Dr Edmond Kwan, A/Prof Arun Azad, Ms Heidi Fettke |
Outstanding research in prostate cancer
at the Monash Health Translation Precinct (MHTP) has been recognised with a
competitive research grant and a Young Investigator Award.
Monash Health Medical Oncologist Dr Edmond
Kwan, a PhD student in the Prostate Cancer Therapeutics Laboratory at the
School of Clinical Sciences at Monash Health (SCS), and fellow PhD student Ms
Heidi Fettke were recently awarded a $50,000 Below the Belt research grant from
the Australian and New Zealand
Urogenital and Prostate (ANZUP) Cancer Trials Group.
The grant will be used to support
their research into creating a circulating tumour DNA panel for men with advanced
prostate cancer.
Dr Kwan was further acknowledged at the ANZUP Annual Scientific
Meeting last month in Sydney, receiving the Young Investigator of the Year
Award. The award recognises an
outstanding early career researcher in prostate cancer clinical trials research,
as assessed by publications and presentations at scientific meetings relevant
to their area of research.
Dr Kwan’s PhD is exploring the significance of Androgen Receptor
Variants (ARVs) as blood-based biomarkers for patients with advanced prostate
cancer.
“Our aim is to better select treatments that result in improved
outcomes for patients with prostate cancer through improving our understanding
of the role of ARVs,” Dr Kwan said.
In a collaborative research project with Heidi Fettke, Dr Kwan is utilising circulating tumour DNA in the blood as a form of
'liquid biopsy' to investigate the tumour genetics of men with a form of
prostate cancer known as metastatic hormone-sensitive prostate cancer (HSPC).
Heidi said they hope to shed light on the somatic
mutations present in this previously understudied subset of men, in order to
improve our understanding of the disease, as well as patient outcomes.
“We hope to use our custom panel and optimised
protocols to interrogate the prostate cancer genome in HSPC patients in a more
sensitive and specific way than ever before,” Heidi said.
“Since our patient samples are connected with clinical outcome
data, our study puts us in a unique position to identify markers of treatment
resistance and response in order to improve future outcomes for our patients.”
Dr Kwan said this grant is the first piece of major external funding
he and Heidi have received, and marks a very exciting milestone, especially as
they are only at the beginning of the second year of their respective PhDs.
Both Dr Kwan and Heidi acknowledge the help and support of their
supervisors Associate Professor Arun Azad and Professor Melissa Southey, and
their respective labs.
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