A/Prof Theo Mantamadiotis awarded $120,000 to advance glioblastoma research
A/Prof Theo Mantamadiotis (Dept of Microbiology and Immunology) has received $120,000 in funding to advance research exploring a new therapeutic approach for glioblastoma.
Image: A/Prof Theo Mantamadiotis
Theo will lead a project investigating a novel combination of vaccine-delivered immunotherapy and drug therapy, exploring whether the approach could generate a long-term protective anti-tumour response in people with glioblastoma.
The funding provides an important opportunity to progress this research and further investigate new approaches to one of the most challenging forms of brain cancer.
Brain tumours are among the most immune-resistant and difficult to treat cancers. The Mark Hughes Foundation Centre funding paves the path toward translation of our mechanistic discovery of immune evasion in brain tumours by testing a novel combinatorial immunotherapy strategy, with the objective of restoring and sustaining effective anti‑tumour immunity.
The award forms part of an initiative between the Mark Hughes Foundation Centre for Brain Cancer Research and the National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) to support highly ranked research proposals that narrowly missed receiving NHMRC funding.
Six applications were identified through the process, with successful projects receiving $120,000 each to continue advancing their research.
Applications were also assessed by a lived-experience consumer panel. The panel considered factors including meaningful consumer involvement, accessibility and the potential for the research to deliver benefits for people affected by brain cancer.
For Theo and his team, the funding provides an opportunity to continue building on the Department of Microbiology and Immunology’s research capability in brain cancer and immunology while progressing a potential new approach to glioblastoma treatment.
Congratulations to Theo and the team on this important recognition and the opportunity to progress this work.