Peter Mac's Associate Professor Jane Oliaro and Professor Ricky Johnstone have been awarded funding for two different blood cancer research projects.

Associate Professor Oliaro will use a three year grant to make CAR T-cell treatment more effective for two blood cancers.

The grant is being supported by the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society, Snowdome Foundation and Leukaemia Foundation.

CAR T-cell treatment is a cellular therapy that uses genetically engineered T-cells (part of your immune response) to recognise and kill cancer.

"The treatment is very effective for a few blood cancers but unfortunately some people do not respond to the treatment, or respond initially only to relapse later," said Associate Professor Oliaro, Group Leader for the Centre of Cancer Immunotherapy, and Chief Scientist for the Centre of Excellence in Cellular Immunotherapy at Peter Mac.

"I will focus on improving CAR T-cell effectiveness by incorporating it with a small molecule drug that can directly kill the cancer cells and potentially boost the anti-cancer activity of the CAR T-cells."

Professor Oliaro and her team will leverage their expertise in basic and preclinical research to investigate the potential of this combination therapy to dramatically improve CAR T-cell therapy outcomes for people with lymphoma and myeloma.

Multiple myeloma is an incurable blood cancer where plasma cells crowd out the bone marrow. As the second most common form of blood cancer new ways of managing myeloma are desperately needed.

Professor Johnstone, Executive Director of Cancer Research, Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre will collaborate with two US institutions, Dana Faber Cancer Institute and Massachusetts General Hospital Cancer Center, to explore new ways to conquer multiple myeloma.

The three collaborating labs uncovered that myeloma cells depend on two proteins known as P300 and CBP to survive.

Through a range of independent experiments the groups concluded that myeloma cells could not function effectively if these two proteins were interfered with.

Professor Johnstone said: "The three year research grant provided by the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society will be invaluable in helping us understand more about these two proteins.

"We will use this knowledge to help identify new treatment options to effectively manage multiple myeloma."

Both research grants provide substantial funding over three years, enabling the researchers to focus and engage on these two important projects to hopefully provide better treatment options for blood cancer patients in the future.