Austal

Edith Cowan University based melanoma researcher, Dr Aaron Beasley, has a very personal motivation for pursuing a career in medical research.

As a young man, Aaron’s father was diagnosed with late-stage melanoma and after dabbling in a range of non-medical careers, he decided to devote his professional life to improving outcomes for cancer patients.

Currently combination immunotherapy is the gold standard melanoma treatment for this cohort; however, in reality only 50% of patients will respond.

It’s critical to more accurately predict the non-responders so they can be moved into other more promising clinical trials to boost their chances of survival rates.

Dr Beasley’s research project is focused on using a blood-based liquid biopsy to determine if a person with late-stage melanoma is going to respond to immune checkpoint inhibitors.

Essentially, the research aims to get the right treatment to the right patient at the right time.

Finding a new treatment for an advanced, incurable type of prostate cancer is the focus of an exciting new research grant awarded through The Hospital Research Foundation Group. The cancer being targeted is called ‘metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer’ (mCRPC). The Hospital Research Foundation Group has awarded the grant to Dr Tom Ferguson to progress his “LuCape Trial” at Fiona Stanley Hospital.

Dr Fairchild’s research, which was funded by Telethon with additional funds from the Austal Staff lottery, examined the role of fitness in improving health outcomes for children who are overweight or obese. Unfortunately, the number of children who are overweight or obese continues to grow in Australia. These children risk getting heart disease and diabetes in their teens or as adults. This research project assessed those risk factors following a 16–week progressive exercise intervention and looked at the impact modifying diet and exercise had on those risk factors.