Funding Injection for Prostate Cancer Research at the PA
The Queensland Government has announced a major award from the Smart Futures Fund to establish a collaborative international project that aims to find cures for prostate cancer and other fatal diseases.
Queensland Premier Anna Bligh announced the $1.53m Smart Futures Fund Drug Discovery Alliance during her Trade Mission to Canada last week. This Alliance is a key initiative under the recently signed broad-reaching Memorandum of Cooperation between Queensland and British Columbia.
The grant will support a new $6.2m Queensland-British Columbia Drug Discovery Alliance between the Australian Prostate Cancer Research Centre Queensland (APCRC QLD), Griffith University's Eskitis Institute, and two British Columbia research centres, the Centre for Drug Research and Development, and the Vancouver Prostate Centre.
The Alliance is a breakthrough project with the ultimate goal to discover and commercialise the next generation of drugs derived from natural products, which have been drawn mainly from Queensland's tropical regions.
APCRC QLD Director Colleen Nelson said this represented a tremendous opportunity to develop anti-cancer agents to prostate cancer targets that were previously thought to be "un-druggable".
This will be a win-win for Queensland and British Columbia as they combine their strengths through collaboration, and develop and deliver new therapies for men suffering from advanced prostate cancer, Professor Nelson said.
The APCRC QLD is based at the Princess Alexandra Hospital, and is hosted by Queensland University of Technology.
Professor Colleen Nelson and her team are recipients of PA Research Foundation Funding.
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