ARH scholarships funding prostate cancer research

To address the gap in knowledge about the prevalence of PSA testing in communities across the country, Australian Rotary Health, the Rotary Club of Blacktown City, NSW, and Rotary Districts 9790 and 9830 worked with PhD scholarship recipient Ankur Kohar, with the aim of better understanding how where a man resides is related to his use of the PSA test. As a result of Ankur’s findings, Australian guidelines relating to prostate cancer testing using the PSA test are currently being reviewed.

This research project provided valuable information to inform the development and implementation of evidence-based strategies aimed at tackling inconsistencies in prostate cancer outcomes across Australia.

Also supported by the Rotary Club of Blacktown City, Nancy Santiappillal’s research project used state-of-the-art approaches to develop the first high-resolution insights into prostate cancer metabolism.

The outcomes of the project include the generation of significant new knowledge related to prostate cancer cell metabolism and the molecular underpinnings, identifying novel metabolic signatures that have common vulnerabilities, and providing the basis for future drug targeting. The discovery science project is a crucial first step in identifying novel metabolic-based therapies that address the overarching goal of improving patient outcomes for men with prostate cancer.

Meanwhile, co-funded by the Rotary Club of Williamstown, Vic, Mikhail Dias’s research project presented a new paradigm in prostate cancer biology to understand how genes cooperate in complex networks to drive drug resistance in prostate cancer.

By studying the various gene expression signatures, a more complete picture of the molecular landscape of prostate cancer was developed, which is immensely valuable when developing robust therapeutic strategies. The innovative approach is improving prostate cancer treatments by uncovering key biological pathways in Castrate Resistant Prostate Cancer (CRPC) drug resistance.

MAIN PICTURE: Australian Rotary Health scholarship recipients Ankur Kohar, Mikhail Dias and Nancy Santiappillal are researching various components of prostate cancer to improve diagnosis and treatments of the disease.