Research
“There are many great medical research institutes that study fundamental questions about cancer, and excellent hospitals that study fundamental questions about cancer and provide wonderful care. But very few medical research institutes manage to achieve the critical mix where scientists, doctors, patients and families collaborate to make an impact on cancer care. This ability to partner and collaborate is what motivates us and drives the research excellence to which everyone at ONJCRI is committed.”
Professor Matthias Ernst, ONJCRI Director
Cancer and Inflammation Program
The Cancer and Inflammation Program focuses on understanding the molecular mechanisms found in normal cells become coerced and corrupted by cancer cells to support the growth and spread of cancer cells. Identifying and understanding the molecular mechanisms that underpin these processes provides novel therapeutic targets for the treatment of cancer.
This program is lead by Professor Matthias Ernst
Find out more about the Laboratory and Groups within the Cancer and Inflamation Program:
- Cancer and Inflammation Laboratory lead by Professor Matthias Ernst
- Tumour Microenvironment and Cancer Signaling Group lead by Dr Michael Buchert
- Cancer Therapeutics Development Group lead by Dr Ashwini Chand
Cancer Immunobiology Program
The Cancer Immunobiology Program aims to better understand the interactions that occur between cancers and the immune system to harness the power of immune cells to seek out and kill cancer cells. This research also identifies biomarkers and develops assays for their detection in patients to better tailor personalized cancer medicine to individual patients.
This program is lead by Professor Jonathan Cebon
Find out more about the Laboratory and Groups within the Cancer Immunobiology Program:
- Tumour Immunology Laboratory lead by Dr Andreas Behren
- Mucosal Immunity and Cancer Laboratory lead by Dr Lisa Mielke
Gastrointestinal Cancers
The Gastrointestinal Cancer Program investigates the molecular mechanisms that disturb cellular differentiation, proliferation and survival and cause or perpetuate cancer. The research focuses on transcriptional and epigenetic mechanisms, and also aims to discover biomarkers to better tailor therapies to cancer patients.
This program is lead by Professor John Mariadason
Find out more about the Laboratories within the Gastrointestinal Cancers Program:
- Oncogenic Transcription Laboratory lead by Professor John Mariadason
- Cell Death and Survival Laboratory lead by Associate Professor Doug Fairlie
Translational Breast Cancer Program
The Translational Breast Cancer Program seeks to identify the cancer cells that have the ability to spread to other tissues, a process called metastasis. By recognising these cells, and the genes that they express, new therapies that target these cells and their interactions with normal cells in their microenvironment can be developed to help patients with advanced breast cancer.
This program is lead by Professor Robin Anderson
Find out more about the Laboratories within the Translational Breast Cancer Program:
- Metastasis Research Laboratory lead by Professor Robin Anderson
- Matrix Microenvironment and Metastasis Laboratory lead by Dr Normand Pouliot
- Tumour Progression and Heterogeneity Laboratory lead by Dr Delphine Merino
- Cancer Single Cell Genomics Laboratory lead by Dr Bhupinder Pal
Tumour Targeting Program
The Tumour Targeting Program aims to identify novel targets for cancer drug development and that are suited for antibody-based therapy and visualisation of cancer cells. Through sophisticated protein engineering and molecular imaging techniques, novel diagnostic and therapeutic approaches to a range of cancers are being developed, and extended into clinical studies in cancer patients.
This program is lead by Professor Andrew Scott
Find out more about the Laboratories within the Tumour Targeting Program:
- Tumour Targeting Laboratory lead by Professor Andrew Scott
- Receptor Biology Laboratory lead by Associate Professor Peter Janes
Centre for Research Excellence in Brain Cancer
The Centre for Research Excellence in Brain Cancer was established through the Victorian Cancer Agency to develop innovative approaches to diagnosing and treating brain cancers, and to take new discoveries into clinical trials in brain cancer patients.
The Centre is co-lead by Professor Andrew Scott and Professor Hui Gan
Bioinformatics and Cancer Genomics Laboratory
The Bioinformatics and Cancer Genomics (BCG) Laboratory supports the bioinformatics needs at the Olivia Newton-John Cancer Research Institute. The BCG Laboratory is internationally recognised as a leading group in developing state-of-the-art bioinformatics tools for analysing genomics data including next-generation and third-generation sequencing data.
The laboratory is led by Professor Wei Shi.