The fight against brain cancer was further boosted in June with the awarding of the John Trivett Research Fellowship bursary to the University of Queensland researcher Dr Tammy Ellis to continue her work from the Institute for Molecular Bioscience with the University’s School of Medicine.
The $500,000 bursary will assist Dr Ellis, the John Trivett Senior Research Fellow, in her research efforts to better understand the development of primary brain tumours and possibly lead to improved treatment regimes for patients and an increase in survival rate.
Dr Ellis will work in close collaboration with researchers at Brisbane’s Princess Alexandra Hospital and Canada’s Arthur and the Sonia Labatt Brain Tumour Research Centre at the Hospital for Sick Children, bringing together leading edge scientific and clinical research expertise to understand the formation of brain tumours.
Dr Ellis said that the biochemical pathway called Sonic Hedgehog was pivotal to the development of a number of cancer types, including brain tumours (called glioblastomas), medulloblastoma (cerebral tumour arising in childhood), rhabdomyosarcoma (a malignant tumour starting in muscles tissue), and basal cell carcinoma of the skin.
“Specifically, my research is investigating which genes and proteins influence the Sonic Hedgehog pathway and how disruptions to this pathway may lead to tumours,” Dr Ellis said.
The John Trivett Foundation for research into the causes of primary brain tumours was established in 1998 to commemorate and continue the philanthropy of John Trivett, the founder of Trivett Companies which included Brisbane BMW.
Until his untimely death of a brain tumour in 1997, Mr Trivett spent his life searching for one major cause in which to channel his philanthropic energies in an endeavour to make a tangible contribution to the society that enabled his business to flourish.
Mr Trivett’s wife, Beverley, said it appeared vital to conduct research into what was surely “the essence of our person, the brain”.
“So many other critical and lethal diseases have successfully been conquered or at least had management programs established for sufferers. Why not brain tumours?” she said.
“To lose my partner so savagely and to be informed at the time of his diagnosis that no-one knew why or how the tumours form, and that there was no cure fuelled a desire to improve the opportunity for countless others who may suffer similar experiences.
“The Trivett Foundation recognises that the research excellence of the IMB and the Princess Alexandra Hospital will make important contributions to our understanding of this devastating disease and others, potentially leading to the development of better diagnostics, gene therapies, and pharmaceuticals.”
Media: for further information, contact Russell Griggs at UQ`s Institute for Molecular Bioscience (telephone 07 3365 1805 or email r.griggs@imb.uq.edu.au).
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