Skin cancer research receives strong support from Metro South Health

The funding for skin cancer research received a boost from Health services and philanthropic partners at the recent 2021 Metro South Health Research Support Scheme Grants announcement event.

Amongst the projects receiving funding were:

PROGRAM GRANTS Funded by MSH SERTA | up to $300,000 over three years

• Establishing Australia’s First Familial Melanoma Clinic
• Team: Prof H. Peter Soyer (UQ/PAH) Dr Aideen McInerney-Leo (UQ), Prof B. Mark Smithers (UQ/PAH), A/Prof Victoria Atkinson (PAH), Dr Centaine Snoswell (UQ), Dr Tatiane Yanes (UQ)

PROJECT GRANTS Funded by MSH SERTA | up to $100,000 over two years

• A randomised double-blind placebo-controlled trial of topical sirolimus in chemoprevention of facial squamous cell carcinomas
• Team: Prof Kiarash Khosrotehrani (UQ/PAH), Dr Scott Campbell (PAH), Dr Nikki Isbel (PAH), Christine Shen (PAH), Prof Adele Green (QIMR Berghofer), A/Prof Louisa Gordon (QIMR Berghofer)

CO-FUNDED COLLABORATION GRANTS Co-funded by MSH SERTA and a university partner | to $50,000 over two years

• Multiplex Spatial Profiling of the tumour microenvironment in patients with cutaneous squamous cell carcinoma exposed to immunotherapy – TUMIC STUDY Co-funded by QUT
• Team: Prof Sandra Porceddu (PAH/UQ), Dr Arutha Kulasinghe (QUT/PAH), Dr Rahul Ladwa PAH), Dr Wen Xu (PAH), Prof Gabrielle Belz (UQDI), Dr Caroline Cooper (PAH), Dr James Bowman (PAH)

EARLY CAREER RESEARCHER GRANTS Funded by MSH SERTA | up to $75,000 over two years

• Spatial transcriptomics of the tumour microenvironment in melanoma brain metastasis
• Team: Dr Wen Xu (PAH), Dr Arutha Kulasinghe (QUT), A/Prof Mark Pinkham (PAH), A/Prof Victoria Atkinson (PAH), A/Prof Paul Leo (QUT), Duncan Lambie (PAH), Sarah Olson (PAH)

PA RESEARCH FOUNDATION RESEARCH AWARDS Funded by PA Research Foundation | up to $100,000 for the first year

• Cutaneous squamous cell carcinoma and tumour MICroenvironment Multiplex Spatial Profiling – cMIC STUDY
• Team: Dr Rahul Ladwa (PAH), Dr Arutha Kulasinghe (QUT), Dr Howard Liu (PAH), Prof Gabrielle Belz (UQDI), Prof Sandro Porceddu (UQ/PAH), A/Prof Helmut Schaider (UQ/PAH), Dr James Bowman (UQ/PAH)

• High-resolution mapping of oropharyngeal squamous cell carcinomas to allow personalization of immunotherapies
• Team: Prof Ben Panizza (PPAH/UQ), Dr Jazmina Gonzalez-Cruz (UQ), A/Prof Christopher Perry (PAH), Prof Ian Frazer (UQ), Mr Quentin Wright (UQ), Dr Quan Nguyen (UQ)

A full list of grant recipients is available on the Metro South Website.