Victorian collaboration raises over $50m investment in critical imaging capabilities

[Image: La Trobe University – Olivia Newton-John Cancer Research Institute NIF Fellow, Dr Ingrid Burvenich with Minister Tierney]

The Victorian Government has invested $14.83m in National Imaging Facility’s (NIF) research infrastructure in Victoria, in partnership with the Victorian Biomedical Imaging Capability (VBIC), equating to a boost of just over $50m through collaborative co-investment. 

[Image: Victorian Minister for Higher Education, the Hon Gayle Tierney MP]

Victorian Minister for Higher Education, the Hon Gayle Tierney MP visited the Olivia Newton-John Cancer Research Institute on Tuesday, to highlight the impact of the collaboration and the State Government’s investment of through the Victorian Higher Education State Investment Fund (VHESIF) initiative.  

“Collaborative projects such as this demonstrate how our government is supporting higher education and industry to become international leaders in their field,” Minister Tierney said.

[Image: Victorian Minister for Higher Education, the Hon Gayle Tierney MP toured the facilities at the Olivia Newton-John Cancer Research Institute and the Austin hospital]

The funding is supporting the upgrade and expansion of imaging capabilities across NIF’s research facilities in Victoria, including The Florey, La Trobe University and the Olivia Newton-John Cancer Research Institute, Monash University, Swinburne University of Technology, and University of Melbourne in partnership with Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre and the Austin Hospital.  

Critical medical research in areas of national priority such as dementia cancer and epilepsy, as well as agriculture research will be enabled by the co-investment, which includes $26.7m from NIF through the Australian Government’s National Collaborative Research Infrastructure Strategy (NCRIS) funding scheme. 

Infrastructure funded under the collaboration includes human magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) capabilities at Swinburne University of Technology and The Florey, where state-of-the-art high-intensity focused ultrasound will support the development of new treatments for essential tremor and tremor-dominant Parkinson’s disease. 

In addition to this, the University of Melbourne upgraded their ultra-high-field 7T MRI (one of only two in Australia), and acquired a new human PET-CT. 

Preclinical capabilities including PET/MRI and PET/CT to support important drug discovery and testing have been installed at the Olivia Newton-John Cancer Research Institute/La Trobe University and Monash University. 

[Image: NIF preclinical capabilities at the Olivia Newton-John Cancer Research Institute]

A new research cyclotron at Monash (the Australian Precision Radiopharmaceutical Facility APRF) will enable the production of radioisotopes under GMP standards, and enhance Australia’s sovereign capability to produce therapeutics and diagnostics. Complementary to this, radiochemistry hotcell infrastructure upgrades at Monash, the Austin Hospital, and Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre will support the design and development of novel cancer treatments.  

[NIF radiochemistry capabilities at the Austin hospital/Olivia Newton-John Cancer Research Institute]

The funding also enables upgrades to the magnetoencephalography (MEG) at Swinburne, one of only two systems in Australia, supporting the study of brain function. 

[Image: NIF MEG at Swinburne University of Technology]

Development of specialised plant imaging capabilities at the University of Melbourne will underpin research into the effect of climate change on crops and soil, and strategies and applications for agricultural improvements to support Australia’s standing as a world leader in food and beverage production. 

NIF Chief Executive Officer, Prof Wojtek Goscinski said the co-contributed investment underpins transformational initiatives in a number of national priority areas including precision medicine, molecular imaging, drug discovery, diagnostics and plant soil imaging. 

“It’s a privilege for NIF to partner with the Victorian Government and VBIC to support Australia’s strategic science and research priorities” Prof Goscinski said. 

“These capabilities will support Australia as a world-leader in applying advanced imaging technology, resulting in better healthcare, better products, and important discoveries.”

Read the Victorian Government’s announcement here. 

Australian cancer patients to benefit from state-of-the-art ACRF Centre for Precision Medicine at the Olivia Newton-John Cancer Research Institute

A new world-class radiochemistry lab will open at the Olivia Newton-John Cancer Research Institute (ONJCRI) to enable access to innovative cancer therapies for Australians. 

 

The Australian Cancer Research Foundation (ACRF) has awarded a $2.1M grant to the ONJCRI to establish the ACRF Centre for Precision Medicine, supporting the supply of radiopharmaceuticals for theranostic trials. 

 

The ACRF Centre for Precision Medicine will complement infrastructure and expertise at the National Imaging Facility (NIF) La Trobe-ONJCRI Node based at the Austin Hospital, allowing preclinical and clinical molecular probe development studies to be performed in the new radiochemistry lab facility. 

 

It is also aligned with the NIF PET radiochemistry upgrade at the Austin Hospital through the University of Melbourne Node. 

The NIF University of Melbourne radiochemistry facility is focused on short half-life PET probe synthesis, and long-lived PET isotope production. The new ACRF Centre for Precision Medicine radiochemistry lab will enable the conversion of these isotopes into long-lived PET probes.  

 

Nuclear theranostics produced at the new facility will enable simultaneous imaging and therapy, allowing researchers and clinicians to see where targeted medicines go in the body in real time, identify drugs most likely to succeed and select patients who will benefit. 

 

Chief Investigator and La Trobe-ONJCRI NIF Node Director Prof Andrew Scott AM, said the ACRF Centre for Precision Medicine will establish a unique and exciting capability for discovery translation. 

 

“Precision medicine has been described as the future for cancer treatment, whereby identifying key targets in a patient’s cancer and individualising treatments based on appropriate treatment selection can result in improved outcomes,” Prof Scott said. 

 

“The ACRF Centre for Precision Medicine will provide a key technology for theranostics for multi-centre clinical trials across Australia. 

 

“This will link outstanding researchers in cancer biology, drug development, radiochemistry and molecular imaging of cancer, leading to novel therapeutic approaches and clinical trials.” 

 

ONJCRI projects ACRF’s $2.1M investment has the potential to result in a return of $8.19M with $5.49M in health gains and $2.7M in wider economic gains.

 

The grant leverages $2.51M NIF investment in radiochemistry and molecular imaging infrastructure at the La Trobe-ONJCRI and the University of Melbourne in collaboration with the Austin Hospital.  

 

The Ovarian Cancer Research Foundation has also committed $300,000, over three years, for technical project personnel to drive new theranostic ovarian cancer treatments. 

Cancer diagnosis and targeted therapies to flow from new NIF investment

Cancer research will advance and personalised treatment will come a step closer, with installation of NIF’s new nanoScan PET/MRI 3T camera for preclinical studies.  

The camera is at the Olivia Newton-John Cancer Research Institute (ONJCRI) and represents a significant national investment as part of NIF expertise and critical mass in molecular imaging and nuclear theranostics.  

Nuclear theranostics offers simultaneous imaging and therapy, enabling researchers and clinicians to see where targeted medicines go in the body in real time, identify drugs most likely to succeed and select patients who will benefit. 

It has the potential to improve quality of life and decrease health-related costs.  

NIF Fellow Dr Ingrid Burvenich from ONJCRI and La Trobe University has conducted MRI scans using the camera as part of work to develop diagnostic tools and cancer therapies. 

“We found that the high field 3T magnet has fast scanning times and high-quality images,” Dr Burvenich said.  

“We can already see that we have excellent delineation of organs and that will enable us to better identify specific tumours in the brain, abdominal organs and other cancer sites.  

“With the new camera, we will be able to explore new areas of cancer biology, metabolism and neuroscience, and also develop new imaging probes and therapeutics.  

“In our studies we answer questions such as: does the drug reach the tumour, is enough drug going into the tumour to be effective, and are there risks for toxicity?”  

Dr Burvenich’s tumour-targeting work involves collaboration with ONJCRI’s Centre for Research Excellence in Brain Cancer, focusing on research models that reflect the disease as it is seen in human patients.   

“We are very excited to try the new camera to image brain tumours to assist with developing new therapeutics.   

“Other ONJCRI collaborators are working on genetic models that develop tumours in the stomach or the intestine and surgical models for pancreatic cancer.  

“Increasing the visibility of such tumours will potentially make a difference in this research in monitoring how tumours establish, grow and respond to newly-developed therapeutics.  

“Our new camera will also assist with advancing research in heart disease, the brain and pharmaceutical drug development – especially in developing radiopharmaceuticals, medicines with radioactive isotopes that can be used as for both diagnosis and treatment.  

“We can evaluate the radiopharmaceuticals in preclinical models and then progress them into human trials.” 

NIF is investing in improved health outcomes through novel medical products, technologies and practices – including human imaging technologies, high value therapeutics and cutting-edge pharmaceutical treatments.  

Nuclear theranostics is increasingly being used for cancer imaging, detection and treatment, in clinical trials, and in research and development to counter a growing global incidence from 19.3 million new cases in 2020 to 28.4 million in 2040. 

It has a promising future, with estimated market valuations for 2021 ranging from $1.7 billion to $6 billion and annual growth ranging from 4 to 19 per cent within eight years.  

Imaging critical to brain cancer treatment

Imaging critical to brain cancer treatment: Olivia Newton-John Cancer Research Institute to collaborate with Telix in ground-breaking new study

National Imaging Facility (NIF) Node partner, the Olivia Newton-John Cancer Research Institute (ONJCRI) will work with globally recognised biopharmaceutical company Telix to evaluate the use of a novel radiotracer (O-(2-[18F]fluoroethyl)-L-tyrosine or 18F-FET) to image patients with glioblastoma (GBM), a type of brain cancer, with positron emission tomography (PET) (FET-PET).

The collaboration between ONJCRI and Telix will enable a synergistic approach to improving the lives of people with GBM, which is the most common primary brain cancer in adults.

The ONJCRI is a global leader in the development of immunotherapies, targeted therapeutics, and personalised cancer medicine, while Telix is focused on the development of clinical-stage products that address significant unmet medical need in oncology and rare diseases.

The FET-PET in Glioblastoma (FIG) study will recruit up to 210 recently diagnosed adult GBM patients at 10 sites around Australia, aiming to definitively establish the role of FET-PET in the management of patients with GBM. The FIG Study is funded by the Medical Research Future Fund (MRFF), the Australian Brain Cancer Mission (ABCM), and the Cure Brain Cancer Foundation, and also involves the Trans-Tasman Radiation Oncology Group (TROG) and the Australasian Radiopharmaceutical Trials Network (ARTnet). 

The NIF’s LaTrobe University – ONJCRI Node Director, and Clinical Trial Co-Chair, Prof Andrew Scott AM said the study would utilise imaging to bring critical new treatment opportunities to light and have potentially life-saving impacts.

“Imaging is integral to effective diagnosis, staging and determination of the treatment pathway for all cancers, but is vitally important in GBM which is very aggressive and can be difficult to treat,” Professor Scott said.

“This ground-breaking study will use 18F-FET, a new PET tracer which can show us if tumour cells are active. This is a more functional imaging technique compared to magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), the current standard imaging tool, and could potentially provide a powerful imaging biomarker for the management of brain cancer and improve survival rates.”

National Imaging Facility CEO, Prof Wojtek Goscinski said the collaboration was an exciting opportunity to see the life-changing impacts that cutting-edge imaging capabilities can have on people living with debilitating illnesses.

“Medical imaging plays a critical role in the diagnosis, treatment and monitoring of life-threatening diseases like GBM,” Prof Goscinski said.

“It is excellent to see Australian-led research use imaging with the aim to improve the treatment of patients with GBM and save lives.

“It’s exciting for NIF’s LaTrobe University – ONJCRI node to be involved in an industry partnership that has the potential to expand the country’s economic growth, and position Australia as a global leader in cancer research,” he said.

You can read more about the announcement here.

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