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Autumn Issue - April 2025
News and updates from the MHF Centre
We've hit the ground running in 2025 - kicking off the year by hosting the very successful 2025 International Brain Tumour Research Summit where researchers from across the nation came to Newcastle to share the latest research and to forge new collaboration opportunties. We've also announced our Innovation Grant Rounds and welcomed future research leaders whose PhDs have now been confirmed or submitted. Grab a cuppa and read all about it!
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Meet our MHF Innovation Grant Round Recipients
The MHF Innovation Grant Rounds proudly fund excellence in brain cancer research. We had 47 outstanding applications for our 2024 Innovation Grant Rounds and after an extensive review process, we're delighted to announce the winners.
Six innovative projects from across the nation will receive funding in this round, exploring topics from a Trojan horse method to deliver cancer-killing drugs directly to hard-to-treat brain tumours, to repurposing existing drugs to combat treatment resistance in brain cancer, to the establishment of the first site in a national brain cancer care trial.
These funds will make an impact nationwide for people with brain cancer. Read more by visiting our newsroom.
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2025 Research Summit A Real Winner!
The MHF Centre was delighted to host the 2025 International Brain Tumour Research Summit and Workshop here in Newcastle in February. This collaborative effort was driven by a desire to bring together the leaders in brain cancer research together in the same room.
Over two days, some of the nation’s leading brain cancer researchers shared their research, and made deeper connections and collaborations with others.
Sixteen speakers from across the nation (and two from Duke University in the US) delved into some of the complex challenges facing brain cancer researchers and patients today. From exploring the target and understanding the nuances of brain cancer, to treatment and progression and therapeutics and treatment plan options - there were opportunies to learn, to reach out and ultimately to come together and work on options for better brain cancer outcomes.
The workshop on day two gave everyone the opportunity to dive deeper into what’s next for brain cancer research? How can we bring together our collective skills and expertise to deliver better solutions for people living with brain cancer and their loved ones?
The event couldn't have happened without collabarations with our sponsors: Isabella & Marcus Foundation, Children's Cancer Foundation, Robert Connor Dawes Foundation, The Brain Cancer Centre Founded by Carrie's Beanies 4 Brain Cancer and Cure Brain Cancer Foundation.
Excitingly, the conversations didn’t end as everyone went back to their respective home towns. We all have the appetite to make things happen in this space. Stay tuned.
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Cancer Council Funding Awarded
Professor Hubert Hondermarck has been awarded Cancer Council funding of $439,533 for a translational research project to develop a targeted therapy to treat glioblastoma (GBM) – a deadly form of brain cancer with no effective treatments.
This project will open the way for a new and much-needed therapeutic option for improving treatment in glioblastoma patients and is the pivotal first step before clinical trials can commence.
Read more by clicking this link...
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Federal Funding for Brain Cancer Research
A University of Newcastle research team has been awarded a $2 million National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) grant to help progress its mission to develop breakthrough treatments for the most lethal form of childhood cancer, diffuse midline glioma (DMG).
Congratulations to Professor Matt Dun, Stream Leader Paediatric Brain Cancer, and his team.
Read more by clicking this event...
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Tour de Cure Funding Success
We’re delighted that three researchers in the Mark Hughes Foundation Centre for Brain Cancer Research have been awarded funding in the 2024/2025 Tour de Cure grant round.
Three innovative projects have received funding to progress research into brain cancer treatments – improving the quality of people’s lives.
Professor Hubert Hondermarck, from the Translational Neuroscience Stream has been awarded $100,000 Research Matching Grant with matched funding from the MHF Centre.
PhD Cancer Institute NSW through the NSW Regional Cancer Research Network Scholar James Brown-Miles awarded $10,000 PhD Support Scholarship.
Willgoose PhD Scholar Christian Behler awarded $10,000 PhD Support Scholarship.
Read more by clicking this link..
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Last Spots Available: Statistics Workshop
Please join us for this exclusive FREE course, run over two days, which outlines the basics of statistics for researchers.
In this course you will learn more about:
- How to best describe the trends, the spread and variability in your data (descriptive statistics).
- How best to plot and display different kinds of data like categorical data or continuous data.
- Formal statistical tests (inferential tests) of your data, so you can make scientific judgements on how reliable the patterns and trends in your data are.
- Learn about how one or more sources of data are related with each other and how these data can be used to try and predict outcomes (linear regression).
Day one Tuesday 6 May: Descriptive Statistics, plotting and basic inferential tests
Day two Tuesday 13 May: More advanced inferential tests and linear regression
When: 9am to 2pm, Tuesday 6th and Tuesday 13th May, 2025
Where: Haggarty Space, HMRI and a limited number of online spots via Zoom.
Register now by clicking this link
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Meet Sandy
We’d like to welcome Sandy Nixon to the MHF Centre for Brain Cancer Research. Sandy’s been a part of the team for the past eight years as a Brain Cancer Care Coordinator and she’ll now be coming into our office one day a week as the Translational Research Coordinator, to bridge the gap between research and brain cancer patients and their families.
"I am looking forward to supporting the vital work our researchers are undertaking in finding a cure for brain cancer," Sandy says. "Seeing first-hand the devastation this disease causes to patients and their families, the MHF Centre for Brain Cancer Research is providing hope to those who need it most. It is a privilege to be part of this incredible team."
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New Collaboration for Clinical Trials
We have joined forces with five other leading philanthropic organisations to form the TarGet Collaborative to fund an innovative, international clinical trial for children and young adults diagnosed with high-grade gliomas.
The TarGet trial, led by ANZCHOG, leverages precision medicine to deliver treatments tailored to each patient’s unique tumour genetics, offering hope for improved outcomes, in a field where current treatments often fall short.
Together with the Robert Connor Dawes Foundation, Children’s Cancer Foundation, My Room Children’s Cancer Charity, The Kids’ Cancer Project, and the Cure Starts Now this funding initiative commits up to $1,925,000 over seven years for this cutting-edge trial.
We are proud to be part of this exciting collaboration, bringing together likeminded organisations, committed to accelerating brain cancer research and providing treatment for kids and young adults across Australia and New Zealand.
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New Beanies Coming Soon
We couldn't do what we do without the support of the MHF Beanie for Brain Cancer and our communities who show their support through buying a beanie. The 2025 Beanie reveal is happening on May 14, and the new range goes on-sale May 28.
Keep an eye out for the new designs and buy your beanie to help us beat brain cancer.
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Beanie Event at the Bar on the Hill
Save the Date
On Monday 16 June we'll be hitting up the Bar on the Hill for Beanie launch on Campus. We'll have Beanies for sale, food specials and you can meet the team from the MHF Centre for Brain Cancer Research and the Mark Hughes Foundation.
Let's raise some funds and warm those heads with a beanie!
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PhD submitted!
Congratulations to Amiee Dowdell who has now submitted her PhD. Amiee’s PhD research, funded by the Mark Hughes Foundation through a Rob Jones Memorial PhD Scholarship,
delves into Glioblastoma multiforme (GBM), a devastating and lethal brain cancer.
Her work, “Targeting the nerve-cancer cell crosstalk in glioblastoma”, supervised by Professor Hubert Hondermarck, focuses on understanding the role of neurotrophic factors and their receptors in cancers.
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Simin Zheng confirmed
We're thrilled to share that PhD Student Simin Zheng passed her confirmation in February.
Simin’s project will explore repurposing existing drugs in the fight against Glioblastoma (GBM). Her work will investigate whether existing FDA-approved drugs can be used in combination with radiotherapy to overcome treatment resistance in GBM by making the tumour cells more sensitive to treatment by radiotherapy and/or temozolomide chemotherapy the current primary therapies for GBM treatment.
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Christian Behler confirmed
In very exciting news Christian Behler, recipient of the MHF Centre for Brain Cancer Research’s Garry Willgoose PhD Scholarship who had his PhD confirmed in December.
Christian’s work will use computational modelling and data analysis in the use of MR (magnetic resonance) to explore the temperature of brain tumours, with the ultimate aim of expanding our knowledge of brain cancers to deliver better treatment outcomes.
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Keen to collaborate?
So are we! If you've got an idea that you'd like to share, or would like to connect with our team please get in touch. We'd love to hear from you.
Email us
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