Boost for CAR T-cell research from US-AUS collaboration
13 June 2024
CAR T-cell therapy research at Peter Mac has received a further boost, thanks to new funding via an international collaboration.
The Snowdome Foundation and US-based The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society have announced the latest recipients of their prestigious Translational Research Program (TRP) funding, worth USD $747K (over AUD $1.1M).
The 2024 TRP grant goes to Associate Professor Paul Beavis, and co-investigators including Professor Simon Harrison, to advance a novel CAR T-cell therapy for myeloma.
“CAR T-cell therapy holds a key to better outcomes for patients with myeloma,” says Associate Professor Beavis, a Group Leader at Peter Mac.
“The funding received through this program will help us better understand how we can re-engineer these T-cells to enhance their metabolic fitness, persistence and therapeutic efficacy which could translate into improved care for patients.”
Professor Harrison, who is Director of the Centre of Excellence for Cellular Immunotherapy at Peter Mac, adds “this research could help unlock the curative potential of CAR T-cells for myeloma".
US-based Dr Evan Weber - from the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, and Abramson Cancer Center at the University of Pennsylvania - is a further co-investigator.
They will test whether making CAR T-cells over-express the FOXO1 protein improves their efficacy as a treatment for myeloma and other B-cell malignancies.
Read more about the potential of FOX01 and see more detail on the Snowdome Foundation’s website.