Research Projects

Home / Research Projects / Mapping the brain’s wound healing immune microenvironment after cancer surgery

Mapping the brain’s wound healing immune microenvironment after cancer surgery: An avenue for therapeutic intervention

Discovery Theme: Tumour Microenvironment

Brain cancer kills more Australian children than any other disease, and survivors face lifelong side effects from toxic treatments. Safer therapies are urgently needed. 

Cancer therapies are typically developed for adults and later adapted for kids. However, this approach neglects the fundamental differences between adult and paediatric cancers, especially in brain cancer, where the disease arises in the context of a growing body and developing immune system. Recognising the unique needs of paediatric patients, we have pioneered innovative, paediatric-specific brain cancer models that closely mimic the environment of childhood cancers. These models place children at the centre of therapeutic development, setting a new standard in paediatric oncology research. 

Immunotherapy, which uses the immune system to fight cancers, shows promise in adult cancers with fewer side effects but remains ineffective for childhood brain cancers.

We have identified a new opportunity for immunotherapy success. Surgery can activate the immune system in other cancers; however, its impacts on childhood brain cancer is unknown. 

To study this, we have developed surgical brain cancer models in the laboratory that closely replicate the disease in a developing child. Long-term, we aim to bring these therapies to clinical trials, improving survival rates and quality of life for children with brain cancer.

Champions

Image of Associate Professor Raelene Endersby

Associate Professor Raelene Endersby

Co-Head, Brain Tumour Research
The Kids Research Institute Australia


Raelene was awarded her PhD in 2003 from the Harry Perkins Institute for Medical Research (under the supervision of Peter Klinken), undertook postdoctoral training in the Neurobiology and Brain Tumor Program at St Jude Children’s Research Hospital, USA (under the supervision of Suzanne Baker), and was awarded a Fellowship in 2011 to return to Australia to establish the Brain Tumour Research Program at the The Kids Research Institute Australia which she co-leads with Nick Gottardo. This collaborative group of clinicians, neurosurgeons and laboratory scientists uses a suite of in vivo models to understand the effects of paediatric brain tumour mutations on normal brain development and tumorigenesis. Her team also investigates potential therapeutic targets and uses in vivo model systems to evaluate novel treatments prior to clinical trial.

Raelene is a passionate advocate for science and actively encourages young scientists to get involved in medical research. She has mentored high school students, undergrads, Honours, Masters and PhD students in her lab. Raelene has also chaired the The Kids Research Institute Australia Postdoctoral Council and been on the executive committee for the Australian Academy of Science Early-Mid Career Researchers Forum.

Related research projects: 

Related videos: 

 

 

Associate Professor Raelene Endersby
The Kids Research Institute Australia

Image of Professor Misty Jenkins

Professor Misty Jenkins AO

Laboratory Head, WEHI
Co-Head Research Strategy, The Brain Cancer Centre


Prof Misty Jenkins is a NHMRC fellow and laboratory head at WEHI. Misty leads the immunotherapy program within The Brain Cancer Centre. She is dedicated to discovering novel immunotherapy targets for high grade gliomas in adults and children. Her research focusses on the development of novel chimeric antigen receptor T cells for brain cancer. Her group also uses cutting edge two-photon microscopy combined with mouse models of brain cancer to investigate the tumour microenvironment and uncover unique biology of brain tumours.

Misty has a PhD in Immunology from The University of Melbourne, followed by postdoctoral positions at The Universities of Oxford, Cambridge and the Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre. 

Prof Jenkins was awarded the L’Oreal for Women in Science Fellowship (2013), was Tall Poppy of the year (2015), was awarded the Top100 Women of Influence award (2016) and was inducted onto the Victorian Honour Roll of Women in 2020.

Misty co-chairs a Federal Health Medical Research Future Fund (MRFF) and is a passionate advocate for gender equity and Indigenous Health and education. She was awarded an Officer of the Order of Australia (AO) in 2023 for distinguished service to medical science in Immunology, the support of women in STEM, and to the Indigenous community.

Related research projects: 

Related videos: 

Professor Misty Jenkins AO
WEHI

Image of Dr Saskia Freytag

Dr Saskia Freytag

Laboratory Head, WEHI


Saskia is a bioinformatician focusing on the development and application of innovative approaches and technologies to advance our understanding of the brain in health and disease. Saskia has been instrumental in the discovery of pathogenic variants for several neurological diseases. For her innovative research approach, she was awarded the Harry Perkins Aspire Award in 2020.

Additionally, Saskia in her role as an Australian Mathematical Sciences Institute (AMSI) ChooseMaths ambassador passionately advocates for STEM education and actively encourages girls to pursue higher education in mathematics.

Related research projects: 

Related videos: 

 

 

 

 

Dr Saskia Freytag
WEHI

Image of Professor Nick Gottardo

Professor Nick Gottardo

Co-Head, Brain Tumour Research
The Kids Research Institute Australia


Prof Nick Gottardo is Co-Head of the Institute’s Brain Tumour Research Team and a Consultant Paediatric Oncologist/Neuro-Oncologist and Head of Department of Paediatric Oncology and Haematology at Princess Margaret Hospital for Children. Prof Gottardo is also an Adjunct Associate Clinical Professor at the University of Western Australia and a Fellow of the Royal Australasian College of Physicians (RACP).

Prof Gottardo is driven by his belief that it’s unacceptable for children to die from brain tumours. His research interests include developing laboratory models of brain tumours, testing new therapies using these models and identifying areas of weaknesses in the tumours that might be suitable drug targets.

Prof Gottardo’s medical career began at Leeds University with a Bachelor of Medicine, Bachelor of Surgery/Chirurgery. He worked for two and a half years as a doctor in the UK, before heading to Australia in 1996, where he took up a position at Princess Margaret Hospital for Children and began a PhD at The Kids Research Institute Australia. After completing his PhD, Prof Gottardo headed to St Jude Children’s Research Hospital in Memphis, USA, one of the world’s premier childhood cancer institutes. He spent three years at St Jude as a post-doctoral brain tumour fellow and gained extensive experience in the laboratory in brain tumour model generation, preclinical testing and brain cancer cell biology, as well as expertise in the management of children with brain tumours in the clinic. In 2008 he received the International Symposium Paediatric Neuro-Oncology (ISPNO) Young Investigator award for scientific excellence. Dr Gottardo returned to Perth Australia in 2008 as a Consultant Paediatric Oncologist/Neuro-Oncologist and established the Brain Tumour Research Programme at the The Kids Research Institute Australia. In 2012 he was awarded the Raine Clinician Research Fellowship and in 2016 the Cancer Council Western Australia Research Fellowship.

In his clinical capacity Prof Gottardo is the Deputy Chair of the Australian and New Zealand Children’s Haematology and Oncology Group (ANZCHOG) and Chair of their Central Nervous System (CNS)Tumours Subgroup, and a Board member of the Australian Children’s Cancer Therapy (ACCT) group. He is also a member of the international North American based Children’s Oncology Group (COG) CNS Tumour Committee and leads the COG’s upfront clinical trial for patients with WNT-driven medulloblastoma. He collaborates extensively both nationally and internationally; he is a founding member of the Brain Cancer Discovery Collaborative (BCDC) – a collaborative network consisting of the best brain cancer scientists and clinicians across Australia and a member of the International Medulloblastoma Working Group.

Related research projects: 

Professor Nick Gottardo
The Kids Research Institute Australia

Dr Brittany Dewdney

Postdoctoral Researcher
The Kids Research Institute Australia


Dr Brittany Dewdney is a molecular biologist specialising in biochemistry, genetics, and metabolism. She has a wide range of skills and knowledge in the field of medical science and disease, completing a Bachelor’s degree in biochemistry and human genetics, a Master’s degree in biomedical science with a research focus on ischemic stroke, and a PhD in cancer metabolism and targeted therapies in primary liver cancer.

Dr Dewdney joined the Kids Research Institute Cancer Centre to follow her passion for brain cancer research and strives to discover new ways to improve survival outcomes for brain cancer patients. In 2023 she was awarded a BrightSpark Fellowship to use her knowledge and collaborative skills in understanding the impacts of brain tumour resection surgery on the brain tumour immune microenvironment. Her research focuses on mapping the spatiotemporal neuroimmune changes that occur in the brain after surgery and understanding how the wound healing response may be exploited to develop more clinically relevant immunotherapies.

Related research projects: 

 

Dr Brittany Dewdney
The Kids Research Institute Australia