Connecting with the community

Some of our leading cancer researchers, Professor Phil Hansbro, Professor Peter Hersey, Dr Mainthan Palendira and Dr Jessamy Tiffen have presented their project updates and recent findings to consumers and supporters at our recent consumer engagement session.

The projects, all funded by Cancer Council NSW, covered the critical health areas of melanoma (the most deadly form of skin cancer) and lung cancer.

The engagement sessions allow Centenary scientists to connect directly with the community and  ensures that consumers are an integral part of the total research process.

Updates provided at the session were: 

• Professor Phil Hansbro, Centenary Institute Deputy Director and Head of the Centenary UTS Centre for Inflammation. Could our gut bacteria play a role in lung cancer?
• Professor Peter Hersey, Head of the Melanoma Immunology and Oncology Program / Dr Helen McGuire (University of Sydney). Epigenetic targeting of T cell dysfunction in patients failing immunotherapy
• Dr Mainthan Palendira, Head of the Human Viral and Cancer Immunology Laboratory. The role of tumour-resident CD8+ T cells in metastatic melanoma and immunotherapy
• Dr Jessamy Tiffen, Senior Research Officer in the Melanoma Immunology and Oncology Program. Place your BETs – Discovering new drug combinations for melanoma treatment

The Centenary Institute would like to thank all consumers and attendees at this session for their interest in improving human health outcomes, and continuing support of our life-saving medical research activities.