Research Projects
A novel liquid biopsy for monitoring and chemoresistance detection in brain cancer
Discovery Theme: Clinical Trials
Glioma has severely lagged behind other cancers with availability of targeted drug therapies, due to its marked genomic heterogeneity and the difficulty of obtaining comprehensive tissue biopsy for genomic analysis and research. “Liquid biopsy” of plasma circulating tumour DNA (ctDNA) is a non-invasive way to obtain holistic genetic information about cancer progression without requiring surgery, however, ctDNA has proven difficult to sensitively detect in plasma from glioma patients, until now.
This will directly translate into a clinical trial that will ultimately result in a hugely positive impact on the quality of life of brain cancer patients, reducing necessity for repeat surgical biopsies and assisting in effective personalised & targeted therapies.
Champions
Neurosurgeon, The Royal Melbourne Hospital
Associate Professor Morokoff is an academic neurosurgeon at the Royal Melbourne Hospital and University of Melbourne, Australia. He trained in Melbourne and his PhD is in the biology of glioma. He completed a brain tumour fellowship in 2006-2007 at Harvard University, Boston and Necker Hospital in Paris. His clinical interests are skull base surgery, neuro-oncology and epilepsy. He directs an active brain tumour and epilepsy research program.
Related research projects:
Associate Professor Andrew Morokoff
The Royal Melbourne Hospital
Director of Neurosurgery, The Royal Melbourne Hospital
Professor Kate Drummond, AM, MD, FRACS is Director of Neurosurgery at The Royal Melbourne Hospital and Head of CNS Tumours at the VCCC Parkville Precinct. Her research and clinical interests are in the biology and management of brain tumours, with special interests in advanced surgical techniques such as awake craniotomy, quality of life and blood and imaging biomarkers.
She has published over 190 peer-reviewed papers and many book chapters and has received more than $35 million in research funding. Her h-index is 43. She is Co-Editor-in-Chief of the Journal of Clinical Neuroscience and on the Editorial Board of the Journal of Neurosurgery. She has served as Chief Examiner in Neurosurgery, Chair of the Women in Surgery Committee and on the Neurosurgery Surgical Education and Training Board for the Royal Australasian College of Surgeons, being awarded the RACS medal for these services. She is the President of the Asian Australasian Society of Neurosurgeons.
She is a strong advocate for and has written and presented widely on diversity in neurosurgery. She is Chair of Pangea Global Health Education, a for-impact organisation specialising in health education in low resource settings. In 2019 she was awarded Member of the Order of Australia (AM) for services to medicine, particularly in neuro-oncology and community health.
Related research projects:
- BRAIN POP
- BRAIN Registry
- Dangerous Networking: Brain cancers and the brain
- Deciphering the Molecular Mosaic of NF2
- A novel liquid biopsy for monitoring and chemoresistance detection in brain cancer
Related videos:
Professor Kate Drummond AM
The Royal Melbourne Hospital
Neurosurgeon
The Royal Melbourne Hospital
Jordan is a neurosurgeon scientist working at the Royal Melbourne Hospital and University of Melbourne. He completed his PhD through the University of Melbourne in 2021 for work investigating blood based biomarkers in brain cancer. In 2024 he became a fellow of the Royal College of Surgeons Australia after completing his neurosurgical training. He has published 2 book chapters and 17 peer-reviewed articles, as well as delivering a number of international and national invited lectures. He was awarded the AANS/CNS Neuro-oncology trainee award in 2022, the first time this award has been given to a Non-North American researcher, as well as the Peter Leech Memorial Prize for the best scientific manuscript by a neurosurgery trainee in 2021. He is a current research fellow with the brain cancer centre and junior editor for the Journal of Clinical Neuroscience whilst working as a Neurosurgeon at the Royal Melbourne Hospital and has an honorary appointment with the Department of Surgery, University of Melbourne.
Related research projects:
Dr Jordan Jones
The Royal Melbourne Hospital