THE Fiona Elsey Cancer Research Institute hosted a special guest last week as management and staff welcomed philanthropist Primrose Lady Potter as their patron.<\/p>\n
Lady Potter toured regional Australia\u2019s only cancer research facility last week, and said she was attracted to the institution for two key reasons.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s doing something in a regional city. The state is getting bigger and bigger and we have to encourage regional expansion and this is doing something really valuable,\u201d she said<\/p>\n
\u201cSecondly, I\u2019m interested in cancer research. I\u2019ve had a lot of cancer so I can see that we need hope and something to happen to help us.\u201d<\/p>\n
With her experience with organisations like the Ian Potter Foundation, the Melba Foundation, and the Howard Florey Institute, it is hoped her patronage will bring newfound resources and attention for FECRI.<\/p>\n
Playwright and long-time friend of Lady Potter, Roland Rocchiccioli, said it was \u201cvery important\u201d that the Institute now has her patronage.<\/p>\n
\u201cShe knows everybody, absolutely everybody. It\u2019s useful to have somebody like Lady Potter at the head of it so she can go out there and encourage people to part with hard-earned cash,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s really difficult to raise funds, and so she\u2019d have an enormous influence on that, so hopefully we\u2019ll be able to use her profile and maybe the Ian Potter Foundation to actually get some money for research.\u201d<\/p>\n
FECRI has 15 staff and five PhD students currently researching alternatives to radiation therapy and chemotherapy and the immune system\u2019s involvement in repelling the illness.<\/p>\n
Honorary director Professor George Kannourakis has a particular area of study he\u2019s most excited to see supported, which targets what he\u2019s called \u201cbar code\u201d proteins that help cancer cells evade the immune system.<\/p>\n
\u201cOnce we\u2019ve identified those proteins, we\u2019ll make antibodies to those proteins and those antibodies will be a cocktail that will treat every form of cancer, in my opinion,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m hoping in five years\u2019 time when somebody gets cancer they won\u2019t have to go through surgery or radiation or chemotherapy, they just have a biopsy and cocktail of antibodies.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
THE Fiona Elsey Cancer Research Institute hosted a special guest last week as management and staff welcomed philanthropist Primrose Lady Potter as their patron. Lady Potter toured regional Australia\u2019s only cancer research facility last week, and said she was attracted to the institution for two key reasons. \u201cIt\u2019s doing something in a regional city. The […]<\/p>\n