Two QUT Masters students will have the chance to focus their research into novel cancer treatment options thanks to a scholarship from a prostate-cancer group established by industry heavyweight and cancer survivor Andrew Bills.
The CEO of CS Energy founded the Stronger for Longer organisation after being diagnosed with the disease in 2019, and through his experience realising research was the key to giving men more choice about their treatment and lifestyle options.
Mr Bills was delighted to meet the 2022 scholarship recipients, QUT Masters students Dilsher Singh Gill and Zeng Horng Yap, who are researching novel treatment options.
“For me, meeting them gave me the understanding that these funds are supporting real people to do the kind of ground-breaking research that might create the next cure, or might dramatically increase treatment options,” Mr Bills said.
Mr Gill said his research focussed on finding proteins in prostate cancer that could be suppressed or contained to manage the disease.
“It’s very exciting as no-one in the world is looking at these protein pathways. We not copying what big pharma is doing. We’re taking our research to a different level and looking for opportunities to treat prostate cancer by finding ways to change how cancer cells behave,” Mr Gill said.
Mr Yap is looking at how protein modification contributes to prostate cancer cell growth and whether blocking these modifications with small molecules might provide new anti-prostate cancer therapeutics.
Both Mr Gill and Mr Yap, a first-generation immigrant from Malaysia, are the first in their families to go to university, and the scholarship is allowing them to devote more time to their research.
Mr Bills said he was thrilled to hear the scholarship meant Mr Gill could give up his job as an Uber driver and allow Mr Yap to move from his family home on the Gold Coast to accommodation near his Woolloongabba laboratory at the Translational Research Institute (TRI).
“The scholarship is going to be life changing for these young men, who will now be able to focus more energy on their projects. It’s exciting to see the scholarship go to early-career researchers: this is investing in a whole new generation of cancer researchers, and that is the only way to beat cancer,” he said.
Stronger for Longer has raised more than $100,00 to help QUT’s prostate cancer research, and is committed to making an even bigger impact in 2022, again partnering with Bicycle Queensland as the fundraising recipient for the Downer Brisbane to Gold Coast Cycle Challenge in July.
Prostate cancer is the most commonly diagnosed cancer in Australian men, affecting one in seven Australian men and the third most common cause of cancer death, with 3,500 men dying from prostate cancer every year.
“I want people to get behind it because it’s going to progress the development of ground-breaking research which is going to provide men with prostate cancer with treatment options. This is going to affect the quality of life of men around the world,” he said.
