Recipient: Associate Professor Joshua McCarroll
Institute: Children’s Cancer Institute
TKCP funding: $298,554 December 2019 to January 2023
PdCCRS* funding: $298,554
Total funding: $597,108
Medulloblastoma is the most common malignant brain cancer diagnosed in children.
Chemoresistance and relapse are key reasons why brain cancer is the disease that kills more Australian children than any other.
Behind the science: Associate Professor Joshua McCarroll
It’s widely known that a major limitation for effective treatment is the presence of the blood-brain-barrier (BBB), which restricts entry of therapeutic drugs into the brain. That’s where Associate Professor McCarroll’s research comes in.
His team will to use state-of-the-art tiny nanomedicines designed to cross the BBB and selectively penetrate brain tumours and inhibit a gene which plays an important role in regulating chemosensitivity without causing toxicity to non-tumour cells.
If successful, this new therapeutic strategy has the potential to increase survival and quality of life for children diagnosed with all types of brain cancer.
Learn about Cancer Australia's Priority-driven Collaborative Cancer Research Scheme.