Prof Michael Parker receives funding to advance research on breast cancer treatment

Biochemistry and Pharmacology professor has secured BioCurate’s Proof of Concept funding to advance a research collaboration with Professor Yeesim Khew-Goodall on targeted treatments for breast cancer.

Professor Parker is Director of the University’s Bio21 Institute, NHMRC Leadership Fellow at the Department of Biochemistry and Pharmacology and Head of Structural Biology at St. Vincent’s Institute of Medical Research.

The $134,000 grant will generate key data needed to accelerate research into improved treatments for triple-negative breast cancers (TNBC) that are resistant to current therapies.

“This funding will help support an important scientific step in developing new targeted treatments against TNBC that are failing to respond to traditional therapies such as chemotherapy,” said Professor Parker.

“Working in collaboration with Professor Yeesim Khew-Goodall (Centre for Cancer Biology, Adelaide), and BioCurate, this experimental research will investigate the development of small-molecule inhibitors against a novel target discovered by Khew-Goodall, which will hopefully lead to therapeutics for this type of cancer.”

BioCurate’s CEO, Dr Damien Bates, explained that the Proof of Concept fund provides a new pathway for early stage research to potentially progress into BioCurate’s portfolio.

“This helps to promote further investment in developing biomedical treatments and providing a vital link between academia and industry,” said Dr Bates.

“After a rigorous reviewal process, we’re thrilled to grant Proof of Concept funding to advance this early-stage research. We believe this project has potential to drive the development of new treatments for these aggressive, pervasive, and typically poor-prognosis cancers.”

A joint venture by the University of Melbourne and Monash University, and supported by the Victorian Government, BioCurate’s goal is to be a global leader in the translation of medical research into human therapeutics.

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