Late last year Professor Louis Chesler, assumed the position of Executive Director Children’s Cancer Institute, following in the footsteps of the much lauded Professor Michelle Haber AM who was instrumental in the establishment of CCI. He brings extensive experience to the role, having spent the past 17 years leading the Paediatric Oncology Experimental Medicine Centre at the Institute of Cancer Research in London. His work as a clinician researcher – working both as a paediatric oncologist and a laboratory researcher put him in an excellent position to continue the game-changing work of Professor Haber and all those at CCI.
A new facility in the form of the Minderoo Children’s Comprehensive Cancer Centre (MCCCC), represents another first for CCI, placing it now right beside the Kid’s Cancer Centre at Sydney Children’s Hospital, Randwick, with whom CCI has collaborated so closely for the past four decades.
While not all of CCI’s developments are so visible, its many milestones and achievements are no less significant. As an example, a new tool developed by researchers allows for 3D bioprinted tumour models to rapidly identify the most effective treatments for each child with a solid tumour. In a project led by Professor Maria Kavallaris AM, this new approach allows researchers to produce specific cancers quickly in the lab, allowing them to test drugs for their suitability and reliability.
“The technology we’ve developed is a major advance because it allows us to rapidly grow tumours – including cancers that have been very difficult to grow in the lab in the past – that maintain the features of the original sample, meaning that they are truly representative of the patient’s tumour. This allows us to test for drug sensitivities not only quickly, but with confidence that the results are relevant,” said Professor Kavallaris.