A research collaboration that is building one of the world’s most extensive tissue repositories for liver cancer has been awarded more than $7 million in new funding.

The Liver Cancer Collaborative (LCC), co-directed by Professor Nina Tirnitz-Parker, has been awarded $4 million from the Cancer Research Trust and $3.8 million in partner funding, extending the second phase of the research program “Defeating Primary Liver Cancer” for another four years.

LCC clinicians and scientists from Curtin and the Curtin Medical Research Institute, as well as the Harry Perkins Institute of Medical Research, The University of Western Australia, the East, North and South Metropolitan Health Services and PathWest are working together with the Perkins Cancer Biobank to collect samples of blood, healthy tissue and cancer tissue from hundreds of participants across their cancer journey.

Primary liver cancer is responsible for a third of cancer related deaths worldwide, behind only lung and stomach cancer. The average survival after diagnosis is just 12 months and patients often present at an advanced stage when treatment options are limited.

The next four years of the Defeating Primary Liver Cancer program will focus on novel Therapeutics, biomarkers, clinical translation and emerging technologies as its key research streams.

Congratulations to Professor Tirnitz-Parker, the LCC and everyone involved in this significant achievement.

A group photo of two women and two men.
L-R: Dr Louise Winteringham (LCC Program Manager), Professor Nina Tirnitz-Parker (Co-Director LCC), Clinical Associate Professor Michael Wallace (Clinical Lead) and Professor Peter Leedman (Co-Director LCC).