Australian Cancer Research Foundation

Founded	1984
Founder	Sir Peter Abeles AC and Lady (Sonia) McMahon
Type	Non-profit organization
Location	Australia;
Area served	Australia
Key people	Tom Dery AO (Chairman) and Prof. Ian Brown PhD FTSE (Chief Executive)
Website	www.acrf.com.au

The Australian Cancer Research Foundation (ACRF) is an Australian not-for-profit organisation which funds research into the prevention, diagnosis and treatment of all types of cancer. It provides multimillion-dollar grants for high-end research equipment, technologies, and infrastructure development to support the work of Australian cancer scientists.^[1]

History and structure

Established in 1984 by businessman and philanthropist, the late Sir Peter Abeles AC.

Lady (Sonia) McMahon was also a founding Board member until her death in 2010.^[2]

A Board of Trustees, composed of prominent and influential Australian business people, administers the organisation. The current chairman is Mr Tom Dery AO, Worldwide Chairman of M&C Saatchi.

A Medical Research Advisory Committee (MRAC) assesses all grant applications and advises the ACRF Board of Trustees on which research institutes will have the highest impact in cancer prevention, diagnosis and/or treatment. Membership of the MRAC is authorised by the Department of Health and Ageing with each appointment being three years.^{[citation needed]} The current Chairman of the MRAC is Professor Ian Frazer, co-creator of the cervical cancer vaccine Gardasil.^[3]

Funding

The Foundation awards grants between $1.5 million and $10 million, based on scientific excellence. To date, $159.8 million has been awarded in 75 grants to 54 research institutes, universities and hospitals in every Australian state and the Australian Capital Territory, for research into all cancers. The ACRF is a privately funded charity—receives no government funding. Financial statements are publicly available on the Foundation's website.

Project funding approved

Year	Amount	State/ Territory	Institute/Hospital/Centre	Project
1985	$1,0000,000	NSW	Centre for Immunology, St Vincent's Hospital, Sydney	Immune system and cancer defence
1988	$610,000	VIC	Cancer Research Centre, St Vincent's Institute of Medical Research, Melbourne	Solid cancers and bone breakdown
1991	$1,080,000	VIC	Austin Research Institute, Melbourne	Immune system and cancer defence (breast, ovarian, pancreas, lung, and bowel cancers)
1994	$1,096,000	QLD	Centre for Molecular & Cellular Biology, Institute for Molecular Bioscience, University of Queensland, Brisbane	Skin, kidney and childhood cancers
1994	$1,000,000	SA	Hanson Centre, Royal Adelaide Hospital	Leukaemia and solid cancers
1997	$1,000,000	ACT	Medical Genome Centre, Australian National University, Canberra	Immune system, gene and cancer defence
1997	$1,002,000	NSW	Westmead Institute for Cancer Research, Westmead Millennium Institute for Medical Research, Sydney	Skin, breast and ovarian cancers and leukaemia
1998	$50,000	TAS	University of Tasmania, Hobart	Immune system and cancer defence
1999	$1,000,000	QLD	Centre for Immunology and Cancer Research, University of Queensland, Brisbane	Vaccine for cervical cancer
1999	$1,200,000	WA	Western Australian Institute for Medical Research, Royal Perth Hospital	Eight state-of-the-art research laboratories
2000	$1,300,000	VIC and QLD	Australian Genome Research Facility	Microarray
2001	$1,000,000	VIC	Walter and Eliza Hall Institute, Melbourne	3D Imaging of proteins
2001	$500,000	NSW	Children's Cancer Institute Australia, University of New South Wales, Sydney	Formation of new blood vessels
2002	$1,500,000	SA	University of Adelaide	Early diagnosis
2002	$1,350,000	QLD	Queensland Institute of Medical Research, Brisbane	Cellular imaging
2003	$1,200,000	QLD	Institute for Molecular Bioscience, Brisbane	Cellular imaging
	$1,100,000	NSW	Garvan Institute of Medical Research, Sydney	Molecular genetics
	$1,000,000	VIC	Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre, Melbourne	Cell Imaging program
2004	$1,000,000	VIC	Murdoch Children's Research Institute, Melbourne	New children's cancer research centre laboratories
	$1,130,000	ACT	John Curtin School of Medical Research, The Australian National University, Canberra	Biomolecular Resource Facility
	$900,000	VIC	St. Vincent's Institute of Medical Research, Melbourne	ACRF Rational Drug Discovery Facility
2005	$1,140,000	QLD	Queensland Brain Institute, University of Queensland, Brisbane	Integrated Brain Tumour Flow Cytometry Screening Facility
	$1,000,000	VIC	Royal Melbourne Hospital	Translational research laboratory interface (hematology and bone marrow research)
	$1,000,000	VIC	The Ludwig Institute for Cancer Research, Melbourne	Bioinfomatics and tissue banking
	$1,000,000	NSW	Westmead Institute for Cancer Research, Westmead Millennium Institute for Medical Research, Sydney	New wing increasing collaboration among researchers
	$1,000,000	SA	Flinders University/Flinders Medical Centre, Adelaide	Flinders Centre for Innovation in Cancer Prevention and Care laboratory
2006	$5,000,000	NSW	Centenary Institute for Cancer Research and Sydney Cancer Centre	ACRF Centre for Basic and Translational Cancer Research
	$1,200,000	NSW	Royal Prince Alfred Hospital, Sydney	Cell and Molecular Therapy Unit equipment and fit-out
	$1,100,000	TAS	Menzies Research Institute, Hobart	ACRF Tasmanian Inherited Cancer Centre
2007	$5,000,000	NSW	Centenary Institute for Cancer Research and Sydney Cancer Centre	ACRF Centre for Basic and Translational Cancer Research
	$3,200,000	QLD	The Diamantina Institute for Cancer, Immunology and Metabolic Medicine, Brisbane	ACRF Comprehensive Cancer Genomics Facility
	$3,100,000	NSW	Children's Cancer Institute Australia for Medical Research, Sydney	ACRF Drug Discovery Centre for Childhood Cancer
	$2,700,000	QLD	Queensland Institute for Medical Research, Brisbane	The ACRF Centre for Cancer Epigenetics
2008	$2,500,000	VIC	Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre, Melbourne	For new technologies to identify genes controlling cancer cell behaviour
	$2,500,000	QLD	Institute for Molecular Bioscience, University of Queensland, Brisbane	To decipher gene and protein interactions which affect the behaviour of cancer cells
	$2,500,000	NSW	The Garvan St Vincents Campus Cancer Centre, Sydney	To support the research components which will be part of a world-class comprehensive cancer centre
2009	$3,500,000	SA	Centre for Cancer Biology, South Australian Pathology and The University of Adelaide	To establish a new Cancer Genomics Facility^[4]
2009	$3,100,000	NSW	Children's Medical Research Institute, Sydney and University of Newcastle	For the world’s first Chemical Proteomics Centre for Kinomics^[5]
2010	$2,500,000	NSW	The Garvan St Vincent’s Campus Cancer Centre (Kinghorn Cancer Centre), Sydney	To extend the 2008 grant to support the research components which will be part of a world-class comprehensive cancer centre
	$2,400,000	WA	The Western Australian Institute for Medical Research, Perth	For the ACRF Cancer Imaging Facility to promote innovation in cancer research, and ensure a high quality imaging hub to facilitate world-class cancer discoveries with direct relevance to clinical outcomes
	$2,000,000	VIC	The Walter and Eliza Hall Institute, Melbourne	To expand their two new cancer divisions – the Stem Cells and Cancer Division and Chemical Biology Division
	$1,600,000	VIC	Monash Institute of Medical Research, Melbourne	For the ACRF Centre for Cancer Genomics to facilitate innovative and internationally competitive research that translates to significant outcomes in the prevention, diagnosis and treatment of cancer
2011	$5,000,000	NSW	Westmead Institute for Cancer Research, Westmead Millennium Institute for Medical Research, Sydney	For new ACRF Melanoma Research Laboratories which will house two internationally recognised melanoma research teams
	$2,000,000	VIC	Ludwig Institute for Cancer Research, Melbourne	To develop a new ACRF Centre for Translational Cancer Therapeutics and Imaging
	$2,000,000	VIC	St Vincent's Institute of Medical Research, Melbourne	To expand the existing ACRF Rational Drug Discovery Centre
2012	$3,500,000	VIC	Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre, Melbourne	For cancer cell isolation and profiling of rare tumour populations
	$2,000,000	QLD	Centre for Clinical Research, University of Queensland, Brisbane	Technologies for molecular genetics, including exact tumour localisation and analysis
	$2,000,000	QLD	Diamantina Institute, Brisbane	Seed-funding for the development of an individualised oncology care centre
2013	$2,600,000	QLD	QIMR Berghofer Medical Research Institute, Brisbane	Development of a cutting-edge Centre for Comprehensive Biomedical Imaging
	$2,000,000	NSW	Children's Medical Research Institute, Sydney	To establish a dedicated Telomere Analysis Centre
	$2,000,000	VIC	The Victorian Comprehensive Cancer Centre, Melbourne	To fit-out a specialised centre for translational research and personalised cancer medicine
	$1,800,000	SA	South Australian Health and Medical Research Institute, Adelaide	Seed-funding for a new ACRF Innovative Cancer Imaging and Therapeutics Facility
2014	$2,500,000	VIC	Walter and Eliza Hall Institute, Melbourne	For the development of the ACRF Breakthrough Technologies Laboratory to advance new treatments for many of Australia’s most common, and most deadly cancers
	$1,500,000	NSW	Children's Cancer Institute, Sydney	Development of a Precision Medicine Centre for children at high risk of treatment failure
	$2,500,000	QLD	Centre for Advanced Imaging, University of Queensland, Brisbane	To establish an imaging facility that enhances treatment options for companion animals with cancer, and humans.
	$2,500,000	NSW	Central Clinical School, University of Sydney, Sydney	Development of improved radiotherapy and imaging techniques for cancer patients.
2015	$1,000,000	QLD	University of Queensland, Brisbane	For discovery and development of innovative methods for the early detection of lung cancer to allow earlier intervention and improved treatment outcomes
	$2,000,000	VIC	The Australian Synchrotron, Victoria	For the technology to place Australia at the forefront of cancer drug discovery and development
	$2,000,000	SA	Centre for Cancer Biology, Adelaide	For technology to accelerate our understanding of the causes of cancer and translate these findings into improved outcomes for cancer patients
	$2,000,000	ACT	The John Curtin School of Medical Research, Acton, ANU	To explore existing collections of Australia’s native plants for new cancer treatments
	$10,000,000	NSW	Children's Medical Research Institute, Westmead	To establish the ACRF International Centre for the Proteome of Cancer (ProCanTM).This facility will provide a major step forward for cancer diagnosis and treatment of Australians. By analysing tens of thousands of samples of all types of cancers from all over the world, scientists in Australia will develop a library of information to advance scientific discovery and enhance clinical treatment worldwide
2016	$2,000,000	VIC	Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre, Melbourne	To learn more about the mutation, internal variation, location and the impact of time on the growth and treatment of tumours
	$2,500,000	NSW	Centenary Institute, Sydney	To determine the differences in nutrient metabolism by cancerous and normal cells to improve cancer treatments
	$2,300,000	QLD	Institute for Molecular Bioscience, Brisbane	To provide microscopes that can see cancer cell behaviour and their response to drugs in order to stop the spread of cancer
	$1,200,000	VIC	Monash University and Alfred Hospital, Melbourne	To develop a national program to improve patient outcomes for multiple myeloma and acute myeloid leukaemia
2017	$2,000,000	VIC	Olivia Newton-John Cancer Research Institute and La Trobe University, Melbourne	For new imaging technology which will help develop new therapies by examining tumours within the patient's body as well as individual cells in a tumour.
	$1,750,000	WA	Harry Perkins Institute of Medical Research, Perth	For equipment that will help build in-depth knowledge of all cell types that make up a tumour. This will provide new insights into how cancer cells evolve and interact with normal cells, leading to new treatments.
	$1,750,000	QLD	QIMR Berghofer Medical Research Institute, Brisbane	For the development of manufacturing and monitoring facilities that will support new immunotherapy clinical trials
	$2,000,000	NSW	South Western Sydney Local Health District, Sydney	For a new facility that supports research into improving long-term outcomes of cancer patients and survivors
2018	$9,900,000	QLD, NSW, VIC	The University of Queensland, University of Sydney and Monash University	To establish a diagnostic centre for the early detection of melanoma, with a roll out of fifteen total body imaging systems
	$2,000,000	VIC	Bio21 Molecular Science and Technology Institute	To develop cutting-edge drug discovery technology for cancers with no approved therapy available, or requiring improved treatment
	$2,500,000	SA	South Australian Health and Medical Research Institute	For technology to provide new approaches to interrogate cancer biology
	$2,000,000	QLD	Compounds Australia, Griffith University	To establish a transformative acoustic compound management compound with integrated software to enable Australian researchers access to the most advanced compound capability available
2019	$3,500,000	NSW	Children's Cancer Institute	To establish The ACRF Child Cancer Liquid Biopsy Program, which will use latest technologies to develop a suite of blood tests for childhood cancer patients aimed at improved diagnosis, earlier relapse detection, better monitoring of treatment response and enhanced delivery of the right treatment to the right child at the right time.
2019	$3,500,000	VIC	Walter and Eliza Hall Institute for Medical Research	To focus on the discovery of triggers that drive cancer development, how genetic diversity in cancers affects treatment efficacy, and develop better ways of personalising cancer therapies to conquer the biggest challenges in cancer today – predicting and improving patients’ treatment response and overcoming drug resistance.

References

^ "About ACRF". The Australian Cancer Research Foundation webpage. 12 April 2010. Archived from the original on 13 February 2010. Retrieved 12 April 2010.
^ "Lady Sonia McMahon dies in Sydney hospital". The Sydney Morning Herald. 3 April 2010. Archived from the original on 5 April 2010. Retrieved 3 April 2010.
^ "Ian Frazer". science.qld.gov.au. 9 February 2010. Archived from the original on 13 May 2011. Retrieved 25 May 2010.
^ "SA Pathology". 26 February 2009. Retrieved 12 April 2010.
^ "ACRF Centre for Kinomics (supported by the Ramaciotti Foundation) – A World First". The Children's Medical Research Institute. November 2009. Archived from the original on 29 January 2011. Retrieved 12 April 2010.