Improving performance of cancer therapy

UQ researcher Dr Kris Thurecht is developing new molecules to potentially improve the performance of cancer therapy by delivering drugs directly to cancers.
Dr Thurecht was awarded a $90,000 UQ Foundation Research Excellence Award at a special ceremony at Customs House on Wednesday, September 22, as part of UQ’s annual Research Week.
The UQ Foundation Research Excellence Awards have been running for 12 years and are an initiative of UQ to recognise outstanding performance and leadership potential in early career researchers. This year’s awards total $910,000.
Dr Thurecht, a researcher at the Australian Institute for Bioengineering and Nanotechnology, says he believes that a radical and drastic change in the way cancer is detected and treated is required in order to decrease the number of deaths caused by cancer each year.
“With 43,000 Australians expected to die of cancer in 2010 and cancer accounting for $3.8 billion in direct health system costs, it is critical that we improve the efficacy of toxic payload delivery to cancer cells to fight this disease,” he said.
“My aim is to use polymer chemistry to develop biocompatible and targeted-delivery vehicles which will transfer potent therapies to very specific sites in the body.
“One of the most promising cancer therapies of the last decade is small interfering RNA (siRNA), which can switch off the genes associated with cancer.
“siRNA provides an exciting alternative to conventional chemotherapy however, there are currently a number of major hurdles associated with delivery of siRNA.
“By using hyperbranched polymers as a novel carrier molecule, I hope to overcome issues associated with siRNA stability and solubility in blood, and often poor uptake by cancer cells.
“The polymers will deliver the siRNA specifically to disease sites following intravenous injection, provide a protected environment for siRNA, and will be non-toxic and readily excreted from the body following delivery of the payload.
“At the same time, we have designed these polymers to be highly sensitive molecular imaging agents so we can monitor the progress of the delivery vehicle using magnetic resonance imaging (MRI).”
Dr Thurecht completed his PhD at UQ in 2005 and returned to Brisbane at the end of 2008 after a successful stint at the University of Nottingham in the United Kingdom.
His project will also build important links with Associate Professor Nigel McMillan at UQ’s Diamantina Institute for Cancer and Metabolic Medicine and Professor Peter Parsons and Dr Glen Boyle at the Queensland Institute for Medical Research. Media: Dr Kris Thurecht (ph 3346 3864) or Russell Griggs at the AIBN (ph 3346 3989).