As large parts of Australia brace themselves for a Christmas heatwave, medical scientists are warning some people have a much higher than average chance of developing a deadly melanoma skin cancer as a result of sun exposure, genes or both.<\/p>\n
With an estimated 12,000 people diagnosed with melanoma in 2012, cutting edge genetic research is giving hope\u00a0to those who develop the disease or have a high genetic risk of developing it.<\/p>\n
Thanks to a $5 million dollar grant from the Australian Cancer Research Foundation (ACRF), the Westmead\u00a0Millennium Institute (WMI) in Sydney will soon open its new state-of-the-art melanoma research laboratories.<\/p>\n
The laboratories will be used to study the genetics and genomics of melanomas and will help researchers to better\u00a0understand all the different mutations that exist in melanoma.<\/p>\n
The leader of the melanoma research group at the WMI, Professor Graham Mann said genetic research is\u00a0\u201cchanging the whole landscape of melanoma.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThanks to the generosity of ACRF and its supporters, the new melanoma laboratories at WMI will further\u00a0strengthen research into this most deadly form of skin cancer.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
Professor Mann said the research is resulting in clinical trials of new drugs that target particular mutations.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe are coming to grips with the genes that drive melanoma behaviour and the difference between the melanomas\u00a0that are aggressive and dangerous, and those which are easier to treat.<\/p>\n
\u201cSome key chinks have been found in melanoma\u2019s armour and clinical trials have started delivering the first\u00a0effective drugs against it by targeting those weak points.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cFor the first time, we are able to effectively treat people with advanced melanoma and extend their survival,\u201d he\u00a0said.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
\u201cThis is a huge new area – possibly the beginning of the end for melanoma – but without facilities and funding\u00a0partners such as ACRF none of this would be possible.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Australian Cancer Research Foundation is one of the largest private funders of high-impact cancer research in\u00a0the country.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe only fund world-leaders in cancer research,\u201d said Chairman of the ACRF, Mr Tom Dery.
\n\u201cThe research being undertaken at WMI is breaking new ground in this most important, very Australian, type of\u00a0cancer.\u201d<\/p>\nA key focus for the team at the WMI is to understand why new melanoma treatments stop working.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat we have learnt is that melanoma is a highly diverse disease with many mutations. No one treatment will\u00a0work for every patient,\u201d Professor Mann said.<\/p>\n
\u201cHow melanoma tumours overcome their sensitivity to new drug treatments and how we can block that process is\u00a0clearly the direction of the whole melanoma research field now.<\/p>\n
\u201cAt the WMI and in our program more broadly we are right at the tip of that research.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe are trying to leverage everything we know about melanoma\u2019s biology and the genomics of melanoma and turn\u00a0that into large-scale new treatments.”<\/p>\n
The ACRF-funded melanoma laboratories will commence operations next year when the WMI completes its new\u00a0medical research facilities located at the Westmead campus.<\/p>\n
The new melanoma laboratories will support a collaborative program of international melanoma researchers,\u00a0including teams across the University of Sydney, the Melanoma Institute Australia, Macquarie University,\u00a0University of Newcastle and Kolling Institute.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
As large parts of Australia brace themselves for a Christmas heatwave, medical scientists are warning some people have a much higher than average chance of developing a deadly melanoma skin cancer as a result of sun exposure, genes or both. With an estimated 12,000 people diagnosed with melanoma in 2012, cutting edge genetic research is […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":2446,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"default","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"default","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"set","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}}},"categories":[19],"class_list":["post-2495","news","type-news","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-cat-news"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wimr.org.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/2495","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wimr.org.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wimr.org.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/news"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wimr.org.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2446"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wimr.org.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2495"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wimr.org.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2495"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}