Congratulations to Dr. Chuck Bailey on 20 years of service to the Rasko Lab! Chuck started in the Rasko Lab on March 1st 2001, after completing his PhD at UNSW. We have seen Chuck grow from a fresh faced postdoc, to senior postdoc and now Head of the Cancer and Gene Regulation lab. Thank you for all your hard work, dedication and loyalty over the last 20 years. Here’s to 20 more!
What a crazy year 2020 has been for everyone! It will definitely be a year we will never forget. Here is a song to celebrate the year that was (sound on!).
From everyone in the Rasko lab, we wish you all a very happy and safe holiday season and look forward to what 2021 has installed for us!
Quite simply, Randall loved his life. He loved fishing off Fraser Island and the Sandy Straits, going on travelling adventures across Australia, eating and drinking (always eating seconds or thirds), and his mates more than anything. Having a laugh, watching sport, and listening to music were his next favourite past times.
He was the storyteller in our family and had a fantastic loud and booming voice and laugh.
He was a good, simple man who was loved, well-respected, and adored by his family, friends, and colleagues.
Randall was diagnosed with stage 4 pancreatic cancer on 12th September 2019. He was initially given 6 weeks to 3 months to live.
The diagnosis was a shock to say the least. But he never once complained. He maintained a positive, hopeful outlook and took to entertaining the medical staff in Hervey Bay and Brisbane.
Randall was hopeful of getting a few more years but that wasn’t to be – he succumbed to the disease on 1 November 2020.
Although positive, Randall knew the seriousness of a pancreatic cancer diagnosis and he knew the importance of research, particularly for this disease. He was hopeful of being able to participate in a clinical trial but that wasn’t to be either.
He admired the work of Professor Rasko and his team. That’s why Cure the Future has been selected as our charity of choice – to give hope to pancreatic cancer patients and their families of finding a cure for this cruel disease.
In a world first, Prof. Rasko and his team have completed the first human clinical trial using engineered stem cells to treat an immune disease called graft versus host disease. The work published today in Nature Medicine examines the use of human induced pluripotent stem cell-derived MSCs to treat 15 patients with steroid-resistant acute graft-versus-host disease, a condition affecting people who have received a bone marrow transplant.
“I’m proud of the achievement by all the international collaborators, patients and their families – along with the extraordinary team we have built here that allows us to undertake many research projects including basic translational and clinical.” says Prof. Rasko.
Read the article in The Sydney Morning Herald
Listen to the Interview on ABC Radio
In Loving Memory of Brett Muir, who lost his battle with pancreatic cancer on 22 June 2019.
Brett lost hist battle with pancreatic cancer before he was able to join innovative CAR T cell clinical trials aimed at a cure.
Brett did want to help others who are fighting this horrible disease so when Brett was laid to rest we started donations for cure and awareness at his service.
This was so he can still help others achieve this trial, please donate in Brett’s memory so Cure The Future can help find a cure for the generations to come.
At an early age, Jess became curious about science and cell biology as her grandfather was a microbiologist. This curiousity lead to Jess studying science and going on to joining Professor John Rasko’s laboratory as a PhD student.
Whilst a PhD Student, Jess was awarded the Cure the Future Scholarship which allowed her to successfully complete her final PhD year and publish two discoveries in Molecular Cancer and the International Journal of Cancer and presented presented her work at the European Association for Cancer Research in Oslo, Norway.
“The generous support I received from Cure the Future essentially kick-started my career in cancer research. It allowed me to pursue a fascinating and rewarding science career.”
Jessamy (Jess) Tiffen
Now a Senior Post-doctorate researcher in the Melanoma Immunology and Oncology at the Centenary, Jess is investigating new drugs that target melanoma to try and find out how they work and who they will work for. Several of our studies using these drugs have been published in reputable cancer journals. I’ve subsequently received funding from the Cancer Council of NSW for such a project.
‘Cure The Future means hope. Hope for both the researchers that they can continue to find solutions to difficult puzzles and hope for patients, that they are provided with treatment options when nothing else works.’
Melanoma is often referred to as Australia’s National Cancer as we have the highest incidence in the world. Although there are some very effective treatments for melanoma, these do not work for everyone and the development of therapy resistance is a huge problem that hinders success.
Jess’s studies into alternative treatments have been published in reputable cancer journals and Jess has also subsequently received funding from the Cancer Council of NSW for a research project in to melanoma.
Cure The Future supports scientists like Jess so they can continue their work to find alternative treatments and cure for cancers and inherited diseases.
