A new $5.1 million South Australian Cancer Genome Facility is to be established at SA Pathology with a $3.5 million grant from the Australian Cancer Research Foundation (ACRF), and a further grant of $1.05 million from the South Australian Government.

 

The new centre is the result of a successful joint bid by the Centre for Cancer Biology of SA Pathology and the University of Adelaide in a nation-wide competitive selection process to establish the Cancer Genome Facility.

 

Chief Executive of ACRF, David Brettell, said the Advisory Committee, chaired by Professor Ian Frazer who developed the cervical cancer vaccine, had been deeply impressed with the standard of the cancer research proposal from the Centre for Cancer Biology.

 

“The quality of cancer research at the Centre is outstanding and this award recognises the excellence of the Centre for Cancer Biology’s vision for the future.”

 

Professor Angel Lopez, Director of the Centre for Cancer Biology, who led the successful bid, said specialists would now have the ability to identify genetic abnormalities in many cancers and examine genetic changes in cancer patients before and after treatment.

 

The South Australian Cancer Genome Facility will be set up in the SA Pathology building in Frome Road, which currently houses the IMVS cafeteria. Refurbishment work will begin this year after completion of an alternative staff café and the Genome Facility will be operational in late 2011.