News
SNOG Annual Trivia Fundraising Evening
Jun 20, 2017
The Board of the Sydney Neuro-Oncology Group would like to thank everyone for their amazing support of our organisation and brain cancer research. The evening was an outstanding success. With all the generous donations and ticket sales we raised $32,000 for our research and patient and carer support.
Brain cancer is the leading cause of cancer death in people under the age of 39; and accounts for more than a third of cancer deaths in children aged under 10years. Currently there are no known measures to prevent this disease. Effective treatment options for brain cancer patients are limited, tumours are developing resistance to standard therapies, and they have a highly invasive nature. Patients with the most common form of primary brain cancer have a very poor prognosis with average survival of 14 months.
Despite these statistics brain cancer is one of the most under-studied of all cancers and receives very little research funding. SNOG research relies on continued donations and fundraising. These funds are used to provide salaries for our Post-Doctoral Research Scientists and PhD students working in the lab. Donations are also used for the purchase of much needed lab equipment, as well as directly funding brain tumour research projects being undertaken in the lab. The cost of consumables is high and a large percentage of funds raised go towards the purchase of these products.
In collaboration with the Bill Walsh Translational Cancer Research Lab, our pre-clinical research team have one major goal, to improve treatments and patient outcomes for those suffering from brain cancer. Under this major goal, we have 3 research themes:
- Studying the molecular changes associated with tumour recurrence and progression in both IDH-mutated gliomas and high grade glioma
- Identifying molecular biomarkers associated with co-morbidities in glioma patients
- Identify new treatments for glioma patients
Two of the projects currently being undertaken are
- Dr Amanda Hudson is studying the interactions of brain cancer cells with the inflammatory (immune and blood coagulation) system to improve brain cancer treatment response, and alleviate treatment-induced symptoms.
- Our PhD student Angela Cho is determining whether a simple but highly sensitive blood test can detect early stage regrowth of brain tumours. The treatment options for patients diagnosed with brain cancer are very limited and invariably result in only temporary control of tumour growth. Earlier detection of tumour recurrence will enable earlier cessation of treatments that are no longer effective and an earlier start on a different 2nd line treatment for improved patient management. The earlier that recurrence can be detected, the sooner treatment can be changed, and the better will be the outcome for the patient.
As part of our research and tumour collection we have also been able to collaborate with international studies and have recently been a part of the publication of the journal article ‘Divergent clonal selection dominates medulloblastoma at recurrence’ in Nature.
SNOG also supports the salary of a Neuro-Oncology Nurse Care Coordinator; this position provides continued support of patients and their families. This is not a Government funded position and is an invaluable resource to SNOG and the community.
The Sydney Neuro-Oncology Group is a not for profit research organisation. Our research is funded by generous donations from the public. Without your support we would not be able to continue this vital work. Please be assured that 100% of the money that is donated to SNOG and that has been raised at this event is used for brain tumour research and patient support only. To make a donation please visit our website www.snog.org.au