Your generosity is helping to discover cures for the incurable
3 min read 10 January 2019
Prostate cancer takes the lives of almost 300 Australian men every month and is the second leading cause of male cancer deaths in Australia today. With support from donors like you, Peter Mac researchers Professor Gail Risbridger and Associate Professor Declan Murphy are working together to change these statistics.
Gail leads a bold new global research collaboration that aims to find new treatments for aggressive prostate cancers and discover how to cure forms of the disease currently thought to be incurable.
She and her team are in the process of establishing one of the world's largest collections of living prostate cancer tissue. As Director of Robotic Surgery at Peter Mac, Declan conducts robot-assisted surgery using a machine that was funded by donations such as yours, and helps Gail by collecting post-surgery cancer tissue donated by patients. Gail explains;
We couldn't do this without Declan or the patients who donate their tissue for research
The key to making research discoveries that can be translated into new treatments for patients, is that clinical staff work side by side with the researchers.
Today, Gail is using this donated tissue to grow tumours in the laboratory to rapidly test new drugs for prostate cancer. Her team are making breakthroughs and already has pre-clinical evidence of a new drug suitable for a group of patients who have failed all other existing treatments.
This is an extraordinary spark of hope for these patients, and people like you have helped make it possible.
Thank you for supporting this work and for helping bring hope to all the fathers, brothers and Australian men facing prostate cancer today and in the future.
Support from generous donors like you allows researchers at Peter Mac to explore these bold new ideas and take great leaps forward in our knowledge of how best to fight cancer.
A/Prof Declan Murphy
