More than 30 Australian institutes are participating in the inaugural Medical Research Giving Day, coordinated by the Association of Australian Medical Research Institutes (AAMRI).
On Wednesday 9th September, all participating institutes, including the Olivia Newton-John Cancer Research Institute (ONJCRI), will raise funds for their own impactful research project.
This year’s theme is Everyday Hero, which celebrates those who choose to give to medical research. At a time when reduced government funding for medical research is more competitive to secure, institutes are relying more on the generosity of philanthropic donors and public fundraisers to drive their research.
ONJCRI Chief Executive Officer Prof Marco Herold shares: “Medical Research Giving Day is a fantastic opportunity for our community of supporters to help drive our cancer research to develop better, more tolerable and accessible therapies.
“We hope that this event inspires many to make a gift to medical research, at a time when that generosity is really needed.”
Breast cancer research at ONJCRI
This year, ONJCRI is fundraising for metastatic breast cancer research led by researcher Prof Delphine Mérino and clinician Dr Belinda Yeo.
Metastatic breast cancer is breast cancer that returns after it was treated in a first instance (also known as secondary breast cancer). Around 20% of new breast cancer diagnoses occur in women aged under 49.
Tumours from younger premenopausal women are more likely to metastasise compared to those from postmenopausal patients and potentially require more intensive therapies.
Prof Mérino’s team is developing new tools to spot patients at risk of breast cancer recurrence, and new ways to stop breast cancer cells from spreading.
Dr Yeo said: “While survival rates for breast cancer have significantly improved thanks to research into new treatments and diagnostics, it becomes much harder to treat once it has spread.
“Tumours from young premenopausal women are associated with aggressive features, requiring new therapeutic strategies. These patients are also more likely to experience significant toxicities from treatments, side effects that can be long-lasting.”
Prof Mérino says: “With the funds generated by this Giving Day, my team will use innovative sequencing technologies to analyse samples from young women who consented to donate these to research at the time of surgery and of metastatic disease.
“Our project aims to answer questions as to why standard-of-care therapies fail in some young patients with breast cancer.”
Findings from this research will be used to identify new vulnerabilities that can be exploited to eradicate the most aggressive types of breast cancer and better personalise treatments to patients.
Every dollar donated to the National Medical Research Giving Day goes directly to this research and brings us closer to a future where fewer families face the fear of losing a loved one to metastatic breast cancer.
