Peter MacCallum Cancer Foundation

23/09/2025

September is Childhood Cancer Awareness Month. Childhood cancer is a devastating diagnosis that no child or family should have to face. That is why Associate Professor Paul Ekert is working hard to develop new cancer therapies for children with cancer.

A/Prof Ekert is working in collaboration with the Children’s Cancer Institute Sydney and the ZERO Childhood Cancer program to explore genomic approaches to childhood cancers. With this approach, A/Prof Ekert and his collaborators hope to develop personalised treatments for children with high-risk cancers, including acute lymphoblastic leukaemia, which is the most common childhood cancer.

Potential new treatment options being explored include immunotherapies and targeted therapies, which have made inroads in adult cancers but have not yet made any significant impact for most childhood cancers.

To read more about A/Prof Ekert’s work, read here: https://foundation.petermac.org/about-us/news/details/exploring-new-possibilities-for-children-with-cancer

21/09/2025

Dr Julia Dubowitz, anaesthetist and researcher at Peter Mac, is driving innovative research thanks to the support provided by her Discovery Partner Fellowship.

Julia’s work focuses on the unique needs of cancer patients facing surgical procedures and discovering what accessible interventions in the perioperative period can do to can improve patient recovery and long-term cancer outcomes.

With thanks to our Discovery Partners and their generous monthly donations that help fund fellowships like Julia’s. Their support provides early and mid-career researchers the dedicated time to pursue bold ideas and make meaningful advances in cancer care.

Read more about Julia’s work and how your support is making a difference here: https://foundation.petermac.org/about-us/news/details/cancer-surgery-julia-dubowitz.

17/09/2025

🤔 How can you kill blood cancer cells?

That’s the bold question being explored by Dr Alexander Lewis and his team. And what they’ve discovered is extraordinary.

In a breakthrough study on leukaemia, they’ve found it’s possible to kill the cancer cells by blocking their production of a molecule called haem.

When haem is cut off, the cancer cells die.

💬 “They die in this unique and new type of cell death. And that’s what makes this so exciting,” explains Dr Lewis.

The breakthrough offers more than just the hope of a new treatment.

💬 “It could help us develop entirely new ways to treat cancer,” says Dr Lewis.

The next critical step will be developing a drug that can be tested in clinical trials. That takes time, expertise, funding – and the support of wonderfully kind people like you.

🔬 With your help, cancer research can move faster. “Your gift will help save lives,” says Dr Lewis.

Learn more: foundation.petermac.org/drlewis

08/09/2025

Last weekend, Brighton Beach Marathon made its debut 🌊🏃

✨ 390 incredible fundraisers joined
✨ Close to $50,000 was raised for life-saving cancer research

Beyond the numbers, it was the stories of our champions that made the day unforgettable. At the Peter Mac Honour Board, our runners dedicated their efforts to loved ones, — sharing messages of love, courage, and hope that brought hugs, tears, and inspiration.

📸 Swipe to re-live the highlights. A huge day of community, strength, and impact! Thank YOU!

06/09/2025

Nearly twenty years ago, the Peter Mac Foundation’s CEO Craig Connelly was preparing to say goodbye.

Diagnosed with an aggressive form of blood cancer, he was unsure if he would survive. His children were bracing for life without their dad.

But then, hope. Thanks to an infusion of white blood cells from his wife, made possible by cancer research, Craig was given a second chance. That treatment didn’t just save his life. It gave him something more profound: time.

Time to watch his children grow.
Time to hold his first grandchild, a beautiful granddaughter.
And time to welcome his second grandson.

Craig’s personal experience with the power of cancer research is what drives him in his role at the Foundation

“I believed I may not live to see another birthday,” Craig reflects. “Now, I have the privilege of watching my children become parents. This is the gift that cancer research has given me - additional life, love, and time with those who matter most.”

This Father’s Day, we celebrate the dads who are still here thanks to cancer research, and honour those we carry in our hearts.

By supporting the Peter Mac Foundation, you give more dads more time. And that’s a gift no one forgets.

Donate today and help us keep families together, longer.

02/09/2025

This week is Include a Charity Week, which is a great opportunity to consider leaving a gift in your Will to Peter Mac.

We also take this week as a chance to celebrate the amazing people who have chosen to leave a gift in their Will to Peter Mac, our wonderful ‘Friends for Life’.

We asked a few of our Friends for Life what they would say to someone considering including a gift to Peter Mac in their Will, enjoy reading through some of their responses.

Writing your Will is one of the most important things you can do for yourself and the people you care about. It’s your way of creating your legacy and support causes like life-saving cancer research.

That’s why Peter Mac has partnered with our trusted partner, Safewill, to make writing your Will safe, easy and FREE for you. Head to https://safewill.com/petermac to write your Will for FREE from 1 – 15 September.

01/09/2025

Liver cancer is the fourth deadliest cancer worldwide, with just under one in five people surviving five years after diagnosis. 2024 Foundation Grant recipient Dr Athena Ong is working hard to address this worrying statistic.

Previous research published by Dr Ong’s team reveals a novel link between the protein NRF2 and how some metabolic processes are regulated and reprogrammed to support cancer cells to grow and survive. Additionally, the team also recently discovered that NRF2 influences a cell’s ability to change its identity and function to become a new cell type, a process which has been shown to initiate cancer development.

Dr Ong’s project, supported by her Foundation Grant, proposes that NRF2-driven metabolic changes induce this change in cell identity. To investigate this, Dr Ong’s team will screen for metabolic genes that play a role in regulating how NRF2 drives a cell’s ability to change into cancer. The results will be used to identify which genes could be targeted to help develop new therapies to treat patients with NRF2-driven liver cancer.

Peter Mac researchers like Dr Ong are working hard to improve outcomes for all people with cancer, including those with low survival cancers such as liver cancer. Thank you for supporting this lifesaving work.

Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre is internationally recognised for helping to lead the search for cancer cures, and is Australia's only public hospital solely dedicated to caring for people affected by cancer. We support this vital work by funding new research opportunities, and providing researchers w...

22/08/2025

🚨 Registrations for Unite to Fight Cancer 2025 are NOW OPEN! 🚨

From 16–25 October, walk, ride and fundraise your way to power life-saving cancer research at Peter Mac. 💪

But first, let’s look at what YOU achieved in 2024:

🚶‍♀️🚴 Covered 51,816km
🙌 United with 988 participants
💰 Raised $406,145
❤️ Supported 700+ Peter Mac researchers across 38 labs

That’s real impact. That’s our community. That’s what it means to Unite to Fight Cancer.

Want to keep the impact going? Join us this October: https://unitetofightcancer.org

19/08/2025

Get creative for cancer research!

This year, we’re inviting the Peter Mac community to get creative for cancer research and design a new greeting card that celebrates the holiday season.

Our previous artwork for the Foundation's annual greeting card was kindly submitted by eight-year-old Ashley, whose parents works in research at Peter Mac.

This is a special opportunity to see your artwork brought to life, all while playing a big role in helping Peter Mac express thanks and gratitude to our wonderful supporters.

The competition is open to everyone who has a personal connection to Peter Mac including patients, loved ones, supporters, and of course staff.

To find out more and submit your entry visit https://foundation.petermac.org/greeting-card-25

18/08/2025

🏃‍♀️ At 25, Taran was fit, healthy, and studying to become a nurse. She had a close circle of friends, loved being outdoors, and she absolutely loved to run.

When she woke up one day with her skin feeling a bit itchier than usual, she barely gave it a second thought. But the itch didn’t just go away. It spread, across her entire body. Her lymph nodes swelled. Her energy vanished. And she was left weak, aching, and exhausted.

It was T-cell lymphoma – a rare, aggressive form of blood cancer.

Taran endured two long years of gruelling treatments, but her cancer did not respond. Lesions were tearing her skin open. Every movement was agony.

At just 26 years old, she was admitted into palliative care.

💬 “I thought I was going to die,” she says.

Just when all hope seemed lost, Taran accepted a place in a ground-breaking clinical trial at Peter Mac. It involved a new type of immunotherapy, T-cell redirecting therapy. It teaches the immune system to seek out and destroy cancer cells, with different and milder side effects.

And something incredible happened. The itch faded. The lesions disappeared. Bit by bit, her energy returned. Taran began to feel like herself again.

🔬 Your donation to Peter Mac today will support researchers who are working tirelessly to unlock new treatments for all cancers. For the people who are running out of options. For people like Taran.

https://support.petermac.org/Taran

11/08/2025

Associate Professor Amit Khot is a haematologist and clinician at Peter Mac. He’s focused on improving treatment for aggressive blood cancers such as T-cell lymphoma.

These cancers are rare, complex and difficult to manage with relatively few treatment options.

One of the therapies he’s trialling is T-cell redirecting therapy, which teaches the immune system to seek out and destroy cancer cells, with a different and milder side effect profile.

💬 “It works by activating the immune system, directing immune cells to the cancer, so they can recognise and destroy the disease on their own,” A/Prof Khot says.

These approaches have shown good results in other cancers, and early trials in T-cell lymphoma are showing real promise for patients who have not responded to other treatments.

💬 “We are seeing people who were once told their cancer was incurable… now in remission,” he says.

Associate Professor Khot’s findings are breaking new ground. They will spare so many patients from gruelling pain and no hope of recovery.

🔬 When you support cancer research at Peter Mac, you have the power to save countless lives.

https://support.petermac.org/ProfKhot

06/08/2025

Please join us in celebrating our incredible Champions who ran, walked, and fundraised with determination and compassion at Run Melbourne 2025.

Together, you’ve helped raise an amazing $170,000 to support life-saving cancer research at Peter Mac.

Truly an amazing effort from our fundraisers — and we’d also like to extend our gratitude to our Run Melbourne event partner, Oolio, for their generous Match Day gift. 💜

From your first training steps to that glorious finish line — you made every kilometre count. 💪

➡️ Swipe to see the highlights from the event day.