Your Impact

Shining a light on research

Research offers hope, whether for a cure or for an improvement in quality of life. Lung cancer is Australia’s biggest cancer killer and has a devastating impact on the lives of thousands of Australians every year, yet it receives less than 5% of dedicated government cancer research funding.

Thanks to the money raised through the generosity of our community, we provide seed funds to early and mid-career researchers to support discoveries towards the diagnosis, prevention, treatment and a cure for lung cancer. Through the Shine a Light campaign we have funded some of the best and brightest researchers to gain a greater understanding of the disease and work towards a future free from lung cancer.

This year, Lung Foundation Australia will also be partnering with Cancer Australia to support the Priority Driven Collaborative Cancer Research Scheme.

Your support is making a difference

In Australia, more than 13,250 people will be diagnosed with lung cancer this year and the majority of these people, almost 85% will be diagnosed at a late stage. While these statistics are confronting, together we are making an undeniable impact on the future of lung cancer.

Particularly in recent years, advancements in treatments have seen an increase in survival rates and quality of life. Most significantly, in the last 20 years lung cancer mortality rates have decreased more than any other cancer. Now more than ever, we need to work together and build on the momentum we’ve created to drive real and lasting change. There is still more work ahead, and we can’t win this race without your ongoing support.

Your support enables cutting edge research which will pave the way towards a brighter future for Australians living with lung cancer.

Your donations, fundraising and advocacy efforts are vital to increasing investment into research and creating a brighter future for Australians living with lung cancer.  

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Current Research

Award Recipient Research Title Summary Co-funding Institute
2017 Shine a Light on Lung Cancer Grant in Aid: $10,000 over one year Dr Tan Nguyen Inhibition of RNAutophagy as a novel therapeutic strategy in lung cancer This Grant-in Aid builds on the research from my PhD which discovered that a protein called SIDT2 is important during viral infection in order for the body to initiate an antiviral response. We have now discovered that SIDT2 may play an important role in the development of cancers including lung cancer. We have found that genetic loss of SIDT2 leads to decreased tumour burden in pre-clinical models suggesting that inhibition of SIDT2 could represent a new therapeutic strategy for patients with lung cancer.
2018-2020 Shine a Light on Lung Cancer PhD Scholarship: $120,000 over three years Jennifer Lim Predicting platinum sensitivity in lung cancer The majority of patients with lung cancer will receive platinum-based chemotherapy during the course of their management however only half will see benefit. This project aims to test four immunohistochemical markers that may select for patients who are most likely to benefit from platinum chemotherapy. This will improve the response rates and reduce the number of people exposed to treatment who are unlikely to benefit. The Sydney Catalyst Translational Cancer Research Centre
2019-2021 Shine a Light on Lung Cancer PhD Scholarship: $120,000 over three years Dr Kanishka Rangamuwa Bronchoscopic ablation and ablative immunotherapy in Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer To confirm immunostimulatory effect of cryoablation and to identify component immune responses and to confirm feasibility of bronchoscopic BTVA for ablation of peripheral lung cancer and to confirm histological evidence of ablation using a tetrazolium based tissue viability stain. Melbourne Health & Royal Melbourne Hospital
2019-2020 Shine a Light on Lung Cancer Early Career Nurse Fellowship Vanessa Brunelli Expectations, Standards and Performance Framework to evidence the role and practices of the Australian Specialist Lung Cancer Nurse (SLCN) This study proposes the implementation and evaluation of an innovative Expectations, Standards and Performance Framework, to understand the SLCN role and core supportive care components of practice in the Australian lung cancer community. Queensland University of Technology
2019 Shine a Light on Lung Cancer Grant in Aid: $10,000 over one year Dr Surein Arulananda Targeting the apoptosis pathway in a patient derived xenograft mesothelioma model It builds on a strong body of in vitro data demonstrating significant efficacy of BH3-mimetics on Malignant Mesothelioma (MM) cell lines. Our preliminary data has already strongly implicated the two pro-survival proteins in MM, hence, it will be critical to rapidly translate these findings into animal models to provide preclinical evidence for initiation of clinical trials. If we can establish efficacy and safety in an in vivo PDX model which is thought to be the most reliable preclinical model at predicting drug responses, this data will help us complete our pre-clinical dataset with a view to providing a basis for Phase I/II clinical trial for MM patients.

Lung Cancer Research Funded By Lung Foundation Australia

Award Value and Partner Recipient Research Title
Ellen Yates Memorial Grant-in-Aid for Lung Cancer Research $20,000 over 1 year, funded by Yates family Dr Afaf Abed

Fiona Stanley Hospital

 Genomic HLA heterozygosity, T-cell receptor (TCR) – repertoire diversity and tumor PD-L1 expression as predictive biomarkers of response to immunotherapy in lung cancer patients
Lung Foundation Australia Deep Manchanda Lung Cancer Fellowship $320,000 over 2 years co-funded by Manchanda family (with matched funding provided by research institution) Dr Venessa Chin

Garvan Institute of Medical Research

 Utilising single cell sequencing to change the management of lung cancer