Monash University research into prostate cancer recognised with Young Investigator Award and funding

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.