients. For example, the discovery of colony stimulating factors by institute researchers in the 1960s has now helped more than 10 million cancer patients worldwide. We anticipate that some of our current studies will have similar impacts on cancer treatments in the future.”

The ACRF Chairman, Mr Tom Dery, said the new funding agreement would further strengthen Australian cancer research efforts.

“We have been proud to support successful research projects at the Walter and Eliza Hall Institute in the past,” he said.

“This research has been across the spectrum, from investigating the underlying molecular defects in cancer through to the development of new anti-cancer treatments.

“The ACRF’s support for these new research facilities will enable institute scientists to make discoveries about cancer biology, and then see them developed through to potential new anti-cancer treatments. This will undoubtedly improve the outlook for patients with some of the most common and deadly cancers in Australia.”