Recipient: Associate Professor Daniel Catchpoole
Institute: The Children’s Hospital at Westmead
Funding: $2,425,000 July 2010 to June 2018
Tumor bank for research
A tumour bank is a collection of small pieces of tumour tissue that are stored and made available to scientists.
The Tumour Bank at CHW allows researchers to translate biological information from tumour tissue biospecimens into knowledge for better diagnosis and treatment of paediatric cancer patients.
More than 38,000 samples from over 3,200 patients are stored at the Tumour Bank. They’ve been made available to research programs in Australia and around the world, effectively breaking down geographical barriers in the quest to cure childhood cancer.
Since its establishment in 1998, the Tumour Bank at CHW has received an ever-increasing number of requests to provide support services to research studies. Funding from The Kids’ Cancer Project has enabled the recruitment of specialist staff who have effectively accelerated the progress of over 100 projects globally. The work of the Tumour Bank means that leading international researchers are studying biospecimens donated by patients from across NSW and making big discoveries that have advanced our understanding of childhood cancer and its treatment for the better.