Olivia Newton-John Cancer Research Institute in Heidelberg, Victoria, Australia | Medical research centre

Olivia Newton-John Cancer Research Institute

Locality: Heidelberg, Victoria, Australia

Phone: +61 3 9496 5726

Address: 145 Studley Road 3084 Heidelberg, VIC, Australia

Website: http://www.onjcri.org.au

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• Medical and health
• Non-profit organisation
• Medical research centre

25.01.2022 Happy world lab day !! Thanks to all our researchers for producing some quality work while working in our labs .

25.01.2022 On behalf of everyone at ONJCRI, we wish our Founding Champion Dame Olivia Newton-John DBE, AC the happiest of birthdays. Each year you achieve so much and we look forward to continuing to work together in the coming year to provide real hope, through our research, for people across the globe who are impacted by cancer. #cancerresearch #outsmartcancer #strongertogether #answertocancer #cancer #cancertreatment

23.01.2022 While 2020 is shaping up to be a year to remember, we are taking a moment to celebrate some of our 2019 achievements with the release of our 2019 Annual Report. As a team, we are incredibly proud of all that we have accomplished as we stand together - focused on outsmarting cancer. We also gratefully acknowledge our supporters, partners and advocates who share our passion for creating real change for people impacted by cancer. Download the Report here: https://tinyurl.com/y9p...pmnrt #CancerResearch #StrongerTogether #Cancer #OutsmartCancer

22.01.2022 On the first day of #NationalVolunteerWeek, we celebrate the incredible commitment of our 31 volunteers who generously share their time and skills with us at ONJCRI. Sophia (pictured) speaks about her experience as one of our volunteer consumer advocates: "Early last year I was fortunate to meet Dr Normand Pouliot at an Institute event. He talked to me about his area of research: triple negative breast cancer. This happened to be the cancer I was diagnosed with in 2016. In ...talking to Normand, I realised I could help by adding my voice, as a consumer, to his important research. I believe it is vitally important to support cancer research - this is how we get incredible breakthroughs and new discoveries in cancer treatments. Volunteering as a Consumer Advocate in cancer research is exciting and rewarding and it means a lot to me that that I can make a valuable contribution." To all of our volunteers, please know how much we appreciate and respect every one of you for your dedication and commitment to ONJCRI. Thank you! #NVW2020 #VolunteerWeek #ConsumerAdvocate #Volunteer #CancerResearch #BreastCancer #StrongerTogether

21.01.2022 Our recent publication produced by the tumour immunology lab titled : Ropporin-1 and 1B Are Widely Expressed in Human Melanoma and Evoke Strong Humoral Immune Responses. Congrats to the team for this publication and our talented post doctoral research fellow Jessica Duarte Jessica Duarte.

18.01.2022 October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month. As we reflect on the unexpected events of 2020 that have forced us to make drastic, but hopefully temporary changes in lifestyle, it is a good time to reflect on the remarkable progress made over the past 30 years in the treatment of #BreastCancer, thanks to #MedicalResearch. In our next edition of INSIDER Prof Robin Anderson, Head of our Metastasis Research Laboratory highlights the factors that have helped to improve the five-year survival rate in Australia. Based on data from 2012 to 2016, the 5-year survival rate is now 91% for women and 85% for men. Find out more about the other factors that have contributed to these rate increases, as well as the areas of focus for our breast cancer researchers: https://www.onjcri.org.au//insider-reflections-during-bre/

16.01.2022 This exciting research means that we have moved a step closer to finding new melanoma treatments, says Dr Andreas Behren, Head of our Tumour Immunology Laboratory. New research published today in the Cancer Immunology Research journal, has found promising new targets on cancer cells that allows harnessing of the body’s own immune system to detect and kill tumour cells. This is done through the immune system’s recognition of small tumour specific protein fragments (peptides)... that decorate the surface of the tumour cells. The study, led by ONJCRI and Monash Biomedicine Discovery Institute, has successfully identified thousands of these peptides, including so called spliced peptides that are derived from different tumour proteins and fused together. The study demonstrates that several of these are uniquely presented on melanoma tumours and can be recognised by the immune system. Andreas says: Finding that we can successfully identify spliced melanoma peptides that are immunogenic across patients is very exciting. We now have a much better idea of how tumour cells look to the immune system and we can use these findings to develop new strategies to alert the immune system of cancer patients to recognise the tumour cells. The results presented in our study allow for direct translation into clinical trials and we are looking forward to seeing the results. Find out more about this research: https://www.onjcri.org.au//discovering-new-bait-for-the-i/

15.01.2022 An important update on the 2020 Wellness Walk and Research Run and a supporting message from our Founding Champion Dame Olivia Newton-John DBE, AC. Thank you for your tremendous support of this event and everything that we do at #ONJCRI and the Olivia Newton-John Cancer Wellness & Research Centre.

13.01.2022 I know that there are so many children out there aged between 5 and 12 who fear science. MEET SHALINI... Shalini Guleria is a PhD candidate at ONJCRI, while also pursuing ways to bring the magic of science to young children.... At the ONJCRI, Shalini’s research is focused on understanding the role of adipose tissue, or fat, in mammary gland development and also in breast cancer progression. Shalini is also the founder of a social enterprise called Science Box, which aims to empower children to be involved in science. In recognition of her outstanding achievements, Shalini was recently named one of YWCA of Aotearoa New Zealand Y25: 25 women, 25 years and under, doing incredible things. Congratulations Shalini, on this well deserved recognition. Read more about this story at https://tinyurl.com/y9fk4rsp

13.01.2022 Congratulations Olivia Newton-John This is an exciting new step in your tireless commitment to joining advocacy and action to change the story of cancer for all that are impacted. We look forward to continuing to work together to outsmart cancer.

12.01.2022 INSIDER is our new series that aims to highlight exciting developments from the world of cancer research and clinical trials. These posts are written by our research leaders and the opinions expressed in these posts are those of the contributing author. Our Director, Prof Matthias Ernst, highlights the findings from a new study published in the journal Nature that uses the 2020 Nobel Prize awarded genome editing technique CRISPR, to systematically inactivate gene by gene in t...umour cells. The study identifies a much larger number of unsuspected genes than had been anticipated, which enable cancer cells to either become better seen by the immune system or to evade being killed by the immune system altogether. Exploiting these findings will help to improve the effectiveness of immunotherapy drugs, and also help to understand why other tumours show poorer response to these treatments. Read Matthias’ thoughts on this study and its great potential for improving immunotherapy: https://www.onjcri.org.au//insider-using-crispr-to-inacti/

12.01.2022 We are proud to #WearWhite on 12 June to raise awareness of cancer immunotherapy research and stand with our friends at Cancer Research Institute who share our hope for A Future #Immune2Cancer. Find out more about our immunotherapy research: https://tinyurl.com/y655c3fr #CancerResearch #CIM20 #StrongerTogether

10.01.2022 Detecting metastasis in breast cancer is one of the main areas of research conducted at ONJCRI. This beautiful image of a lung is generated by using Zeiss inverted confocal 980 microscope. The colourful patterns in the image represent cancer cells with fluorescent tags that have metastasised to the lungs. By using this technique we can evaluate the heterogeneity of cancer cells when they spread to distant organs Thanks to our very talented Post Doc fellow Dr. Jean Berthelet for producing this work

09.01.2022 ONJCRI researcher Dr Bhupinder Pal and collaborators from WEHI published a gene expression atlas of > 340,000 human breast tissue cells. The study published in EMBO J provides a highresolution map of cell diversity in the normal, pre-cancerous and cancerous human breast. Read the full research paper: https://www.embopress.org/doi/full/10.15252/embj.2020107333

09.01.2022 For people like Anna, who are living with rare upper gastrointestinal, neuroendocrine or gynaecological cancers, the results from a phase II #clinicaltrial led by #ONJCRI, as the La Trobe University School of Cancer Medicine, are proving incredibly exciting. In a paper released in JAMA Oncology which focuses on trial participants with advanced biliary tract cancers, the trial data shows that using the drugs Ipilimumab and Nivolumab as a combination immunotherapy for rare can...cers could have significant global treatment implications. Because globally, 20% of all cancer diagnoses, are for rare cancers. And the tragic reality is that patients with #rarecancer currently have very limited access to treatment options and as a result, have significantly reduced overall survival rate compared to patients with more common cancers. We gratefully acknowledge that this trial has only been possible because of the generosity of the patients who have been involved, grant support from Bristol Myers Squibb, support from our project partners Rare Cancers Australia, the Medical Research Future Fund and our incredible ONJCRI donors. Anna says that While my doctors are calling it a miracle, I feel incredibly grateful to ONJCRI and everyone involved in this trial. I am here today because of the lifechanging work that you do. Find out more - http://www.onjcri.org.au//rare-cancers-clinical-trial-fin/

07.01.2022 Meet Riley, one of our PhD students, who gives you a brief insight into a day in the life of a student at the Institute. While this was filmed pre-COVID19, we hope it can give you a sense of the types of activities you could get involved in. Riley is part of our Cancer and Inflammation Laboratory and in his own words he says, My PhD aims to discover more effective ways of treating stomach and colon cancers by streamlining the identification of novel inhibitors against a can...cer promoting gene called Myc. So far, we have seen some very exciting and striking results". Don’t forget that applications for our 2021 student opportunities are closing soon. PhD applications close on 31 October and Honours applications close on 6 November. Find out more at: https://www.onjcri.org.au/study-with-us-in-2021/

07.01.2022 Understanding the genetic make-up of cells, through a process known as RNA-sequencing, is an incredibly important process. It allows researchers to better understand how cells work, grow and react with other cells. When analysing cancer cells, this research can help to identify where cancer starts, understand which treatments may be most effective for particular cells, or determining potential for cancer reoccurrence. ONJCRI researchers Prof Wei Shi and Dr Yang Liao have rec...ently published a paper in NAR Genomics and Bioinformatics Oxford Academic (Oxford University Press) that outlines a different way to analyse and map genes through RNA-sequencing that is faster AND offers similar or better results to more commonly used analysis methods. Wei says, Being able to conduct this analysis faster means that we also have access to results faster which is incredibly important when looking at scenarios for personalised medicine. Because doctors and their patients need to be able to access results as quickly as possible. Find out more about this research: https://www.onjcri.org.au//an-easier-way-to-analyse-genes/ #cancerresearch #research #RNAseq #BigData #personalisedmedicine #outsmartcancer

03.01.2022 Last week we hosted the School of Cancer Medicine 3 minute thesis (3MT) round hearing from 8 of our postgraduate and one of our undergraduate (Honours) students. The goal of this competition is for students to present their research in 3 minutes to a lay audience. We had an amazing bunch of students who did an incredible job at presenting their work and we are so proud of them for putting themselves out there. The winners were: ... First Place - Shalini Guleria ‘ The act of manipulation - Cancer vs Immune System’ Second Place - Parvitha Parathan ‘The guards of our second brain’ Third Place - Siddharth Menon ‘The (A,B and) C word: Unravelling brain cancer Shalini and Siddharth will be heading off to the college rounds in the coming months !!

03.01.2022 Are you looking for an Honours or PhD opportunity for 2021? We are looking for outstanding candidates to join our team. This is your opportunity to make a difference and help improve the lives of people impacted by cancer.... As the La Trobe University School of Cancer Medicine, we provide an environment where you can excel in cancer research. You will have the opportunity to work with renowned scientists and clinicians, access state of the art facilities, and play an important part in the discovery and development of breakthrough cancer treatments. Applications for our PhD programs close on 31 October and applications for our Honours programs close on 6 November. Find out more about these opportunities and how to apply at https://www.onjcri.org.au/study-with-us-in-2021/