TRI has awarded three new research grants worth $831,745 to fast-track innovative research aimed at improving outcomes for cancer patients.

The grants, which include co-funding from university, government and industry partners, will enable world-first research into new targeted treatments better treatments for throat cancer and the rare glandular cancer adenoid cystic carcinoma along with a potentially more accurate diagnostic test for prostate cancer.

TRI CEO and Director of Research, Professor Scott Bell said the TRI research grants were specifically designed to foster innovative research with the potential to lead to new medical care for Australians.

“Since 2015, the TRI has awarded 13 research grants worth more than $1.6 million,” said Prof Bell.

“These grants are enormously important because they fill a critical gap in funding research on the cusp of commercialisation,” he said.

“Our goal is to foster research at this point and stimulate industry and cross-institutional academic collaborations to ensure patients benefit as quickly as possible from medical breakthroughs.”

The TRI Research Grants recipients from the 2019 grant round are:

Drive Grant: Professor Sandro Porceddu, Princess Alexandra Hospital Director of Radiation Oncology Research and The University of Queensland Professor of Medicine. Professor Porceddu is leading a Phase I clinical trial at the TRI, testing an innovative new treatment for throat cancers caused by Human Papillomavirus (HPV). He is collaborating with researchers from The University of Queensland and industry. Read more

Spore Grant: Associate Professor Jyotsna Batra, Research team leader, Queensland University of Technology (QUT). A/Prof Batra is testing a new tool to diagnose prostate cancer in a collaboration between QUT and UQ researchers, Queensland Health clinicians and industry.

Spore Grant: Professor Ben Panizza, Princess Alexandrea Hospital Director of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery. In a collaboration between the Princess Alexandra Hospital, The University of Queensland Diamantina Institute researchers and industry, Prof Panizza is leading a pre-clinical study with the hope to  which harnesses the body’s immune system to target tumour cells in the rare cancer, adenoid cystic carcinoma.

You can read more about TRI's research grant program here.

Photos: 
1. TRI CEO Prof Scott Bell with Prof Porceddu
2. A/Prof Jyotsna Batra
3. Prof Ben Panizza and collaborator, A/Prof Fiona Simpson