Children’s Cancer Institute Australia
The Balnaves Foundation committed to a three year investment of $500,000 to the Children’s Cancer Institute Australia for Medical Research (CCIA) to establish the Balnaves Foundation Young Researcher’s Fund to grow young CCIA researchers. Two grants of $50,000 each year for three years, with a further $50,000 available to existing grant recipients for a second year (subject to first year milestones being achieved), will be competitively awarded.
The Balnaves Foundation Young Researcher’s Fund has been established to support the development of original and innovative ideas in the area of childhood cancer research. This will build track records for up and coming researchers to attain peer review funding from national sources such as the National Health & Medical Research Council (NHMRC). The Balnaves Foundation Young Researchers Fund will contribute towards saving the lives of all children with cancer and eliminating their suffering by developing the researchers of tomorrow, today.
Dr Joshua McCarroll and Dr Marcia Munoz are the most recent recipients of the Young Researcher’s Fund.
Dr Joshua McCarroll’s research focuses on brain cancer, the most common cause of cancer death in children. Dr McCarroll will use a relatively new technique, RNA interference, which can switch off genes by using nano-sized particles to carry genetic ‘silencers’. Dr McCarroll believes he may have a way of making it easier for the gene silencers to work, by attaching molecules which allow the brain cancer cells to be marked out more clearly.
Dr Marcia Munoz also received funding towards her research focusing on neuroblastoma, which accounts for 15 per cent of all cancer related deaths in children. The long-term survival of children with high-risk neuroblastoma is less than 40 per cent, so there is an urgent need for the development of better treatment therapies.
In Australia 600 children every year are diagnosed with cancer. This week, three Australian children will die. With the help of medical research survival rates have risen from just two per cent in the 1950’s to between 70 and 75 percent today.
The Children’s Cancer Institute Australia is the only independent medical research institute in Australia devoted to research into the causes, prevention, better treatments and ultimately a cure for childhood cancer.
DR Joshua McCarroll, Professor Murray Norris, Hamish Balnaves, Dr Marcia Munoz, The Hon. Jodi McKay MP (Left to Right)
The Hon.Jodi McKay MP presenting DR Joshua McCarroll, recipient of the Balnaves Foundation Young Researcher's Fund
CCIA Executive Director, Professor Michelle Haber AM
For furthur information please visit the Children's Cancer Institute Australia Website