Health Minister Jim McGinty today announced the allocation of $103,000 to a childhood cancer research project run by the Telethon Institute of Child Health Research, one of 100 projects being funded from the State's $5 million medical research fund.
Health Minister Jim McGinty today announced the allocation of $103,000 to a childhood cancer research project run by the Telethon Institute of Child Health Research, one of 100 projects being funded from the State's $5 million medical research fund.
The full text of a Ministerial announcement is pasted below
Scientists working on ground-breaking ways to diagnose and treat children with cancer will receive a slice of the State Government's $5 million medical research fund.
Health Minister Jim McGinty said the Telethon Institute of Child Health Research project would receive $103,000 to tailor treatment to individual children. It was one of more than 100 projects to get funds.
"Different cancers occur in children than in adults and there is mounting international evidence that they require different treatments," Mr McGinty said.
"The work being done at the institute is looking at the genetic make up of individual tumours in children and then using that information to determine which form of treatment would be the most effective.
"The research is being done in collaboration with Princess Margaret Hospital.
"This research could help the hundreds of Australian children who battle cancer every year."
Professor Ursula Kees who heads the research team said the aim of the project was to help doctors develop a more targeted treatment for each young patient.
"We are using new rapid screening technology to analyse the makeup of a tumour when it is first detected, then we use laboratory-grown cancer cells and patient specimens to determine how a patient is likely to respond to the variety of treatments that are available," Ms Kees said.
"Identifying the most appropriate therapy for each patient's specific cancer at the time of diagnosis could spare some children from unnecessarily aggressive treatments while ensuring those who are at highest risk of relapse are given intensive therapy straight away."
The Minister said an average of 57 cancer cases were diagnosed every year in WA children aged under 15 years. The most common types were leukaemia and brain tumours.
"Fifty WA children were diagnosed with cancer in 2005 and almost half of these patients had leukaemia. In the same year, 11 children died due to cancer-related illnesses," he said.
The Telethon Institute for Child Health Research has received a total of $1.68 million in grants this year. Other research at the institute will investigate childhood asthma and allergies, birth defects, developmental disorders, mental health, infectious diseases, and the specific issues faced by Aboriginal children and their families.
Premier's Science Award winner Royal Perth Hospital Professor Graeme Hankey received almost $36,000 from the State Government's Medical and Health Research Infrastructure Fund to continue his groundbreaking research into stroke prevention.
Research institutions that have received funding this year include:
- The University of Western Australia - $1,103,554;
- Lions Eye Institute - $676,801;
- WA Institute for Medical Research - $658,882;
- Curtin University of Technology - $277, 912;
- Lung Institute - $187,609;
- Women and Infants Research Foundation - $120,808;
- Australian Neuromuscular Research Institute - $91,565;
- Murdoch University - $81,950;
- Sir Charles Gairdner Hospital - $63,318; and
- Edith Cowan University - $58,242.
Telethon Institute for Child Health Research Director Professor Fiona Stanley said the grants were extremely important.
"The Government's support is essential in enabling us to keep an institute of this stature and scale in Western Australia," Ms Stanley said.
"The funding we receive from the State is based on our ability to win competitive research grants, which means that the Government is rewarding excellence."
Mr McGinty said it was vital that WA research was given financial support.
"Our scientists are world-class and the medical and economic benefits that their research can bring are invaluable," he said.
"The grants will enable local researchers to attract more money from competitive national and international funding programs and further enhance WA's reputation for world-class research."
The Medical and Health Research Infrastructure Fund has provided $35 million in grants to leading researchers since 1997.
