$1m NRF Brain Tumour Research Chair Established at Uni SA

These funds will help UniSA’s leading brain tumour researcher, Professor Stuart Pitson, further his research into glioblastoma, a highly malignant and the most commonly diagnosed brain tumour in adults and medulloblastoma in children.

The research team will work towards developing new drugs in the fight against lethal brain tumours. Glioblastoma is one of the most aggressive forms of brain cancer and is especially resistant to treatment. This cancer affects people of all ages and has an extremely low survival rate – with a median survival time from diagnosis of approximately 15 months – it is a devastating disease.

Prof Pitson and his team have identified the defect in the glioblastoma cells that appears to cause the cancerous tumour to grow rapidly and become resistant to chemotherapy.

“This single defect, involving hyper-activation of the SK2 protein, is an ideal target for new therapies for glioblastoma. We have developed inhibitor drugs to the SK2 protein which are showing great promise in the laboratory and pre-clinical models. The continued and generous support from NRF will allow my team to enhance our promising research and bring us closer to clinical application. It is essential that we are doing all that we can, and as quickly as we possibly can, to find more effective treatments for glioblastoma so we can increase patient prognosis,” Prof Stuart Pitson.

Click here to donate to NRF Brain Tumour Research Chair