Gibbs Lab

28/11/2025

Lots of hard work and perseverance by the on display at .

Just a small snapshot of some of the amazing work:

🔎 Dr Margaret Lee presenting on the current status of ctDNA in Australia and what we have learned from the DYNAMIC studies.

🔎 Showcasing analysis of the PURPLE registry data, exploring the differences outcomes post-treatment and the variation in patient care across hospitals.

🔎 Effective utilisation of the TRACC registry data to demonstrate the importance of re-introduction of oxalipatin in unresected mCRC populations or retreatment with an EGFRi.

🔎 Dr Wei Hong highlighting the insights we can gather from different data analyses of registry data.

🔎The value and importance of personalised care plans to ensure patients receive information in an accessible and understandable format.

20/11/2025

Celebrating the public launch of the PURPLE Translational Platform this World Pancreatic Cancer Day! 💜

The PURPLE Translational Platform is a central hub designed to connect patients with the right clinical trials, providing easy access to information on studies actively recruiting around Australia.

The platform integrates the large-scale PURPLE pancreatic cancer clinical registry, which to date has tracked more than 6000 patients across 57 global cancer centres. The PURPLE Registry is led by Dr Belinda Lee and both the progress of the registry, and this momentous launch, represents many years of hard work by the team at . 🌟

Check out the PURPLE Translation Platform here: www.purplepancreas.org.au

More about the platform here: https://www.wehi.edu.au/news/new-platform-to-change-the-story-of-pancreatic-cancer-research/

A game-changing digital platform is bringing together patients, clinicians and researchers to accelerate breakthroughs in pancreatic cancer treatment.

29/10/2025

Prof. Peter Gibbs has been elected Fellow of The Australian Academy of Health and Medical Sciences (AAHMS) for his contributions to cancer research.

Each year, the AAHMS Fellowship elects the best and brightest minds in Australia to join the Academy in recognition of their outstanding achievement and ongoing contribution in the field of medical and health sciences.

“... This is an incredible honour for me personally. However, this Fellowship is also recognition of the collective hard work and perseverance of my laboratory team.” - Prof. Peter Gibbs

This Fellowship is a testament to Prof. Gibbs’ 20+ years of experience in clinical research and translational medicine and his contributions to the development of personalised treatments for patients with bowel cancer.

The full story and interview with Prof. Gibbs can be found here:

WEHI’s Professor Peter Gibbs has been elected Fellow of The Australian Academy of Health and Medical Sciences (AAHMS) for his pioneering contributions to cancer research.

28/10/2025

This presentation at represents the culmination of many years of incredible work by Prof. Jeanne Tie and the team. 🔥

Recently published in Nature Medicine, the DYNAMIC-III study is a multi-centre, randomised, phase II/III trial. Patients with stage III colon cancer underwent ctDNA testing post-surgery and were assigned to ctDNA-guided or standard management treatment.

🔍 ctDNA is a validated prognostic classifier and can serve as a sensitive, non-invasive biomarker to guide adjuvant chemotherapy.

🔍 Read more about the study here: https://bioengineer.org/detecting-colon-cancer-dna-in-blood-could-inform-chemotherapy-choices-study-finds/

Or check out the full Nature publication: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41591-025-04030-w

23/09/2025

Amazing work by Dr Lucy Gately from at . Her presentation on the EMBRACE program won Most Outstanding Oral Presentation 🌟

The EMBRACE program is working to enhance multi-site brain cancer research, utilising the BRAIN Registry and results from the BioBrain project.

🔎 The BioBrain project is a robust biobank of brain cancer tissue, used to explore the use and creation of organoid models, help guide treatment selection and potentially identify novel treatments for patients.

🔎 The BRAIN Registry is exploring how brain cancer is diagnosed and treatment across Australia, from initial presentation to outcomes and survival rates.

A fabulous example by Dr Gately of how the research can be utilised to answer novel research questions. 🌟

22/08/2025

Congratulations to Dr Grace Gard of the for winning the best oral prize at MOGA ASM 2025 for her presentation on understanding motivations of patient participation in research or in considering unfunded medication. 🌟

This interesting research came out of the CO-DESIGN study, a survey investigating consumer perspectives and involvement in clinical research. The study captured a cross-section of community views on the consumer experience and we learned that:

🔎 The potential benefit for future patients is a major driver to trial participation.

🔎 Reimbursement alone may not drive broader representation and participation in trials. Further research is needed to better understand how funding plays into participation.

07/08/2025

🔍Check out some of the amazing research that has been done utilising the ARORA Registry data!

Presented at Breast Cancer Trials 2025 ASM last week, this poster reflects one of the registries in action. The ARORA Registry commenced in 2020 and tracks HR+, HER2+ advanced breast cancer patients across Australia from presentation to treatment and outcomes.

Utilising ARORA data, this new research has been able to validate clinical trial data and will help guide treatment decisions in routine care. Fabulous to see this great use of registries.👏

25/06/2025

is thrilled that Dr Belinda Lee has been invited as a speaker at the international conference "Poor Prognosis Cancers: From Resignation to Revolution", organized by Institut national du cancer (INCa) and NCC Japan, as part of the initiative.

📍 Location: Urban Station, 189 rue de Bercy 75012 Paris, France
📅 Date: June 26th, 2025

This important event will lay the foundation for a global initiative to tackle the most complex and urgent challenges in oncology — with a focus on cancers with the poorest prognosis.

By bringing together leading experts, researchers, clinicians, policymakers, and healthcare professionals, it aims to accelerate progress through collaboration, innovation, and the sharing of knowledge.

💡 Explore innovative solutions for improving patient outcomes.
🔍 Share groundbreaking research and treatment strategies.
🤝 Foster international collaboration to accelerate progress.

Can't wait to see you there!

🔗 More info and registration:

This conference will lay the foundation for a global initiative aimed at addressing the complex challenges associated with research on cancers with poor prognosis. It will bring together leading experts, researchers, policymakers, and healthcare professionals to discuss and develop strategies for im...

06/06/2025

The AVATAR trial is a great example of the collaborative work the is known for! Now published 🔥

“This is an endorsement of the capacity of registry trials – an agile and economic option for trials that otherwise wouldn’t get done and can deliver impressive results of interest” - Dr Steven David, co-principal investigator

🌟 A collaboration led by Dr Steven David at PMCC and Dr Michelle White at Monash, with the Radiation Oncology Departments and project managed by the team at .

🌟This recent publication builds on the abstract presented at ASTRO 2023 and sets the stage for AVATAR-2.

Read more about the study here:
https://ascopubs.org/doi/10.1200/OA-25-0003

02/05/2025

Check out Prof. Peter Gibbs talking about some of the amazing work going on in the right now! 🌟

Tumour organoids make it possible to test a range of chemotherapy drugs and can help identify optimal drug combinations, improving personalised patient treatment.

The trial aims to tailor treatment to patients and improve broader outcomes for multiple cancers within our...

12/12/2024

Fabulous work by the at ESMO Asia 2024 last weekend! 🌟

🔍 Lab head Prof. Peter Gibbs co-chaired a session on shaping the future of metastatic colorectal cancer. His own presentation explored novel strategies he has being investigating for the treatment and management of mCRC.

🔍 Dr Vanessa Wong presented a poster on the work she is doing with Dr Colin Williams. Utilising the TRACC registry, they are investigating whether mCRC patients under 35y demonstrate distinct characteristics and outcomes relative to older patients.

28/11/2024

research was well represented at AGITG ASM 2024 last week. 🌟

Dr Shehara Mendis received the Early Career Researcher Award, recognising her outstanding work in gastrointestinal cancer! She also gave an update on BIOMARCER-2, a lower GI clinical trial which opened at multiple sites earlier this year and aims to demonstrate the progression free survival benefit in those patients receiving anti-EGFR based treatment in the 2nd or later line setting.

Prof. Jeanne Tie provided a key update on the early-stage lower GI trial, DYNAMIC – Re**al, looking at management of BRAF V600E mutant colorectal cancer through the Australian lens.

10 posters presented Gibbs Lab clinical research studies including:

🔍 Utilising the TRACC registry, Dr Grace Kim is investigating how targeted testing of mismatch repair and mutations in colorectal patients could be cost-effective for identifying appropriate future therapies.

🔍Dr Vanessa Wong presented a poster on the progress of TRACC-SELECT, a mutation-focused metastatic colorectal registry and the plans for use in translational research and expansion into Asia Pacific.

🔍 Dr Belinda Lee is exploring the ways real-world registry data collected in the PURPLE registry can inform targeted therapies and understanding of mutation frequency.

Congratulations everyone on their hard work and engaging presentations! 🌟