The Leukaemia Foundation and Haematology Society of Australia and New Zealand (HSANZ) have again partnered to award three of Australia's brightest blood cancer researchers and clinicians with PhD scholarships.
The 2024 recipients were announced last night at the annual Blood conference in Brisbane and include Dr Elizabeth Goodall, Dr Stephen Ma, and Dr Sean Harrop, whose respective research projects will aim to improve the lives and outcomes of Australians living with blood cancer.
Leukaemia Foundation Head of Research Bill Stavreski said that the Leukaemia Foundation HSANZ PhD Scholarships are a critical component of the Leukaemia Foundation's National Research Program, with the new scholars joining a prestigious list of previous recipients spanning seven years.
"The Leukaemia Foundation is thrilled to partner with HSANZ on these PhD scholarships which continue to mark one of our most important research announcements each year," said Mr Stavreski.
"We extend our congratulations to Dr Goodall, Dr Ma, and Dr Harrop who will each receive $150,000 to undertake some of this country's most innovative and cutting-edge blood cancer research projects as a result of the funding we're jointly able to provide."
According to the Leukaemia Foundation, funding local blood cancer research is a crucial to reducing the devastating burden of blood cancer in Australia with incidence set to double in the next ten years.
"Every day, 55 Australians will be newly diagnosed with blood cancer and a further 17 will sadly lose their life to the disease with blood cancer remaining one of the nation's deadliest cancers.
"Research projects like those of the PhD scholarship recipients are fundamental to improving the survival rates of Australians diagnosed with blood cancer and accelerating research to realise advancements in blood cancer treatment."
The ongoing partnership between the Leukaemia Foundation and HSANZ ensures that the research conducted is of a high quality and that Australia's most promising blood cancer researchers and clinicians have an opportunity to make impactful discoveries that transform the health and survival outcomes for blood cancer patients.
"Investment into blood cancer research is a key pillar of our work at the Leukaemia Foundation and to date we have funded over 61 million dollars of research," said Mr Stavreski.
"Notably, this latest round of PhD scholarships will mark one hundred scholarships funded by the Leukaemia Foundation in the past twenty years – something we are very proud of.
"By further partnering with HSANZ with since 2018, an organisation who shares our goals, the depth of research that we're able to fund has increased exponentially.
"If we are to have any hope of reducing blood cancer mortality, it's paramount we continue to invest in local blood cancer research projects and continue to be the biggest supporters of Australia's next generation of researchers and clinicians, so together we can find better treatments and one day a cure."
The PhD scholarship recipients research projects will assist in paving the way towards the Leukaemia Foundations goal of zero preventable lives lost to blood cancer by 2035, and additionally strongly align to HSANZ's purpose to lead, communicate, and support excellence in haematology through independent education, professional development, and advocacy.
Information on the Leukaemia Foundation HSANZ PhD Scholarship recipients and their respective research projects below:
Dr Elizabeth Goodall – Improving Patient-Reported Outcomes (PROs) in patients with lymphoma
Dr Elizabeth Goodall is a clinical haematologist and early career researcher with interest in haematological malignancies, most specifically the life-threatening blood cancer, lymphoma.
Lymphoma affects Australians of all ages, with treatment causing many patients distressing side effects including significant physical and mental health stress. Furthermore, modern lymphoma treatments are complicated and have many new side effects that doctors have not seen before.
Patients with lymphoma are often asked questions about how they are feeling, and if they are experiencing symptoms from their cancer or the treatment which can be recorded via structured questionnaires called Patient-Reported Outcome Measures (PROMs). This method has been used for decades to better understand how cancer and the associated treatments impact patients.
However, current PROMs have not been designed with the new side effects of lymphoma treatment in mind, and therefore do not capture all symptoms of newer therapies. Further concerning is that sometimes PROs are not collected from patients, or the data taken is not reported at all, creating difficulties in using patient feedback to guide treatment and further drug development.
Dr Goodall's research will see her examine the current gaps in PRO collection and report and identify ways to use PROMs more meaningfully in lymphoma care. It will also lead to a more uniform and useful PRO reporting guideline, or framework, which more accurately illustrates patient-reported symptoms during treatment.
Dr Stephen Ma – Developing a cancer vaccine against acute myeloid leukaemia
With dual haematology (RACP / RCPA) advanced training, Dr Stephen Ma has and worked at several Victorian tertiary centres including the Royal Melbourne Hospital / Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre, Austin Health Pathology, Monash Health, and Alfred Health.
Dr Ma's research into acute myeloid leukaemia (AML) will involve testing a new vaccine in preclinical trials before progressing to clinical trials, to make a positive impact in TP53-mutated AML.
AML is an aggressive blood cancer with poor survival outcomes, especially when mutation in a gene, TP53, is present. The TP53 mutation is common in older patients, and in patients who develop AML following prior chemo or radiotherapy and represents the greatest challenge and highest unmet clinical need in AML patients, with today's treatments being ineffective.
To make a positive impact on TP53-mutated AML, a radical new approach is desperately needed, with Dr Ma's research having the potential to be extended to a wide variety of other cancers.
By using cutting-edge molecular and genomic technologies, the research seeks to understand the origin story of TP53-mutated AML and explore ways to halt its development and progression, through building a cancer vaccine that harnesses the power of the immune system, like the COVID-19 vaccine technology, to target and eradicate the leukaemia cells.
Dr Sean Harrop – Understanding the response of targeted immunotherapies in Large B-cell lymphoma
Dr Sean Harrop is a dual-trained haematologist having completed his clinical and laboratory haematology training at the Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre (where he is currently undertaking a Fellowship in Aggressive Lymphoma) and the Royal Melbourne Hospital earlier this year.
With research interests in novel immunotherapies in lymphoma and the mechanisms that lead to treatment resistance, Dr Harrop's research will aim to dissect the T cell responses to T-Cell Engagers (TCEs) therapy and identify new immune targets for future combination therapies for Diffuse Large B-Cell lymphoma (DLBCL) patients.
DLBCL is an aggressive subtype of non-Hodgkin lymphoma (NHL) and around fifty percent of DLBCL patients with adverse prognostic features have a poor response to standard chemoimmunotherapy.
TCEs are an effective class of anti-cancer drugs for treating lymphoma and build a bridge between the immune systems T cells and cancer cells, effectively causing the T cells to recognise and kill the cancer cells.
T cells can be divided into CD8+ and CD4+. The CD8+ T cells act to kill cancer cells, whereas the CD4+ T cells support CD8+ T cells as well as influencing an immune response to cancer.
However, it's unclear how these CD4+ T cells contribute to killing DLBCL tumour cells after TCE treatment and if, in some circumstances, they have harmful effects leading to disease progression or relapse – something Dr Harrop hopes to determine through his research.
