A University of the Sunshine Coast cancer biologist is one of 22 leading experts selected to be part of a $5.8million national Centre of Research Excellence to find the causes of early-onset bowel cancer.
UniSC cancer researcher Dr Lochlan Fennell, who is establishing a biobank on the Sunshine Coast to analyse human tissue donated by bowel cancer patients under the age of 50, will join the centre to be known as ARTEMIS .
Announced this week by the National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC), the Early-Onset Bowel Cancer Centre of Research Excellence (CRE) is a five-year program that will investigate factors contributing to the fast-rising number of cases in Australia.
About 1,900 younger Australians are diagnosed with bowel cancer each year. This has increased dramatically over the past two decades.
UniSC will be one of six universities involved in the centre, to be led by University of Melbourne Associate Professor Dan Buchanan. It includes four further research institutes and four hospitals and health services.
The program will focus on three connected themes:
Understanding how the gut microbiome influences the development of early-onset bowel cancer;
Creating a detailed molecular atlas to map the changes that occur from normal bowel tissue to early-onset polyps and ultimately to bowel cancer;
Using functional testing and preclinical models to investigate the causes and pathways of early-onset bowel cancer.
Associate Professor Buchanan said: “The team are all very excited and committed to identifying the causes and mechanisms driving the increasing rates of early-onset bowel cancer.”
CRE ARTEMIS will also train and mentor the next generation of early-onset bowel cancer researchers, developing a national workforce with the cross-disciplinary skills needed to drive innovation in prevention, early detection and future treatment. This will include PhD scholarships and clinical research fellowships being made available to local students and clinicians.
Bowel Cancer Australia has committed $3 million through the NHMRC Centres of Research Excellence to establish the teams of researchers, clinicians and people with lived experience. This will be supported by additional funding of $2.8 million from participating institutions and partners.
Bowel Cancer Australia CEO Julien Wiggins said: “We congratulate Dan and Lochlan on their successful application and look forward to working with the CRE ARTEMIS team as they investigate the causes as to why Australia has the highest rates of early-onset bowel cancer in the world.”
One in eight Australians diagnosed with bowel cancer are aged under 50, and the risk of being diagnosed before age 40 has more than doubled since the year 2000.
UniSC cancer researcher Dr Lochlan Fennell will join the centre to be known as ARTEMIS.
Dr Fennell, who is developing the biobank at the Sunshine Coast Health Institute (SCHI), seeks to determine if modern living is contributing to increased diagnoses.
“This could include factors such as increased antibiotic use, microplastics, chemicals and new lifestyle and environmental exposures,” he said.
“I am pleased to join CRE ARTEMIS as the centre’s Associate Director. My role is to oversee the data management and analysis portfolio, and as lead of the centre’s Queensland node.”
ARTEMIS stands for the Aetiology, Risk factors, Tumourigenesis, Exposures, Microbiome and Immune Susceptibilities in early-onset bowel cancer.
