The Oncology Research Unit
The Oncology Research Unit was established in 1997 as the laboratory research division of the Oncology Unit at the Children's Hospital, Westmead. It is staffed by over 30 scientists under the direction of Professor Peter Gunning.
The goal of the ORU is to improve the rate of cure in all children with cancer. The cancer units of the Hospital, the ORU and the Oncology Unit are at the forefront of children's cancer research and treatment and together provide a bench to bedside approach.
This will allow earlier and more accurate diagnoses, optimisation of treatment regimes and ultimately new therapies thereby improving the cure rate and quality of life for cancer suffers.
The ORU research program is centred on three problem areas for the clinical management of cancer:
- Improved cancer diagnosis to ensure patients receive the correct treatment for their particular cancer
- Improved cancer treatment to treat those tumours which are resistant to conventional approaches
- Few treatment side effects as current protocols for the treatment of cancer use surgical intervention, radiotherapy and chemotherapy agents which makes bone marrow toxic. New treatments are being developed to protect the bone marrow and therefore the side effects.
A new cancer Gene Therapy Research Program has recently commenced at the ORU thanks to a commitment by OCF to entirely fund the project over the five years (at a total cost of $2.5 million).
"The aim of this research project is to improve the treatment that can be offered to children who have cancer. We will be focusing on the bone marrow stem cells of children who are receiving chemotherapy for brain tumours which have been difficult to cure using current treatment protocols" said Professor Gunning.
"Currently, patients with brain tumours receive highly toxic chemotherapy drugs with potentially harmful side effects including fatigue, susceptibility to infection and bleeding. These effects are often serious enough to require blood transfusions and antibiotics, and repeated rounds of treatment can be delayed until counts recover".
"We hope to try and outsmart the cells in the tumours and altering bone marrow stem cells to protect them against the effects of the chemotherapy".
"This will be great news for our patients and could result in a lessening of the toxic side effects of chemotherapy, fewer blood transfusions and antibiotics, fewer hospital visits and, fewer treatment delays. If delays between scheduled treatments are lessened, then the chemotherapy may be more effective in eradicating tumour cells".
"OCF is funding the entire cost ($2.5 million) of the five year Gene Therapy Program. Let there be no doubt about the significance of the OCF's funding. Without it this program would not have proceeded. Through OCF's funding they are attempting to save the lives of many children with cancer. Additional funding can only result in more lives hopefully being saved. It is as simple as that".
Professor Peter Gunning.
Find out more about the Gene Therapy Program
Today's research is tomorrow's medicine
Internationally competitive, leading edge research requires a dedicated team of skilled research scientists, state of the art facilities and laboratory supplies, all of which require continued financial support.
Although ORU is extremely successful in competing for research grant funding, the strength of the research program remains dependent on support provided by donations and bequests.
In 2003 OCF donated $70,000 to the ORU. By 2007 that amount has increased to an amazing $2 million, thanks to the wonderful support and generosity of the general public and the corporate world.
Over the next five years our mission is to increase the annual donation by no less than $1 million every year, so by 2012 it will be $7 million.
