SAiGENCI researcher awarded funding in latest MRFF round
A SAiGENCI project using nanotechnology has received funding in the latest round of Medical Research Future Fund (MRFF) Early-to-Mid Career Researchers funding.
Dr Yannan Yang
Dr Yannan Yang, Group Leader, Biomaterials and Immune Engineering Laboratory (BIEL) in the Tumour Inflammation and Immunotherapy program received $843,021 for a preclinical study that will use nanorobotics vaccine-boosted CAR-T immunotherapy to treat a form of incurable brain cancer.
“Diffuse intrinsic pontine glioma (DIPG) is a highly aggressive brain cancer,” said Dr Yang.
“CAR-T immunotherapy that alters T cells to target tumours is effective for certain cancers but it is yet to be applicable for solid tumours like DIPG.
“We have developed a nanorobot-based vaccines technology to improve the T cell response for solid tumours, and this research will allow us to develop and validate our findings in this space.”