We are pleased to advise that the call for applications to the 2012 Cure Cancer Australia funding via the Priority-driven Collaborative Cancer Research Scheme (PdCCRS) is now open. Successful grants will commence in 2013. For further information click here

Cure Cancer Australia’s single focus is to find a cure for cancer.

 Since 1967 Cure Cancer Australia has developed a reputation for excellence, integrity and the encouragement of innovation in cancer research. 

By providing early career funding to young and innovative researchers across all types of cancer, Cure Cancer Australia has kept great young minds in cancer research and has nurtured the Australian cancer research community.

Cure Cancer Australia is proud to have funded many of today’s leading Australian researchers in the early stages of their careers, at a time when they were bursting with ideas and desperate for their first funding grant to get them started.

Professor Robyn Ward who is now internationally recognized for her breakthrough work in identifying factors that determine people at risk of developing bowel cancer received her first funding grant from Cure Cancer Australia as a young researcher.

Professor Andrew Biankin, who is currently the head of Pancreatic Cancer Research at the Garvan Institute of Medical Research, received the Young Researcher of the Year Award from Cure Cancer in 2005.  Professor Biankin has gone on to achieve incredible outcomes for pancreatic cancer, and is now making a substantial contribution to the International Cancer Genome Consortium. Formed in 2008, the consortium brings together leading cancer researchers from around the world, working together to catalogue the genetic changes of the 50 most common cancers - 500 genomes from each cancer type – and make the results freely available on the internet.  Professor Biankin credits the early  funding he received from Cure Cancer Australia to allowing him to really move forward with his research.

Dr Catherine Suter, currently Head of Epigenetics at the Victor Chang Cardiac Research Institute received her first Cure Cancer grant in 2005.  Dr Suter now leads a team working in epigenetic gene regulation.  In Catherine’s words, “You need a grant to get a grant.”  The early funding Catherine received from Cure Cancer allowed her to really springboard and go on to achieve wonderful outcomes for cancer patients worldwide.  In collaboration with several clinical teams across Australia, Dr Suter and her team are now investigating if there are there some individuals who carry an epimutation in a small proportion of their cells, and how this relates to cancer predisposition. 

Without the early support from Cure Cancer, these incredible researchers may not be where they are today, and may not have achieved the amazing outcomes that they have in improving treatments and bringing us closer to a cure.

Thanks to the support of our donors, stakeholders and volunteers, these researchers are working to support our vision of “A world without cancer, nothing less.”

Hear from one of our funded researchers supported by Tour de Cure about her update. Tracy Putockzi.