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Encouraging Young Australian Scientists
The Jenna Goggins Memorial Scholarship
The ECRF set up the Jenna Goggins Fellowship in memory of Jenna, who lost her battle with adrenocortical carcinoma in 2012 at the tender age of 27. Jenna was the first cancer patient in the world to receive a combination of EDVs under compassionate use to treat her Stage IV adrenocortical carcinoma.
Eva St.Clair was chosen as the Jenna Goggins Memorial Scholarship recipient for 2017. Eva has completed a Masters of Science at UTS with Drs Eileen McGowan and Najah Nassif. Her project investigated targeted EDV™ Nanocells carrying small interfering RNA (siRNA) molecules to overcome drug resistance in Non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) by targeting genes that are overexpressed in these tumours.
Dr Ebru Boslem was the 2015 recipient of the Jenna Goggins Memorial Fellowship. Ebru developed an immuno-phenotyping system in order to recognise which types of immune cells are involved in attacking tumour cells and to monitor the patient immune response. This system is currently in use at EnGeneIC to measure the immunomodulatory effects of EDV™ treatment.
Jessica Kentwell was awarded the Jenna Goggins Memorial Honours Student Scholarship in 2013 and has completed her project on the interaction of targeted drug delivery vehicles with adrenal and breast cancer cells. The results of this project showed that the cells engulfed the drug delivery vehicle by forming large protrusions and ruffles on their surface.
The Michael Donato & Paul Said Memorial Scholarship
Michael Donato and Paul Said were the best of mates who succumbed to the insidious disease that cancer is, Michael with bowel cancer and Paul with a rare form of gall bladder cancer. Their families have been great supporters of the ECRF and honour the memory of their loved ones with this scholarship.
Avani Bhojwani received the Michael Donato & Paul Said Memorial Honours Student Scholarship in 2019 (UTS/EnGeneIC). Avani was able to generate and characterise a stable mouse hepatocellular carcinoma cell line that expresses an important targeting receptor on it’s cell suface called, EpCAM. She used the new cell line as a 3D model in the lab to study EDV™as a potential new treatment for patients with advanced hepatocellular carcinoma.
Gemma Stubbs received the Michael Donato & Paul Said Memorial Honours Student Scholarship. Gemma commenced her Honours project in 2017 (UTS/EnGeneIC). Her work focused on combinations of molecules that are able to turn off genes involved in cancer cell proliferation.
Dr Anthony Glover at the Kolling Institute of Medical Research was awarded the Michael Donato & Paul Said Memorial Scholarship in 2013. Dr Glover found that a specific micro-RNA (a cell messenger) which controls cancer cell growth is reduced in adrenal cancer cells. Increasing levels of this molecule reduced cancer cell growth in vitro and even reduced tumour growth in mice suffering from adrenal cancer.
The Ben Crisafulli Memorial Scholarship
Ben was diagnosed with B Cell Lymphoma and sadly passed away before he was able to enter EDV trials. His family honours his memory with this scholarship.
The Ben Crisafulli Memorial Scholarship was awarded to Dr Lauren Joo in 2019. Lauren’s project looked at Diffuse Large B Cell Lymphoma (DLBCL), an aggressive form of non-Hodgkin Lymphoma. Relapse/refractory disease is commonly seen in patients and conventional treatments provide minimal effect. The development of novel therapies is essential. Lauren investigated the anti-tumour effect of a combination of EDVs loaded with a super cytotoxic drug and EDVs loaded with an immune adjuvant.
The Bradman Davidson Memorial Scholarship
In memory of a great dog who lived a long and happy life after his brain cancer was successfully treated with EDVs.
Luke Armstrong was awarded the Bradman Davidson Memorial Scholarship in 2013 to study Circulating Tumour Cells (CTCs) in the blood samples of cancer patients. He also looked at changes in immune responses in non-small cell lung cancer in mouse models after treatment with targeted nanocells.The results of these studies will have important implications for patients with cancer because the immune system may influence the patient’s response to treatment.
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